Community. Code. Collaboration.

NAOMI FREEMAN

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I empower people and possibility through technology.

I bridge business and technology, bringing a broad range of skills and perspectives to projects.


Nominated for the Global Cartier Women’s Achievement Award, as well as by Royal Bank of Canada’s Women Entrepreneur Awards list as a Woman of Influence. Naomi was one of Women Who Code’s “Engineers to Watch” in 2021, and brings a strong technical background and experience into her leadership perspective. Naomi is a Subject Matter Expert: Technical Management; an Activator at SheEO; Board Committee Advisor, Women Who Code.

Naomi is proud to have been featured as a programming expert in a TVO Canada short-listed documentary examining the political context in which we live, referencing the sweeping and unprecedented legislation of Canada’s Bill C-51. Naomi has also offered expertise to research papers in open source hacktivism, based on her work with technical project development with the City of Toronto’s social housing.


Featured Expert, Speaker or Keynotes at:

  • I can help your team make a plan to implement AI, from policy and ethical frameworks to the development steps for your engineers.

    Looking forward to learning more about your needs! hello@naomifreeman.com

  • I am looking for guest lecture opportunities and short courses. Please connect with a short description of your needs and we can set up a chat through hello@naomifreeman.com


    June 2023 I completed my Higher Education and Online Certificate through Harvard - The Derek Bok Teaching and Learning Center. My teaching portfolio can be found by clicking here.

  • For corporate needs: please send event summary, topic, fee schedule and proposed date/month to hello@naomifreeman.com

    For community events, please send your event and travel support information to hello@naomifreeman.com

 
 
 
 

DIGITAL GARDEN

 
 
 
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PRIVACY BY DESIGN (BLOG)

Following a conference talk at Isle of Ruby, I published a quick overview of Privacy by Design that you can read here. A great read to understand a bit more about how we, as technologists, can approach consumer and user-focused apps using best practice in security design, adhering to GDPR regulations.

THE RULES of SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT (PODCAST)

I had a chat with Andrew Woods, Director of Software Engineering (Mastercard) on his podcast The Rules of Software Development.

Access the full podcast on the platform of your choice through this LinkedIn post.

We chat everything from state of the tech industry to levelling up from Junior to Senior dev). Take a listen!


 
 

When There is Bias in AI - And What We Can Do

Written article collecting panellist insights from Bias in AI Panel that I was a panellist on (CONNECT June 2021).

Read here


BUSINESS OF DATA FESTIVAL:
Human vs Machine

July 13, 2022

Using the Technology Acceptance Model, and the context of the 2020 pandemic, Naomi Freeman introduces technical management techniques to guide us when introducing automations and AI into our future focused workplaces.


MODERATOR - Building Culture for Employee Happiness and Retention

How to Recruit for Diversity and Inclusion

Ready for your weekend listen?

Check out our #podcast episode with Sophie Gould at Evolution Recruitment Solutions, all about building great environments for candidates and redefining and enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion practices in recruitment to be people-centred and sustainable

Rather chuffed with how this panel turned out 🙌 ☺

Thanks again to Leonam Espindola and Ellenor Wiig for such an engaging and thoughtful chat

Listen here


PyLadies Dublin: AI Explainability

July 21, 2020 (Dublin, virtual)

Neural networks are all the rage - input data, output magic results! In between is a black box of magic. In many use cases - from finance to healthcare - this black box is actually a challenge preventing AI adoption. Enter Explainability! Using one extra layer, we can also have our AI explain how it arrived at the decision.
We took a look at how to implement this layer of explainability using a Python-based toolbox and a Google Tensorflow AI model.

Video Upload is currently on YouTube.

 
 

 MORE TALKS

 
 
 

SPEAKING

 
 
 
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Pre-Pandemic In-Person Engagements

 
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hack.lu: Privacy by design

Speaking at Hack.lu, typically about offensive computer security. Privacy by Design is all about defensive computer security. How do we design systems with a primary concern of maintaining user privacy? Coming out of the Canadian hospital system’s long history with data maintenance and patient protection.

Curious about the components of Privacy by Design? Read more here.

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Grill.RB ruby prototyping for impact projects

August 31-Sept. 1 in Wroclaw.

All about using technology as a tool and a tool that can serve a variety of purposes. Technologists are told over and over again that they have great power - and it’s true. So what can we use that for?

Learn more about GrillRB

 
 

TEACHING

 
 
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Previous Teaching & Course Delivery Highlights

 

Building your first cli (Command line interface) App with NodeJS

I’m so excited to get to share this course with you! It’s a great next step after you’ve taken a couple of JavaScript tutorials, when you’re finished a bootcamp or yo ‘re just looking to get a little refresh or brush up in NodeJS.

In this project-based course we automate the steps of your git init process. Not only will you come away having some more NodeJS practice under your belt, you’ll also have a little tool you can keep using throughout your programming journey.

Join me and build your own command line app today!

It’s a great little project to have in your portfolio.

 
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Treehouse

If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution to learn how to code, Treehouse is the place to go. A subscription service offering multiple learning tracks. No matter your goal with coding, you can learn it here!

I taught an Intermediate Ruby on Rails course with Treehouse. I developed the curriculum, screencasts, knowledge and code tests for students, as well as the speaking script.

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coderdojo

We’re making a circuit with ourselves and the kids here. The orange is one of the controllers for the game. All made by folks 7-10 years old.

CoderDojo is, at its simplest, computer programming clubs for kids run by volunteers. There is no set curriculum. Instead, kids lead what is taught. Organizers and volunteers do create “sushi cards” for some guidance for concepts, and I have helped develop a few of these cards. Check out the sushi card coding resources!

Want to find a Dojo for your child? Check here for local clubs.

rails girls Dublin

Rails Girls is an international workshop series inviting women to learn Ruby on Rails in a 2-day workshop format. The learning is concrete and focused on creating an application in the 2-day period. It’s most important that women are introduced to programming and to a great culture. Coaches are a mix of local and international software engineers. After Coaching in D.C., Galway and London, I was thrilled to co-organize my very own Rails Girls in Dublin.

Want to set up your own Rails Girls? Ping me! Happy to get your feet pointed in the right direction.

If you’re already running a Rails Girls in your city, I’d love to chat with you about me Coaching or speaking at your event.