Open Tech Calendar

Why ML Club?

The data science and software ‘meet-up’ scene is alive and well in the central belt of Scotland, but there seems to be a focus on talks which, even when given by data professionals, seem to focus on general business topics surrounding data, rather than the sharing of technical expertise and discussing the techniques used to perform data related work.

To remedy this situation, we have decided to set up a new group, called “Machine Learning Club”, where the focus is on bringing together creative, technical and scientific people with an interest in machine learning and building software based on machine learning to learn from one another in a practical, challenging setting.

What is the format?

The format for Machine Learning Club is proposed to be the following:

- We aim to have anything from 20-40 people involved, these 20-40 people will then be split into teams, the size of which is still to be determined (we suggest a maximum of 6, the ideal is probably 4).

- The teams will then be set the challenge of creating a product (most likely software, but hardware solutions are also welcome) with machine learning present as a key component, which solves a problem of each team’s choosing provided it falls within some overarching category which has been selected.

- The teams will have 5 months to develop and prototype their ML techniques and product, with the aim of competing against one another at the end of that period for a series of prizes. The prizes will be in two categories: Best Overall Product and Most Innovative Application of ML.

- The winners of the two prize categories will be decided by a panel made of judges from outside ML club, the aim is to include at least one “ML expert” and one “overarching category expert”.

- The aim of the monthly meetings will be for all teams to share progress and what they have learned in an open way. This will also be used as an opportunity for teams to share issues they have or are currently encountering, allowing other members of the club to offer help and advice.

- We should also stress from the outset that this competition should not result in all the ML people doing all the ML and all the software developers doing all the software. This will naturally happen to some extent but to get the most from the Club people should be encouraged to step out of their comfort zone and do something new!

Logistics

- The first meeting of ML club will include a brief explanation of the format, an announcement of the over-arching topic, and a brief introduction and demo of some tools to make sure everyone is up to speed.

- The first meeting will also include team selection. This may either be done randomly or we will allow people to form their own teams, this will be open for discussion at the beginning of the first night.

- The organising team are currently seeking sponsorship for prizes. The venue and food and drink will be provided by RookieOven and Streamba.

Join the ML Club Slack(join.slack.com) to discuss progress, formulate ideas, and organise teams.

Sign up over at www.meetup.com