When was the last time you opened a file and noticed a computer glitch? “Never” is the usual answer. Yet the underlying hardware makes continual errors: disks make errors, the internet loses packets of data, wifi signals get corrupted and so on.
This lecture is about the secrets of the mysterious invulnerability that is Error Control Coding: a way of storing or transmitting information such that it knows it has been corrupted and can correct itself.
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Richard Harvey is IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology at Gresham College and Professor at the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia.
He is also the Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Admissions at the University of East Anglia. Before joining UEA in 1993, Professor Harvey was a mathematician at first Plessey Naval Systems and then Marconi Underwater Systems.
Professor Harvey holds a PhD in the application of statistical estimation theory to the passive synthetic aperture problem. In his early career, he focused on problems in signal processing, acoustics and vibration.
His research now focuses on artificial intelligence and computer vision. Recently he has been working in the field of artificial lip-reading which fascinates him because of the scientific challenge and allows him to debunk false claims and misunderstandings.
He routinely speaks at schools and conferences around the country both on technical topics related to Computer Science but also on matters relating to admissions policy and widening participation.
Professor Harvey has also acted as a consultant for international companies and as Executive and Non-Executive Director for several spin-outs and start-ups.
Professor Harvey's lecture series are as follows:
2021/22 Six Tech Inventions That Changed The World
2020/21 Great Ideas from Computer Science
2019/20 The Digital State
2018/19 The Science of Information
All lectures by the IT Livery Company Professors of Information Technology can be accessed here.
