[SORSE] Christmas SORSE Event: When Spreadsheets Attack! (and other maths disasters.)

Thursday Dec 17, 2020, 2:45 PM → 4:45 PM UTC

Virtual (Zoom)

Claire Wyatt (RSE Community Manager at the Software Sustainability Institute)

Are you already looking forward to the festive break for some relaxation? Yes, so are we! But just before you close your computer down for possibly the last time in 2020, join us for a lighthearted look at 'When Spreadsheets Attack!' with the hilarious, well-known standup comedian and mathematician, Matt Parker, followed by some tales from the community. See some of his previous work on YouTube.
 
What a way to start the holidays with an hour of standup comedy!

So get yourself a well-deserved…

• (choose as appropriate) glass of vin chaud, mulled wine, Bisschopswijn or Lidl’s finest gluhwein or maybe you fancy a mug of eggnog or a spiced pumpkin latte or a cold cold beer (southern hemisphere looking at you)

 
and to go with it…
 

• (choose as appropriate) a mince pie, a piece of stollen or a chocolate covered spiced lebkuchen, a few Speculaas, an Oliebollen or a leftover slice of pumpkin pie...

And join us at the SORSE Christmas event, kindly funded by the Society of Research Software Engineering for the community. The SORSE team will be bringing our Christmas drink and snack of choice so you might as well too!

This event is for anyone who considers themselves part of the International RSE and RSE-adjacent community.

Language: English

By joining the event in Zoom, I hereby confirm that I have read and understood the privacy policies for participation.

This event will take place in Zoom Webinar and will not be recorded.

Introduction

1 Welcome to the Christmas SORSE Event by your host

Speaker: Claire Wyatt (RSE Community Manager at the Software Sustainability Institute, Vice-President of the Society of Research Software Engineering)

2 About the Society

Speaker: Paul Richmond (President of the Society of Research Software Engineering, University of Sheffield)

Standup + Math

3 When Spreadsheets Attack! (and other maths disasters.)

In October 2020 the UK government lost thousands of COVID test results because they hit the limit of the maximum number of rows in an Excel file. This is but one of many, many mistakes made all around the world because of spreadsheet abuse.

In 2012 the State Office of Education in Utah miscalculated its budget to the tune of 25 million dollars because of what State Superintendent Larry Shumway called "a faulty reference" in a spreadsheet. In 2011 the village of West Baraboo in Wisconsin miscalculated how much their borrowing would cost by $400,000 because a range being summed missed one important cell.

Matt Parker is a long-time spreadsheet fan. His stand-up routine about spreadsheets has over 2.5 million views on YouTube. But he has also investigated the incredible ways they can go wrong for his best-selling book Humble Pi. In this session Matt will look at some of the top #VALUE! greatest spreadsheet mistakes as well as other times mishandling data and maths has led to disaster.

Come armed with your own spreadsheet horror stories to share!

Speaker: Matt Parker

Community Tales from the front line

4 From an RSE perspective

Speakers: Alexander Struck, Christopher Cave-Ayland (Imperial College), Marion Weinzierl, Stephan Druskat and Thomas Krause

5 From a research perspective

Speaker: Simon Hettrick