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Information Technology is a very dynamic discipline which has over the years contributed so much to the way we live.

Gone are the days when we used to solely rely on the noisy landlines for communication. Nowadays, we can send text, voice, audio and video data seamlessly using smart phones which most people never ever dreamt of. We are now in the Machine Learning era, which I believe presents lots of opportunities for Zimbabwe.

Our society is quickly changing from an industry based society to an information based society. Information is now the new oil and if used properly; it can be a game changer for Zimbabwe.

The purpose of this article is to highlight areas where this concept can be used to improve people’s lives. Machine Learning is a surrogate of artificial intelligence, where computer algorithms are used to independently learn from data and information.

In machine learning, computers do not have to be explicitly programmed, but can evolve due to the nature and structure of the algorithms. Machine learning is defined as a method of data analysis that automates analytical model building.

Using algorithms that iteratively learn from data, machine learning allows computers to find hidden insights without being explicitly programmed where to look.

Security
Due to the ever-changing technological environment, security has become a major area of concern. Machine learning algorithms can be used to help filter malicious packets to protect our computing devices.

This could help reduce the attacks that we are always exposed to. This concept can also be used to detect intrusions and fraud mitigation as well.

Education analytics
Machine learning can play a crucial role in education analytics provided the digital data is available ie student marks and bio data.

Latent patterns can be extracted from vast amounts of data that schools and universities produce every year and this can give an insight on questions like: Does sex matter when it comes to science education?

Is there a direct relationship between points obtained at ‘A’ level and performance of the student at university level? Does the type of school one attends at high school influence one’s performance at university?

One of our students actually created an application that puts students in different classes (e.g commercials, sciences, arts) based on their strengths. This is a better way of screening students; compared to the traditional way of using the total number of marks.

A student may pass with relatively low total marks while he/she is a high flyer in mathematics and sciences and end up being classified under arts classes.

Business analytics

A lot of our companies can also benefit from using Machine Learning. In marketing, the most important principle is to understand customers and that is why marketing experts have written books on understanding consumer behavior.

Machine learning can be used to understand consumer behavior through the use of algorithms like “The Apriori Algorithm” and many more.

With the onset of online buying and selling; recommender systems can be a valuable feature in building a foundation for personalised marketing. Companies can customise the emails that particular clients can receive, offers that they see, products that show up as recommended and so on.

All this can be done to lure customers towards reliable sales. Machine Learning can also be used to predict stock markets using natural language processing and other techniques.

Healthcare analytics
Machine learning can be used to understand various risk factors for diseases in our society. Currently there is research being conducted in disease identification and diagnosis using machine learning.

Google’s DeepMind has made some partnerships with a couple of hospitals in London with the hope of developing technology to solve the problem of muscular degeneration in aging eyes.

Drug discovery is also a hot research area in which machine learning can be used as way of creating drugs. In Africa we are always slow when it comes to technology and I am very happy that Harare Institute of Technology is trying by all means to bridge the gap.

Our students are doing projects that address some of the areas highlighted above, and with the right partnerships with industry, we will make Zimbabwe great.

However, for all this to be possible there is need for industry and the education sector to store their electronic data. Data sets are an indispensable requirement for machine learning.

Kudakwashe Zvarevashe is a Lecturer in the Information Technology department. He can be contacted on [email protected] For further details on our programmes, Email [email protected] Visit our website on http://www.hit.ac.zw Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HarareInstituteofTechnology Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/HarareInstitute Telephone: 04-741422-36