{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "content": "---\ntitle: \"A call-up to fight covid19\"\ndescription: \"Joining an ANU COVID-19 taskforce to build epidemiological simulation tools\n  for the Canberra health system.\"\ntags:\n  - research\n---\n\nAs with many folks at the moment (both in Canberra and around the world) I've\nbeen called up into a covid19 taskforce (an initiative of the ANU's Software\nInnovation Institute, in partnership with the [RSCS](https://cs.anu.edu.au) &\nother parts of the ANU). I'm the technical lead on the part of the project which\nis trying to wrap up epidemiological simulation models into usable & robust\ntools for seeing & understanding what the results of said models mean for the\nCanberra health system. How can we predict what will happen, and how can we\nmanage our finite resources to deliver the best care possible---these are the\nquestions we need to answer as the world settles in for (perhaps) a long period\nof on-and-off distancing & isolation. I'll be able to share more details in the\nfuture, so if you're interested in that sort of thing then come back to check\nfor updates on this blog (I'll use the `covid19` tag).\n\nThat means that some aspects of my creative coding work are _temporarily_ on the\nback burner (although I'm still teaching the\n[Laptop Ensemble](/blog/tag/lens/)). I can't complain too much---covid19 has put\nlots of stuff on the back burner all over the world. In fact, I'm thankful to\n(a) have a job and (b) have a sense of agency about all this stuff; the feeling\nof impotence as an individual in a big world beset by this pandemic can be hard\nto take sometimes.\n\nThe toolkit of computation as explored through the domain of making art & music\nis no less relevant when we're all stuck at home in isolation. The arts can be a\nbalm in difficult times, especially while many are staring down the barrel of\nunemployment & the need to re-skill. Our computers threaten to eat us and our\nhappiness if we just sit at them passively consuming our social media & news\nfeeds.\n\nThe c/c/c studio will still (fingers crossed) kick off formally in 2021 as\nanticipated, so stay tuned for more updates. And if you're a schoolteacher in\nthe Canberra region and you'd like to have a guest talk (or even an interactive\nworkshop) on musical livecoding delivered via zoom over the next few months,\n[get in touch](mailto:ben.swift@anu.edu.au).\n",
  "createdAt": "2026-05-13T23:14:54.298Z",
  "description": "Joining an ANU COVID-19 taskforce to build epidemiological simulation tools for the Canberra health system.",
  "path": "/blog/2020/04/18/a-call-up-to-fight-covid19",
  "publishedAt": "2020-04-18T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:tevykrhi4kibtsipzci76d76/site.standard.publication/self",
  "tags": [
    "research"
  ],
  "textContent": "Joining an ANU COVID-19 taskforce to build epidemiological simulation tools for the Canberra health system.",
  "title": "A call-up to fight covid19"
}