CDU IT students take part in Data Science Challenge
IT students from Charles Darwin University (CDU) have recently tested their technological talents at the 2022 CDU IT Code fair by entering the Data Science Challenge and tackling a complex task.
The challenge asked students to propose, model and demonstrate a computerised solution to automatically assess the complexity of Australian domestic violence legislation which differs in each Australian state and territory and is often seen as quite complex.
As part of the challenge, students applied data science techniques to help compare the legislation across the jurisdictions.
The insightful results revealed that the Northern Territory legislation has the highest readability score, according to the Flesch Reading Ease score which makes sure legislation is more accessible for citizens and easier to understand and apply in practice.
CDU Senior Lecturer in Business Law and expert in national uniform legislation Dr Guzyal Hill said these solutions help to provide a greater understanding of legislation and where improvements can be made.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) can now provide powerful tools for comparing legislation across states and territories and we should harness this capacity, as lawyers,” Dr Hill said.
“Legislative drafters can use some techniques to ensure readability, for example they can have a cap on the number of lines per section.”
CDU Lecturer in Information Technology and challenge organiser Dr Yakub Sebastian said that it is important for legislation to be assessed which is why it was proposed to students in this challenge.
“As the body of legislation grows more complex, we must have powerful tools for its analysis and finding connections that are not visible to the human eye,” Dr Sebastian said.
Dr Sebastian said the students did a fantastic job highlighting solutions to meet the challenge.
“I am incredibly proud of the students that participated in the challenge and it highlights that universities and indeed our students can play a role in shaping legislation and ensuring it is accessible for users,” Dr Sebastian said.
Students were assessed on their solutions by a panel of experts as part of the CDU It Code Fair, an annual event organised by CDU for its Information Technology students to showcase their talents to the industry and community.