ESR – Everybody’s Social Responsibility
About us
ESR – Everybody’s Social Responsibility
Doing the right thing – that is one of our core values and relates to how we deal not only with our customers, but – more importantly – with our own employees. We are convinced it is crucial to distribute responsibility and to use the skills of each individual employee in the best possible way – and for the benefit of us all. That is why we have developed the “Everybody’s Social Responsibility” approach. Employees should be able to decide for themselves what they want to stand up for and know that everyone can always make their own contribution to the working conditions and the atmosphere at QualityMinds.
If employees would like to use their skills in charitable projects outside of QualityMinds, an agreed quota of hours is available to them. Let us introduce you to some of the projects in which our Minds are or were involved.
Rainforest Connection – discarded cell phones help protect the rainforest
Rainforest Connection (RFCx) is a state-approved, non-profit start-up based in San Francisco. The idea is to turn used smartphones, highly sensitive microphones and solar collectors into “guardians” of the forest. These “guardians” are placed high in the treetops of the rainforests around the world and transmit all sounds to a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI). This AI, Gaia, is trained to locate various sounds, such as chainsaws or birds singing, and decide whether they are a potential threat to the forest and wildlife. When the RFCx system logs and detects poaching or deforestation, it sends real-time alerts to rangers who can stop the illegal activity.
The system helps the rainforest with its flora, fauna and the indigenous population who have inhabited these areas since prehistoric times. It protects indigenous people from unscrupulous poachers who do not care for human life.
With the expansion of the RFCx system, new applications are constantly being added. A tool to localize the rangers in the endangered area, the tracking of endangered species for species conservation, and a user app to listen to the depths of the rainforest are just some of the programs that the RFCx technology enables.
In his TED Talk, Topher White (the founder of the project), explains how he came up with this idea and how it has developed so far.
What was our contribution to the project? We did what we do best – we tested! We checked the software during the development phase for several years and we supported our colleagues across all test levels and test phases.
TED Talk
WhiteIT – IT technology against child abuse
WhiteIT is a unique alliance of over 70 partners from politics, industry, law enforcement authorities, trade unions, associations, victim protection associations, science and the public sector. It works on a holistic strategy to combat sexual violence against children. The measures consist of legal, preventive and technical means as well as victim support and offender therapy. As a partner, we were involved in the development of the Child Abuse Prevention System (CAPS) analysis program. The software is designed to support police investigations and – thanks to automatic data analysis – can classify and categorize suspicious material. The extensive metadata of image, video and text files are automatically indexed in CAPS and compared with existing information. This brings greater efficiency to the inspection work and investigative success.
With the CAPS project, we set ourselves the goal of making consistent use of the achievements of the internet in business and society while helping to get the their undesirable side effects under control. It was a great opportunity to advance an important goal – the fight against internet crime.
WhiteIT
Children’s holiday program of the Brückenhaus e.V. association
Every year in the first summer vacation week in Baden-Württemberg, the children’s vacation program (KiFePro) of the association Brückenhaus e.V. takes place in Kirchheim unter Teck. Around 180 children aged 6 to 12, accompanied by around 15 full-time and 25 voluntary employees, are invited to the children’s summer camp under an annually changing motto. They handicraft, play and have fun for a week. An important educational principle of the Brückenhaus e.V. association is to offer children new opportunities, to let them explore and try things out, to let them gain their own experience and, in particular, to let their creativity run free.
Around 20 years ago, Carina, our member of the QualityLearning team, played at this summer camp. The experiences she made there moved her to work as a volunteer at the age of 16. For around two years, she and other long-term volunteers have set up a “core team” that takes care of the preparation, implementation and follow-up of the children’s holiday program. This includes, among other things, the children’s registration process, donation requests, the procurement of materials and the care of volunteers and helpers throughout the year. All of this happens in close cooperation with the full-time employees of the Brückenhaus e.V. You can read more about our work in the “core team” of KiFePros in the newspaper article in “Teckboten” from August 14, 2018.
“Working in the children’s holiday program has been a matter close to my heart for years, which is why I am very pleased that QualityMinds not only appreciates my work there, but also supports and promotes it. In addition, when communicating with colleagues, I was able to take away valuable input for the children’s vacation program, which inspired me not only to use elements of scrum in the organization of the camp, but also to take a closer look at existing procedures through the lens of agility. You can read about my experiences in my blog article.”
Carina Hoppenz, QualityMinds
Blog
SOFTWARE TESTING ACADEMY:
Training software testers of tomorrow through social and educational equity.
Together with international partners, we are working on the Erasmus project Software Testing Academy.
Project objectives:
- Promoting motivation for lifelong learning, particularly for vocational training of individuals who want to enter the job market for software testing services, especially among unemployed adults, migrants, and other disadvantaged individuals.
- Raising awareness of employment opportunities in the field of software testing.
Final outcomes:
- Creation of a European academy and learning tools (platform, materials, resources, etc.) that offer current training courses on software testing.
- Creation of a personalized training model for future professionals in the field of software testing.
About the project:
Key-action – KA220-VET – Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training
Reference – 2021-1-PT01-KA220-VET-000033142
Start date – 01-02-2022
End date – 01-10-2024
Disclaimer:
“This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”.
Software Testing Academy
