Introduction to deep learning with hands-on tensorflow workshop

This meetup will be run by Keelin Murphy (INFANT research centre, UCC) and Peter Elger (FourTheorem). It will start with an introduction to deep-learning, how it differs from other machine-learning algorithms, and how it works. We will then have a short introduction to tensorflow (https://www.tensorflow.org/), and proceed with a hands-on workshop implementing two tensorflow tutorials (1 (https://www.tensorflow.org/get_started/mnist/beginners) & 2 (https://www.tensorflow.org/get_started/mnist/pros)) to recognise hand-written digits.

We will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) virtual machines to implement the tutorials so no special software installation will be required. Full instruction will be provided by Cork's own AWS representative, and all costs will be covered.

We will be providing beer and pizza to all attendees in order to help with workshop productivity!!

To participate in the workshop you will need:

1. A working AWS account. Please set one up, following the instructions here if you do not have one: https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/create-and-activate-aws-account/ . You will be asked for credit card details but no charge is made and costs for the workshop will be covered.

2. Access to a gpu-compute machine on AWS. This application takes a few days to process so please follow the steps below well in advance of the workshop date.

a. Click this link http://aws.amazon.com/contact-us/ec2-request

b. Sign in using the account you want to use for the event.

c. Once logged on, you’ll be taken to a window which will raise a Support Case with AWS.

i. Under “Region*”, please choose “EU (Ireland)”.

ii. Under “Primary Instance Type*”, please choose “p2.xlarge”.

iii. Leave “Limit*” at its default value of “Instance Limit”.

iv. Under “New limit value*”, please enter a value of “1”.

v. Under “Use Case Description”, please enter the following “Participating in an AWS workshop with MeetUp on Thursday 30th November. I will be testing out the Amazon Deep Learning AMI. For any queries, please contact AWS Solutions Architect (cjoha@).”

d. Then, just click the “Web” Contact Method, and click the blue “Submit” button.

3. A laptop with ssh installed.

For insurance purposes only RSVP'd attendees will be permitted entry to the building. The nature of this workshop also means we need to be fairly accurate on how many attendees we will have, so please RSVP if you will attend, and don't if you won't :-)