Information Retrieval

**SPDY MEETUP 005** Welcome back! Following up on last week’s announcement, we are thrilled to schedule **SPDY MEETUP 005**. As always, we’ll be joined by incredible engineers who are ready to share their latest research and insights. Here's an updated list of presenters and topics: **🔸 Annie Sullivan**, Senior Staff Software Engineer at **Google** *"The latest data on soft navigations in Core Web Vitals"* 🔸 **Michal Mocny**, Sr Software Developer, **Google Chrome**, Speed Metrics *"InteractionContentfulPaint: a new Performance API for measuring UX."* 🔸 **Bas Schouten**, Performance Tech Lead at **Mozilla** *TBA* We have an incredible evening lined up featuring expert-led sessions sharing the latest in web performance research. As always, there will be dedicated time for Q&A following the sessions. **Interested in speaking?** Slots are available for lightning talks. If you’d like to share your work, please reach out via DM or email at **henrihelvetica@gmail.com**. Beyond the presentations, come enjoy some great networking with our vibrant community. We recommend **RSVPing as soon as possible** to secure your spot, as we are expecting international teams from both Google and Mozilla to also attend. With that, we look fwd to seeing everyone May 13th. -Henri

Join us on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, from 6-8 PM EDT, for a unique and challenging event featuring the CMD+CTRL Cyber Range. OWASP Toronto is happy to host a Cyber Range event with CMD+CTRL! CMD+CTRL Cyber Ranges are intentionally vulnerable applications and websites that tempt players to steal money, view their boss’s salary, acquire expensive items for free, and conduct other nefarious acts. **Bring your laptop to participate in-person, or join virtually!** * In-person: In person: Security Compass, 325 Front Street West, Unit 103, Toronto, ON * Online: See registration below **You MUST register on the following site to participate:** https://web.cmdnctrlsecurity.com/owasp-toronto-register

Join us on Wednesday, May 13th, 2026, at 6:30 PM for a session presented by **Aidan Foster** on using Claude Design, Anthropic's new AI-assisted design tool, to vibe design web user interfaces. **Event Details:** * **Location:** CSI Spadina - 192 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5T 2C2. Viola Desmond room on the 3rd floor * **Date and Time:** May 13, 2026, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM * **Topic:** Experimenting with Claude Design. **Location Note:** This meeting will be held in the **Viola Desmond room on the 3rd floor**. Access will be via the door to the stairs, not the usual main entrance to the basement area. We will send the building access code on the morning of the meetup, via email and chat. **Session Topic:** Claude Design starts as code and grows into design software, the opposite direction of Figma. We'll look at: * Generating a design system from a Figma file * Iterating with the tweaks panel and edit mode * Prototyping UI from existing code and screenshots * Where Claude Design fits alongside Figma and Claude Code **Your Voice Matters:** Got ideas for future presentations or want to be a speaker? Reach out to Pierre or Aidan – we're always looking for speakers and new insights! **Drinks & Discussion:** Stay after the presentation for drinks and more Drupal talk at [Hotel Ocho](https://maps.app.goo.gl/4HF9ooz2Ki9B8o577) **Special Thanks to our Sponsor:** A big shoutout to[ Kalamuna](https://www.kalamuna.com) for providing the CSI space for our meetup. Looking forward to seeing old friends and new faces alike. Let's make this a great meetup for Toronto's Drupal community, going strong since 2006!

Please Note: This event is advertised on multiple platforms. Please RSVP and get a ticket on Mindstone (https://community.mindstone.com/events/mindstone-toronto-may-ai-meetup-2026) to view the agenda and guarantee a spot. Welcome to the most electrifying and ground-breaking AI Meetup in Toronto! Join us once a month as we delve into the world of artificial intelligence, explore its cutting-edge practical applications, and marvel at the astonishing projects that are shaping our future. Why should you attend? • Get up close and personal with the AI projects that are redefining the boundaries of technology and human potential. • Learn from the brightest minds in the field and gain valuable insights into the ever-evolving AI landscape. • Unleash your curiosity, fuel your creativity, and expand your network as you connect with fellow AI aficionados and pioneers. What you can expect? Mindstone events consist of three talks covering different aspects: • What I Learned Building With LLMs: A technical demo breaking down the process for building a product using AI with real-life learnings and insights. • How To Be More Productive Using AI: A practical demo and step-by-step guide on how to use AI to speed up and improve tasks. • What Does The Future Look Like With AI?: A theoretical talk on the impact of AI on work, life and society. After the talks we'll have pizza, drinks, and networking. Don't miss out on this extraordinary opportunity to witness the AI revolution in action. It's time to embark on a thrilling journey into the future and discover the endless possibilities that lie within the realm of artificial intelligence. Reserve your spot today for the ultimate AI experience! 💡✨ (https://community.mindstone.com/events/mindstone-toronto-may-ai-meetup-2026) Please Note: This event is advertised on multiple platforms. Please RSVP and get a ticket on Mindstone (https://community.mindstone.com/events/mindstone-toronto-may-ai-meetup-2026) to view the agenda and guarantee a spot.

**Description:** * **First time playing?** **:** Join us for a 2-hour show-up-and-play pickleball session. Don’t worry—we’re all beginners here, and you’ll leave with at least one new friend. We’ll mix in for doubles and keep it fun and low-pressure. Bring your own paddle and come play. * **Basic rules and scoring:** Check out the YouTube link below before the event. * https://youtu.be/RoheCHp6IDw?si=8isQQBuuplilTAmB **[Details]** * **Where:** Swing Star * **Address:** 1-15 Connie Crescent, · Vaughan, ca * **Level:** Beginners (Level 2.0 - 2.5) * **What to bring:** Comfortable athletic wear, court shoes, a water bottle, and **your paddle** ### **[Registration & Payment]** To finalize your registration, please send an **e-Transfer of $15** to **playtogether.ca@gmail.com** immediately after your RSVP. Your spot is only confirmed once the payment is received. * **Capacity:** Limited to 8 participants (First come, first served). ### **[Refund Policy]** A **full refund** will be issued in the following cases: 1. If the minimum number of participants (**3 people**) is not met 48 hours before the event. 2. If the court becomes unavailable for booking. 3. If the event is cancelled due to inclement weather. *Please note: No-shows or cancellations made within 48 hours of the event are non-refundable unless the organizer cancels the session.* Join us for a great workout and meet new pickleball friends in the Markham community!

Come join us for a Women in Tech celebration! Beyond Networking is a facilitated experience designed to create exactly that. Women and gender-diverse people in tech (students, early-career professionals, mid-career leaders, founders, recruiters) seated together, working through real stories, sharing real experiences. ​Through a guided case study and intentionally curated tables, you'll hear perspectives from every career stage. The lessons learned the hard way. The advice someone wished they'd had. The moments that actually changed things. ​Two or three rounds. New tables each time. Conversations that go somewhere. ​This is a space to connect, to learn from each other, and to leave feeling a little less alone in your journey and a lot more supported. Spots are limited! Buy your ticket here: https://luma.com/hcub806p Agenda --- Hosted By Ash Srivastava, Organizer Rucha Acharya, Co-Organizer Vikas Poojari, Co-Organizer --- Partners BrainStation Toronto (https://brainstation.io/toronto) Women Techmakers (https://www.technovation.org/women-techmakers/) --- Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-mississauga-presents-gdg-mississauga-x-women-techmakers-beyond-networking-women-in-tech/.

We’re thrilled to invite you to an exciting meetup! We'll have one talk presented by an Elastic employee and one presented by a community member. Bring your questions and come support the community! **Agenda** **5:00 PM** – Doors Open Come in, say hello, grab some food, and settle in for an engaging evening. **5:45 PM** – **"Lessons from evaluating production AI Agents for over a year", presented by** Susan Chang, Principal Data Scientist at Elastic **6:15 PM** – Q&A **6:30 PM** – "**Elasticsearch Journey – Working in Different Industries", presented by** Yasir Zaid, Elastic Certified Engineer **7:00 PM** – Q&A **7:15 PM** – Networking & Event Wrap-Up Stick around to chat, connect, and share insights with fellow attendees. **When:** Thursday, May 14th 5:00 - 7:00 pm **Where:** [Centre for Social Innovation - Spadina](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=43.650017%2C%20-79.397156) 192 Spadina Ave. · Toronto, ON 3rd floor, The Viola Desmond Room **Abstracts** **"Lessons from evaluating production AI Agents for over a year"** This talk covers methods of evaluating AI Agents, with an example of how the speakers built evaluation frameworks for a user-facing AI Agent system which has been in production for over a year. We share tools and frameworks used (as well as tradeoffs and alternatives), and discuss methods such as LLM-as-Judge, rules-based evaluations, ML metrics used, as well as selection tradeoffs. **Bio:** Susan Shu Chang is a Principal Data Scientist at Elastic, where she leads work on production-grade machine learning, including generative AI and agentic workflows. She is also an internationally recognized speaker, O’Reilly author, and keynote presenter at major global technical conferences. **My Elasticsearch Journey – Working in Different Industries** This talk explores Yasir Zaidi’s hands-on experience using Elastic products to deliver strategic solutions across banking, insurance, and telecommunications. Through real-world examples, the session will cover how Elasticsearch and the broader Elastic Stack have been used for search architecture, security, SIEM, and observability, along with some of the newer and more exciting projects now being built with Elastic. The talk will also highlight recent Elasticsearch features and innovations, and how they are opening up new possibilities for modern enterprise use cases. **Bio:** Yasir Zaidi is the Owner of ZD Inc. ([https://zd-inc.net/](https://zd-inc.net/)) and Elasticsearch Experts ([https://elasticsearch.expert/](https://elasticsearch.expert/)), and Co-Founder of 360metrics ([https://www.360metrics.io/](https://www.360metrics.io/)) and Certified Elasticsearch Partner Solution Architect. He has delivered hundreds of Elasticsearch projects for organizations around the world, with experience spanning Observability, SIEM, Enterprise search, Cloud deployments, and AI-powered search solutions, Serverless and much more. His work includes engagements with Ericsson, SAP, Intact Insurance, Videotron, RONA, Geotab and Desjardins Bank, just to name a few. Backed by three master’s degrees and Elastic certifications, Yasir brings deep technical expertise and proven global delivery experience. Linkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasirzaidi/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasirzaidi/) Spots are limited, so don't miss out!

One of our favourite locations for our first trip of 2026, McCrae Lake is in in the south, and will have warmer weather than the more northern lakes. This is an easy trip, good for novice paddlers, to test your new kit, or get back into shape. McCrae Lake is a large lake divided into several bays, on crown land, close to Toronto. The water quality is excellent, and there is good fishing. The backcountry campsites are large, quiet, have a steel grill and thunder box, and are free. More information on McCrae Lake: [https://www.ontario.ca/page/mccrae-lake-conservation-reserve-management-statement](https://www.ontario.ca/page/mccrae-lake-conservation-reserve-management-statement) The water may be warm enough to swim, and the bugs will not be out yet. Fun activities include hiking on wilderness trails, paddling up and down rapids, swimming with rattle snakes, diving off of cliffs into the lake, and dragging out the bodies of people who tried to do all of those things. Watch for the Five-Lined Skink. Or, you can relax in a hammock. McCrae Lake is very popular. We may have to wait for room in the parking lot, and empty campsites. **If anyone in our group can go into McCrae Lake on Thursday or Friday to secure a campsite, it would be appreciated.** Arrive early Sat. AM. to get a parking spot or after 3:00 PM when day hikers go home. We are not required to go home on Monday night. You can continue to camp for as long as you wish. Carpooling is recommended to reduce the number of parking spaces required. Most areas of the lake have cell service sufficient for text messages and data. One portage, 150 metres, well used trail, over a high granite ridge. Paddle distance: 5 km. Canoe rentals should be available if you reserve one in advance: Swift Canoe Georgian Bay [https://swiftoutside.com/georgian-bay/](https://swiftoutside.com/georgian-bay/) Wawautosa Marina [https://www.wawautosa.ca/](https://www.wawautosa.ca/) Driving Distance: From Hwy 7 and Hwy 400, Vaughan Metropolitan Center: 142 km., 1 hour 30 mins. **ACTUAL LOCATION:** **McCrae Lake Parking Lot Muskoka District Municipality, ON** **44.92206400775243, -79.7772977860336** **Please fill in the Spread Sheet below:** https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V1iupkEzye3zj5O8Sagri1FZyVLGOeM1EDy4ZkgcABo/edit?usp=sharing

\*\***The Toronto History Walks Yearly Pass is available. Get it now for $125.00 for 1 year of unlimited tours, email** **torontohistorywalks@gmail.com** **for more information or for signing up!\*\*** \*\* **Please note: Please e-transfer the ticket amount when booking your space for this tour! You can e-transfer to the following email at:** **torontohistorywalks@gmail.com** In 1837, the Heath family purchased 40 acres on the northwest corner of Yonge and St. Clair and named it Deer Park. The neighbourhood included a racetrack, a school, and a hotel. Hotel guests could feed deer that roamed the land. The property was subdivided in 1846 and was sold off by 1874. In 1891, Upper Canada College moved from its downtown Toronto location to Deer Park, and in 1931, De La Salle College followed to settle on the estate 'Oaklands' that was purchased and built by Senator John Macdonald. Oaklands forms part of the southern boundary of Deer Park. This walk is for all fitness levels. The meeting place for our walking adventure is just outside the Deer Park Library at 40 St. Clair Avenue East. We will return to the starting point after the walk which is adjacent to the TTC St. Clair Station. This tour has a ticket price of $15.00 per person! \*\* **Please note: Please e-transfer the ticket amount when booking your space for this tour! You can e-transfer to the following email at:** **torontohistorywalks@gmail.com**

**This is a ticketed event. Please register at [this link](https://luma.com/n5d2q50u).** ​The Platonic Representation Hypothesis (Huh et al., 2024) proposes that neural networks are converging toward a shared statistical model of objective reality, offering a Platonic explanation for the growing representational similarity observed across models of different architectures, datasets, and modalities. In this talk, Robert Adragna argues that such convergence is computationally intractable in practice. Truly representing reality would require models to recognize the same real-world concept across all its possible appearances — a form of robustness that theoretical and empirical work suggests is infeasible to achieve at scale. He proposes an alternative account: representational convergence reflects shared structural assumptions embedded in training data, not the discovery of objective reality. ​​​**Event Schedule** 6:00 to 6:30 - Food and introductions 6:30 to 7:30 - Presentation and Q&A 7:30 to 9:00 - Open Discussions ​​​​​​If you can't make it in person, feel free to join the live stream starting at 6:30 pm, via [this link](https://www.youtube.com/@Trajectory-Labs/live).

**Important:** **RSVP’ing on Meetup does not reserve your spot.** **To join this experience, you must sign up at [app.cinders.dating](https://app.cinders.dating/matchCircle2?utmSource=meetup) and complete your profile. Only confirmed guests will receive the exact location and details.** Skip weeks of texting. Meet your mutual matches in a setting that doesn't feel like an awkward first date. **What to Expect** Drinks (+ small bites), 8 - 12 singles (balanced gender) looking for similar things. **How it works** 1. Create your profile on [Cinders](https://app.cinders.dating/matchCircle2?utmSource=meetup). 2. Select 3 things that matter most to you in a partner. 3. We invite a group of singles whose preferences align for a blind group date at a cozy restaurant. 4. Confirm your spot (small registration fee), show up and meet 3-4 of your closest matches in a social setting that doesn't feel like an awkward first date. The exact date and location will be shared only with confirmed guests. **[Sign up here](https://app.cinders.dating/matchCircle2?utmSource=meetup)** **[Cinders](https://cinders.dating/?utmSource=meetup) is a social app designed to help singles skip weeks of dating apps and meet in real life.** Our app learns your preferences and who and what you're into, then matches you into IRL experiences with people you might be aligned with. **To join this experience, you must sign up at [cinders.dating](https://app.cinders.dating/matchCircle2?utmSource=meetup) and complete your profile. Only confirmed guests will receive the location and details.**

Meeting West of the main entrance to the James Gardens parking lot. Find the parking lot off of Edenbridge Dr. Find the group in front of the public washrooms. The cost for this event will be $10. Bring 1 guest free of charge. Cash or e-transfer to daniellepellatthall@gmail.com can be paid upon arrival at the event. If things change and you can no longer attend, please make sure to change your RSVP to NO at least 2 HOURS before the event starts. Please and thank you. It is not enough to know the names of plants. This group gives you the opportunities to use those words and commit the plants to memory. Bring your plant and tree identification guide if you have one, and if you don't have one, the library is a great place to try some out. Plant ID apps are also welcome. -Be safe -Treat people with respect -Don't eat things without a firm confidence in their identity -ID trees and plants -Take and post pictures -Repeat

Practical AI for Power BI Developers A year ago, “agentic AI” was mostly hype for Power BI teams. Today, it deserves your undivided attention. For Power BI pros, there is now a real opportunity to reduce repetitive development work, accelerate delivery, and help developers do more, but only when strong DataOps practices are in place to make AI workflows effective. This session is a no-nonsense introduction to effective AI patterns for Power BI and Fabric development. Along the way, we will make sense of the growing pile of terminology, including skills, plugins, hooks, and MCP. You will see examples of how modern AI tooling can help with development tasks across Power BI and Fabric, along with the prerequisites, guardrails, and DataOps principles needed to use it responsibly. Whether you're burned out on AI hype or already using Copilot CLI daily, this session will show you the foundations that are finally making AI-assisted development genuinely useful.

**Total Eclipse of the Chart: School Redistricting Dashboards** In this presentation, we will explore the utilization of maps, sets, and SQL within a Tableau dashboard to help provide “what-if” analyses generated through the use of a mapped dashboard, providing different scenarios and the potential implications of these. While in this use case we are focused on a large school district, the concepts of utilizing existing data to explore the future impacts of modifying different geographic boundaries can be useful to many industries, balancing the mix of maps with visual analytics. **About Our Speaker** Robert Kramer is the Data Systems and State Reporting Coordinator at South Western City Schools in Grove City. He has worked there for 17 years, serving previously in the roles of Data Analyst, Programmer, and Operations Coordinator. Prior to working at South Western, he worked as a Systems Engineer at Pinnacle Data Systems in Groveport. He graduated in 2005 from The University of Toledo with his Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering, and a minor in Mathematics. Robert resides in Obetz with his wife, and their 15 and 12 year-old daughters. He was also just elected to his 3rd four-year term on the Obetz City Council. Thanks to our 2026 sponsors: [Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro) More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

Join us for a practical, beginner-friendly guide to choosing the right large language model. We’ll compare major models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, talk about when to use hosted APIs versus local models, and break down the tradeoffs around cost, speed, quality, privacy, context windows, coding ability, and reliability. You’ll leave with a clearer mental model for picking an LLM based on your actual use case instead of hype, benchmarks, or brand names. No deep AI background required. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** TBD **YouTube Link** TBD

Join the Columbus AI community for our quarterly gathering — a casual, community-focused evening where everyone has a chance to share, learn, and connect. These open mic–style events give anyone in the community up to **5 minutes** to present a project, share a tool, pose a question, or offer a perspective on the evolving AI space. No slides required — just a welcoming space to exchange ideas and keep the local AI conversation moving. If you’d like to take the stage, message \*\*Chris (the organizer)\*\*with a **title and short description** of what you’d like to share. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)