Information Science

**Looking for a fun way to meet new people in Prague?** Join us every Monday for our famous **Karaoke & Beerpong Mondays**– a relaxed and international evening where Erasmus students, expats, and locals come together to unwind, sing their hearts out, and enjoy some friendly competition. We start at 21:00 and go till late! (1-2am)🙏🏼 **💥 What’s Waiting for You** • 🎤 Karaoke – open mic all night long withh a DJ in between • 🏓 Free Beerpong – we’ll get you some free beer for the game 🍺 • 😌 Relaxed atmosphere – no pressure, just good vibes • 🌍 Meet internationals & Erasmus students from all over Whether you’re here to play, sing, or just vibe, it’s the perfect way to connect and kick back midweek. **👋 Who’s It For?** • Erasmus students • Internationals, expats, locals & travellers • Anyone who enjoys karaoke, games, and social nights out **🎟️ How It Works** ✅ Entry is free – just come :) 🍻 Free beerpong (yes, we provide beer for the game) 💬 Solo or with friends – everyone’s welcome **🔗 Stay connected** 📸 Instagram: [@erasmusinprague](https://www.instagram.com/erasmusinprague?igsh=eXdkNWJvdXZuZXJt&utm_source=qr) 💬 Join our [International WhatsApp group](https://chat.whatsapp.com/FF9tF0cqyeJHkFd6krTczW?mode=ems_copy_h_t) 🔁 Recurring Weekly Event Same time, same place – **every Monday** :) **Monday doesn't work?** You're in luck, we do the very same event **every Thursday in club FAMU**, among other meet-ups throughout the week! 😁

**Looking for a fun way to meet new people in Prague?** Join us **every Monday** for our popular Karaoke & Beerpong Nights – a relaxed and international evening where Erasmus students, expats, and locals come together to unwind, sing their hearts out, and enjoy some friendly competition. We start at 21:00 and go till late! 🙏🏼 **💥 What’s Waiting for You** • 🎤 Karaoke – open mic all night long • 🏓 Free Beerpong – we’ll get you some free beer for the game 🍺 • 🎧 DJ playing international hits • 😌 Relaxed atmosphere – no pressure, just good vibes • 🌍 Meet internationals & Erasmus students from all over Whether you’re here to play, sing, or just vibe, it’s the perfect way to connect and kick back midweek. **👋 Who’s It For?** • Internationals, expats, & travellers • Anyone who enjoys karaoke, games, and social nights out **🎟️ How It Works** ✅ Entry is free – just come :) 🍻 Free beerpong (yes, we provide beer for the game) 💬 Solo or with friends – everyone’s welcome This event is co-organised with **Erasmus in Prague** 📸 Instagram: [@erasmusinprague](https://www.instagram.com/erasmusinprague?igsh=eXdkNWJvdXZuZXJt&utm_source=qr) 💬 Join our [International WhatsApp group](https://chat.whatsapp.com/FF9tF0cqyeJHkFd6krTczW?mode=ems_copy_h_t) 🔁 Recurring Weekly Event 😊 Same time, same place – every Monday **Monday doesn't work?** You're in luck, we do the very same event **every Thursday in club FAMU!** And we don’t end just there, there will be something nearly every day a week! 😁

**NOTE: we had to change to the 9th from the originally advertised 2nd.** *We'll meet at Adastra office, Mississippi House at Karlín. We'll gather at the ground floor at the reception and then we'll proceed to the offices at the 7th floor.* We will have presentation on the *ZIO Prelude* Scala library and the FP abstractions it provides you with. It's a modern take on how a Scala native solution can look like, instead of copying Haskell -- this is not your grandpa's cats! The other presentation will be about architecture by David Lebl: *Complexity is a Sin, But Hexagons Forgive* Managing code complexity through DDD, hexagonal architecture, and modular monoliths We may have a short presentation about Clojure tools, we'll keep you posted.

It's open gaming night again! Come alone (or with friends) and meet some new people to game with. Just look for the 'Open Gaming' table(s) and feel free to sit in. We'll keep the games pretty light, so if you don't know many games, don't feel intimidated. Instruction is always available. (70,- gaming fee still applies)

Are you learning Spanish and feel that you need more conversation but are shy to speak? Here you will meet beginners and intermediate and we all will make mistakes in our Spanish communication so it will be just fun! Simply come and enjoy your conversation with the friendly broken Spanish talking group! Sometimes we will meet in some cozy café, sometimes we may go for a walk or some Spanish culture related event. ¿Estás aprendiendo español y sientes que necesitas más conversación pero te da vergüenza hablar? Aquí conocerás a principiantes e intermedios y todos cometeremos errores en nuestra communicación en español, así que será simplemente divertido. ¡Ven y disfruta de tu conversación con el grupo amigable de habla de español roto! A veces nos vemos en algún café acogedor, otras veces podemos dar un paseo o algún evento relacionado con la cultura española. For half of the Spanish here I used translator so if some of the Spanish words above sound weird to you, feel free to blame Google Translate :)

*** **Description** Join us for the very first Pure Tea Tasting Prague event! Discover unique teas, meet fellow tea lovers, and enjoy a relaxing evening focused on wellness and mindful living. **What to Expect:** * Guided tasting of premium pure teas (including vegan and wellness-focused options) * Introduction to tea rituals and culture * Friendly conversation and community networking * Light healthy snacks **Agenda:** * 19:00 – Welcome & introductions * 19:15 – Tea tasting session (multiple varieties) * 20:15 – Open discussion, Q&A, and social time * 21:00 – Event close **What to Bring:** * Just your curiosity and good mood! All tea and snacks are provided. **Location:** Pure Spa, Le Palais Art Hotel, Prague (Details and directions will be sent after RSVP.) **Who Should Join:** Anyone interested in tea, wellness, or making new friends in Prague. All experience levels welcome! ***

Who can attend this meetup: The tour is an introduction to Prague and is mainly for expats and visitors to our city but everybody who would like to join is invited. ***Important***, please also fill in the booking form on our [website](https://freewalkingtourprague.eu/en/schedule) if you are planning to come (otherwise we will not expect you). Description: Meet us by the Powder Tower, the historical gate to the Old Town and starting point of the Royal Route. Then have an educative walk through the narrow and picturesque streets of the historical center of Prague. Enjoy the unique diversity of architectural styles from Gothic to Art Nouveau. See some of the most interesting sites and get to know fascinating facts and legends of the 1000-year old capital of Bohemia. End the tour at the riverside 5 minutes away from the Charles Bridge, from which you can continue the tour on your own (or again with us) towards Malá Strana or Prague Castle. ====== Meeting point: We will be standing by the Powder Tower at the side of the Namestí Republiky square with a green umbrella in hand :) Map: https://goo.gl/maps/tzqKpZ2945S2 Price: there is no fixed price, you will be able to decide yourself how much you value the tour. If you don't know how much is best (and can afford it) we recommend 200Kč, but it really depends on you how much you contribute. Join us also on our [Facebook profile](https://www.facebook.com/freewalkingtoursprague/) :) and if you are travelling to other cities check out our friends at the [Free Tour Community website](https://freetourcommunity.com/). For any questions, please contact us at info@freewalkingtourprague.eu. Unfortunately, the meetup application does not always send us phone notifications. Reminder - only people who booked on our [official free walking tour website](https://freewalkingtourprague.eu/en/schedule) can join the tour and if the tour shows fully booked on the website it means there are no free spots. The meetup list doesn't count in this case. We look forward to meeting you, Michal, Amanda, Lana, Iva & Chris

Hello Python magicians and A.I. operators! The 33rd Prague PyData meetup will take place at **Pure Storage offices**. As usual, the talks will start at 18:30 but we encourage you to come as soon as **18:00** to enjoy the opportunity to socialize and refresh yourselves (which you can continue doing during the break and after the talks). Note that this time we will want you to sign a **non-disclosure agreement (NDA) when entering** (only to protect the Pure Storage hardware in development; the talks themselves are public of course!) Our main goal is to build the community around Python and data and make it welcoming to people of various skills and experience levels. ⚡ If you are interested in giving a lightning talk (up to 5 minutes to present an idea, tool or results related at least to some degree to Python and/or data), please contact us before the event or at its beginning. **📢 Evals, Benchmarks, and Guardrails: A Pythonista's Guide to Not Mixing Them Up** **([Šimon Podhajský](https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonpodhajsky/), Waypoint)** "I'll just write pytest tests for my LLM"—but should you? This talk untangles benchmarks, evals, and guardrails: three concepts that sound similar but map to different Python patterns. Learn why pytest CAN work for evals (with the right mindset), why guardrails aren't tests at all, and a grounded theory approach to defining what "good" actually means for your task. **📢 Orchestration Beyond the Schedule: Real-Time Integrations with Prefect** **([Ondřej Hlaváč](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ondrej-hlavac-24423a217/), Pure Storage)** As Python data workflows grow in complexity, relying on simple scripts and cron jobs often leads to "silent failures" and a lack of visibility. Enter Prefect—a modern orchestration framework that empowers developers to build, observe, and manage robust pipelines using standard Python code. While Prefect is rapidly gaining traction for scheduled batch processing, we took a different path: using it to power real-time event integrations for Master Data Management. In this talk, I will introduce what makes Prefect unique compared to legacy tools and demonstrate how we adapted it to handle immediate, event-driven flows. We will explore how its built-in resilience capabilities—like automatic retries, state management, and detailed observability—can be repurposed to make real-time integrations as reliable as nightly ETL jobs.

MÁME PLNO 😶‍🌫️ Je nám to moc líto, ale kapacita byla naplněna a další Punkery už nejsme schopní registrovat. Další Data Punkers budou o tom, jak dnes lidé skutečně pracují s AI, daty a vývojem. Ne o tom, co „by se mělo“, ale co funguje, co ne a kde se v praxi láme chleba. Už 10.2. od 17:30, Krátké přednášky, konkrétní zkušenosti a pak klasický komunitní networking. 🎤 Program: **🎤Vývoj před a po AI** [Petr Brzek](https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrbrzek/?locale=en_US) (CEO Macaly) Petr má za sebou několik technologických projektů a v posledních letech se intenzivně věnuje AI produktům. Se svým týmem postavil AI startup Macaly, který během velmi krátké doby vzbudil zájem investorů i strategických hráčů a skončil akvizicí v řádu stovek milionů korun. Ve své přednášce se podívá na to, jak AI reálně změnila způsob, jak se dnes vyvíjí software – od práce jednotlivých vývojářů přes fungování týmů až po rozhodování, co má a nemá smysl stavět. **🎤Conversational Analytics v MSD** [Ondřej Kubera](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ondrejkubera/) (Tech Chapter Director at MSD) ukáže, jak tým v MSD přechází od klasických dashboardů k „mluvení s daty“. Řeč bude o tom, jak to udělat bezpečně, spolehlivě a tak, aby to fungovalo i ve větším měřítku – a jaké jsou základy pro agentic analytics. 🎤 **AI Analytics in Practice: Beyond Dashboards** [Jan Difko](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-difko-ba615314a/)\, Cloud Data Architect \| Česká spořitelna – Jak lze analytiku AI rozšířit na analytiky a obchodní týmy – a co to znamená pro tradiční BI reporting. Na dvou praktických příkladech ukáže AI běžící přímo na datové platformě: od textové analytiky zákaznické zpětné vazby až po konverzační zážitky typu „promluvte si se svými daty“. V jakých oblastech doplňuje analytika AI BI dashboardy a v jakých je může začít nahrazovat? Pragmatický pohled na to, co ve skutečnosti funguje v reálných analytických týmech. 🎤 **AI-Ready Data Platform: Klíčové principy pro agentic AI a moderní datovou architekturu** [Ondřej Blaha](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ondrejblaha1/), Tech Lead v Revolt BI – jak připravit datovou architekturu tak, aby byla připravená na práci s agenty a AI use casy. 📅 Kdy? 10. 2. 2026 🕔 Open doors: 17:30 🕠 Začátek přednášek: 18:00 📍 Kde? [Apify](https://apify.com/), [Lucerna Palace (Vodičkova 704/36 Praha 1)](https://apify.com/contact) Těšíme se na vás! **Data Punkers**

In this series of meetings, we'll come together to read and discuss some of the **greatest texts** and essays from the fields of **Philosophy, Politics, and Economics**: from the Nobel laureates, famous philosophers, both ancient and modern, and influential political theorists. No academic background is required! Anyone is welcome – as long as you've read the text in advance ;) \~\~\~ For the February – and St Valentine’s – edition of the Reading Circle, let’s read the most famous book ever written about love: *Plato’s Symposium* 🧡 *The Symposium* consists of seven speeches on the nature of love, delivered by different guests at a drinking party. Among the most memorable are Pausanias’ speech, which introduces the idea of **Platonic love**; Aristophanes’ comic yet profound myth, in which humans were once **whole beings split in two** by Zeus, and love is the longing to reunite with our lost half; and Socrates’ speech, in which he presents Diotima’s **Theory of Ascent** (also known as the **Ladder of Love**), describing love as a drive toward immortality through the pursuit of the good and the beautiful. The dialogue concludes with the drunken entrance of Alcibiades, who delivers a passionate confession of his unreciprocated love for Socrates. *The Symposium* is remarkable not only for its philosophical depth, but also for its boldness: it discusses Eros, beauty, homosexuality, desire, myth, and even hermaphroditic beings, combining poetry, comedy, and philosophy into a timeless meditation on love. Join us to discuss! \~\~\~ Since the full dialogue is about 70 pages long, let’s focus on the key sections. In the Oxford World’s Classics edition linked below (translation by Robin Waterfield), I recommend reading the Introduction (around 30 pages), which is very insightful and makes the dialogue much easier to follow. As a core text, let’s read Socrates’ main speech (through Diotima), found in paragraphs 201d–212d, which presents the dialogue’s central philosophical argument. In addition, feel free to choose a few other speeches that interest you. We can go through them one by one and, ideally, cover all of them together during the discussion. For reference: Phaedrus speaks in 178a–180b, Pausanias in 180c–185c, Eryximachus in 185c–188e, Aristophanes in 189a–193d, Agathon in 193d–197e, Socrates (through Diotima) in 201d–212d, and Alcibiades in 212d–222b. Link: [https://archive.org/details/symposium0000plat_j5o4/](https://archive.org/details/symposium0000plat_j5o4/) You may need to register and click ‘Borrow’ to access the full version of the book. \~\~\~ **Location:** this time we’ll meet at our friend’s home near Vyšehrad. The address is Svobodova 135/11. Ring the doorbell with the name ‘Rud’. Sometimes the door can be a bit tricky, so if it doesn’t open, just ring again or drop me a message. Go to the second floor and turn left from the staircase. **Meeting structure:** each session will begin with a brief summary of the key ideas from the reading, followed by open discussion. Please read the text in advance, make highlights, and write down any thoughts or questions that you find especially interesting and compelling. *Knowledge Will Break the Chains of Slavery* Veritas Vos Liberabit ✊

Conscious Communication in Hard Conversations is a practical, skills-based workshop focused on navigating difficult or emotionally charged conversations with more clarity, steadiness, and connection. Many conflicts don’t escalate because of what is being said, but because of what happens internally — tension, defensiveness, shutdown, or the urge to push through. This workshop supports learning how to stay present with yourself while staying in contact with others. Through guided practice and reflection, participants explore how to speak honestly without escalating, how to listen without collapsing or fixing, and how to repair connection after moments of rupture. What to Expect • Practical tools for navigating conflict and sensitive topics • Guided exercises and real-life scenarios • Support in noticing internal reactions during hard conversations • Practice in repair, clarity, and proportionate response The workshop balances short theoretical inputs with embodied practice and time to integrate. Who This Is For • Open to all genders • Suitable for people with and without prior communication training • Supportive for relationships, family dynamics, and work environments • Especially helpful if you notice patterns of avoidance, reactivity, or “I’m fine” when you’re not No prior experience is required. Practical Information • Duration: 4 hours • Price: 750 CZK • Language: English registration: https://vev.co/atma-community-space-praha The workshop is facilitated in a grounded and respectful way, creating space to learn and practice without judgement or pressure. Facilitated by William Gan, a relationship and communication coach whose work is rooted in Authentic Relating, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and conscious communication. He is known for his clear, practical approach and his ability to create spaces where people feel safe to be real — without performance or forced depth. His facilitation helps people stay present with themselves while genuinely meeting others, even in moments of uncertainty or emotional charge.

For our first meeting, we’ll read and discuss *[Claude's Constitution](https://www.anthropic.com/constitution)*, Anthropic’s attempt to formalize the values and principles that guide the behavior of an AI system. No academic background is required, just a willingness to read, think, and share your thoughts. It's a truly fascinating text on so many levels, I promise :) And I'm really curious what will strike YOU the most. Please read the text in advance. The session will be discussion-based, lightly moderated, and limited to a small group to allow for real conversation.

⚠️ **IMPORTANT: You must sign up and buy a ticket here to attend:** [https://groupvibe.com/](https://groupvibe.com/) **This is a curated, small-group meetup make new friends in Prague.** Each meetup brings together 4–6 like-minded people for casual conversations over brunch. We use the Groupvibe platform to organize and ensure everyone’s a good fit. 👉 **To attend, you’ll need to complete registration via this link:** [https://groupvibe.com](https://groupvibe.com) Once you register, and **buy a ticket or become a Groupvibe member**, we’ll share the exact location and match you with your group. **Why this works:** \* Smaller groups make real conversations easier \* Matching helps avoid awkward dynamics **Note:** RSVPs here on Meetup don’t reflect total attendance. Many attendees register directly via our website. This meetup is organized by **Groupvibe**, a small team passionate about helping people form meaningful friendships offline.

**Po vánoční pauze jsme zpátky a první meetup roku v Praze je konečně tady! 🔥** Čeká nás pohodový večer plný inspirace, sdílení zkušeností a networkingu. Tradičně začneme **Nowwwinkami**, a pak navážeme bohatým programem v podobně přednášek a diskuzí 😉. Ať už jste víc na React, Figmu, performance, design nebo „co zrovna vibuje“, tohle je ten typ meetupu, kde si vždycky něco odneseme a nového dozvíme. **Hlavní line-up a na co se těšit dále** 🤩 * 🟢 18:00 otevíráme * 1️⃣ 18:40 **Nowwwinky** od Tomáše Kouta * 2️⃣ 19:00 **Rendering real-time data in React** od Roberta Gemrota * 3️⃣ 19:30 **Z Figmy do kvalitního kódu: Code Connect + AI** od Jana Kryšpína * 4️⃣ 20:00 **Start-up-and-down** od Jana Sasínka * 🎓 70 nadšených účastníků * 🍻 a v neposlední řadě kvalitní catering a networking \-\-\- 1️⃣ **Nowwwinky** od nikoho jiného než samotného [Tomáše Kouta](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom%C3%A1%C5%A1-kout/) Tomáš nás uvede do večera a naservíruje rychlý výběr nowwwinek, které mu za poslední dobu utkvěly a které si zaslouží pozornost. \-\-\- 2️⃣ **Rendering real-time data in React** od [Roberta Gemrota](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-gemrot/) ze Second Foundation Dostáváte a zobrazuje data přes websocket? A měřili jste někdy dopady na výkon? V tomto talku si představíme jednu z možných technik, jak využít síly Reactu pro vykreslování realtimových dat. *Robert o sobě říká: „I'm a full stack software engineer, able to dive deep into just about anything. Currently working @ Second Foundation. I actually enjoy reading documentation.“* \-\-\- 3️⃣ **Z Figmy do kvalitního kódu: Code Connect + AI** od [Jana Kryšpína](https://www.linkedin.com/in/crishpeen/) z Alma Career Jak napojit design systém na Figma Code Connect a s pomocí AI zrychlit převod designů do dobrého produkčního kódu. \-\-\- 4️⃣ **Start-up-and-down** od [Jana Sasínka](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-sasinek/) Měli jsme skvělý plán a štěstí v neštěstí. Pak jsme se ale rozhodli zkrátit si cestu přes cizí les a místo nekončící inovace jsme se ztratili v nekončícím stínu YAMLů. Upřímný příběh o tom, jak nevíra v sebe a kanón na vrabce rozstřílely runway i šanci na úspěch. *Jan o sobě říká:* „*Bastlič devadesátkových desktopů, vývojář, architekt, lead, CTO, naivka a vyléčený misantrop. Čtvrt století v IT mě naučilo, že se nikdy nenaučím, co bych se naučit chtěl. A taky mít rád lidi od IT.“* \-\-\- Přijďte si poslechnout, podiskutovat a nastartovat se v novém roce správným a pozitivním směrem. ✨ Neváhejte s registrací a zabookujte si termín – bude to stát za to! 🎉 👉 Pro další zajímavé novinky a dění sledujte kanály komunity na [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/@FrontendistiCz), [X](https://x.com/Frontendisti), [Facebooku](https://www.facebook.com/frontendisti/), [Instagramu](https://www.instagram.com/frontendisti/), [LinkedInu](https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontendisti/posts/?feedView=all) nebo navštivte [náš web](https://www.frontendisti.cz).

I love my job and one of the main things I do is help customers get going with any of the data technologies at Microsoft. Right now there are a lot of my customers asking about Microsoft Fabric. It's hard to weave across all the shiny new options across the Fabric landscape, let alone figure out where it fits into your organization. In this session we'll focus on answering one question - how can I get data into Fabric? We'll talk through the "it depends" options and see some of the options in live demos.

**New Dojo Location!** **Draft Day Columbus** 1130 Dublin Road Columbus, OH 43215 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for topic suggestions and people interested in presenting at our monthly meetings. To this end we've set up a survey form at [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc)

**People Analytics 101: Making Sense of Compensation Data** Compensation data is one of the most widely used and widely misunderstood forms of people analytics. The session will cover where compensation data comes from, including market pricing data, internal payroll data, and benchmarking sources, and how companies think about structuring and analyzing that information. We will explore how compensation data is leveraged to set salary ranges, manage internal equity, support hiring and retention, and align pay with business strategy. A portion of the session will address common data challenges and limitations, such as market noise, inconsistent job matching, and incomplete datasets, while keeping the primary focus on practical use rather than technical depth. The session will also look ahead at where the space is going, including the growing impact of pay transparency laws, expanding pay equity requirements, and emerging regulations in the US and Europe that require organizations to report on gender and pay gaps. The goal is to give attendees a clear mental model for how compensation analytics works today and why getting it right is becoming increasingly critical. (note: we are back at Rev1 this month!) **About Our Speaker** [Alex Moore](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexscottmoore/) is the founder of [Moore Cooperative](https://moorecooperative.com/), where he advises organizations on compensation strategy, pay equity, and people analytics. His work focuses on helping organizations like the Ohio Supreme Court design, analyze, and communicate compensation systems that are data-informed, defensible, and aligned with organizational goals. Alex lives in Granville, Ohio and has three little kiddos. More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

**Our February novel is: Julia by Sandra Newman** **This month is a classic, dystopian, fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, and science fiction novel. The book is 394 pages in print and 14 hours and 20 minutes on audiobook.** **An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell’s 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith’s lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman.** Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It’s 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania. Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember, and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell’s 1984. All her life, Julia has known only Oceania, and, until she meets Winston Smith, she has never imagined anything else. She is an ideal citizen: cheerfully cynical, always ready with a bribe, piously repeating every political slogan while believing in nothing. She routinely breaks the rules, but also collaborates with the regime when necessary. Everyone likes Julia. Then one day she finds herself walking toward Winston Smith in a corridor and impulsively slips him a note, setting in motion the devastating, unforgettable events of the classic story. Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell’s now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe. This unique perspective lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.

### Tools in your AI's Toolbox : An introduction to MCP Servers The generative AI revolution has unlocked unprecedented capabilities, but the next frontier is agency: empowering models to interact with, query, and act upon the world. The current challenge is the “N x M integration problem,” where every AI model requires a custom, brittle integration for each external tool or data source. This approach simply doesn’t scale. How can we give an AI access to our sales leads, code repositories, or IoT devices in a standardized, secure, and reusable way? This session introduces Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), the open-source framework designed to solve this challenge and become the universal connector—the USB-C port—for AI. MCP standardizes how AI models discover and use external tools, moving beyond simple function-calling to a robust, client-server architecture. We will dive into how this open protocol is creating a new ecosystem for building powerful, context-aware AI agents. Join this session for a developer-focused introduction where you will learn how to: Understand the core concepts of the open-source Model Context Protocol and its architecture. Utilize pre-built, open-source MCP servers to instantly connect AI to tools like Git, Slack, and databases. Build a custom MCP server to securely expose your own proprietary data and APIs as tools for any compliant AI. Move beyond bespoke integrations and contribute to a standardized, collaborative, and open ecosystem. Stop building one-off connectors and start building intelligent agents. This session will give you the practical knowledge to leverage MCP and create the next generation of AI that doesn’t just talk, but does. Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! [https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/](https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/)

Private Group. Closed to the Public Knowing ourselves and understanding our abilities is the first step toward wielding our gifts with control and accuracy. In subsequent classes we will verify and hone our talents with activities and discussion. These are hands-on workshops and participation is expected. The goal of our series will be to develop expertise in areas of particular interest such as mediumship, channeling, divination, healing and, etc.. Our ultimate directions will be determined by class members as we evolve. I look forward to sharing and discovering with you. - Cynthia