As Editor-in-Chief, it is my pleasure to introduce a new program: Communications' digital initiative that connects leading-edge research and technology insights and breakthroughs from ACM's conferences to a much larger audience. The idea is to select compelling topics of broad interest and highlight them in a vibrant conversation with key leaders in an interactive digital event--one you can participate with live or view later via the ACM Digital Library. We held our first digital initiative in February. Below are some details about the event and link to watch it. Communications' first Digital Event was an exciting discussion with AI research leaders from academia and industry who explored how science and AI are transforming each other.

The second day of Transform, the annual digital event dedicated to applied enterprise AI, is another big one – VBLab and Accenture have partnered up to take you into the heart and soul of the digital age. On July 13, 2021, we'll take a virtual deep dive into data, analytics, and intelligent automation, from navigating the digital journey now to building a strategy for the future. We've gathered leaders from retail (Nordstrom, Nike, Doordash, Orangetheory), tech, (Google, Adobe, Zillow), healthcare (Cigna, Commonspirit Health; Dignity health/ Catholic health), finance (American Express, Creditkarma, American Fidelity) and more. These CXOs and BUs are gathering data across multiple sources, performing ETL (extract, transform, load), and storing it in the cloud or in a hybrid model in a data lake/data warehouse. They're finding innovative ways to enrich the data with crowd-sourcing or synthetic sources, cleaning and normalizing the data.

The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly placed an extraordinary amount of pressure on businesses in practically every sector. Companies have had to pivot and adjust to a new way of working, with a rapid switch to remote teams and virtual workforces - many in a matter of days. The reality is, as we emerge from the current situation, it is inevitable that there will be a lasting impact from the changes that have had to be made. The landscape for business has been altered for good. We have already seen many businesses forced to cease all discretionary spending, pause recruitment plans indefinitely, cut marketing spend while still demonstrating a strong return on investment, and yet still make decisions on how best to drive and generate pipeline.

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, video games remain a hobby that can be enjoyed at home. If the shortage of Nintendo Switch consoles is any indication, people nationwide made stay-at-home orders easier by jumping into virtual worlds. Another sign that gamers are turning to their controllers: Consumer spending on video game software, hardware, accessories and other related goods in May rose 52% to $977 million, the highest amount for the month in 12 years, according to research firm The NPD Group. Summer is also the time when video game devotees learn what is in the pipeline. But most of the industry's quintessential summer showcases – The Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, in particular – have been canceled due to the threat of the virus, leaving gamers to get industry news from primarily online sources.

Publisher partners for the Summer Game Fest include 2K, Activision, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Blizzard Entertainment, Bungie, CD Projekt Red, Digital Extremes, Electronic Arts, Microsoft and Xbox, Private Division, Riot Games, Sony, Square Enix and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. A new website for the event will feature a four-month-long schedule.