Come join us as we reimagine the world of Sherlock Holmes! We're pleased to partner with the Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab, IBM and the Made in NY Media Center to present a day long Sherlock Hack that mixes storytelling, the Internet of Things & Artificial Intelligence. Together we'll explore how to harness various Watson APIs and the Bluemix platform to create a number of enchanted objects. This hack is the first in a series of events that will help to inform a special presentation during the New York Film Festival on Oct 1st & 2nd. Work done within the hacks and meetups will become part of a massive connected crime scene that transforms Lincoln Center into a collaborative story and play space.

Conversations are built on relationships. Successful conversations reinforce, re-invigorate and clarify relationships. Attempts to orient or equate conversations to transactions minus the heavy lifting of relationship building are going to be unfulfilling. Unfortunately, us chatbot providers are all in the deep, dark rat hole of pushing commerce and transactions rather than asking and answering the bigger question of how or why this new technology can build and sustain great business-client relationships. Is there a better way to describe human relationships and relationship-based conversation than the phrase "people keep meandering and changing their minds"? Instead, what we are all doing is to "drive" the conversation to an action or a transaction in the name of utility and efficiency.

On Tuesday, June 28th we'll be exploring "The Art of AI." The evening will examine the opportunities and challenges presented when machine learning and storytelling collide. Together we'll explore the impact of AI on narrative and the role that it can play in building rich immersive storytelling experiences. Guests for the evening include The creators of Sunspring a short scripted by an AI starring Thomas Middleditch from HBO's Silicon Valley. This is a special presentation that mixes story and code in real-time.