Welcome to ACM Inroads!

ACM's computing education magazine is now completing its fourth year of operation. Looking back, the magazine transitioned from humble beginnings to what is a viable and useful publication for computing educators around the globe. While we owe this success to the many authors and volunteers who have contributed admirably toward a common cause, we cannot stop here and must continue shaping the magazine's future.

This issue of ACM Inroads contains a special section on "Industry and IT" that highlights perspectives on the way practicing information technology (IT) professionals view computing education. Industry professionals have authored all articles appearing in this special section and in addition to its interest to educators, current students may learn about the workings and IT needs of a wide variety of industries. I thank guest editors, Rob Friedman and Han Reichgelt, for their efforts, and in particular, I congratulate Rob for his unrelenting determination to have contributing authors meet their deadlines. I trust you will enjoy this journey into the real world of information technology. If you have any comments, feel free to contact Rob, Han, or the authors directly.

In the 2013 June issue, I published the ACM Inroads "Future Directions" report, developed by a task group led by Lisa Kaczmarczyk. We may consider this report one blueprint for the way the magazine may evolve as it strives for excellence in quality publication in the field of computing education. The "Future Directions" report, which I repeat in part from my message found in the 2013 September issue, has led to new movements for the magazine. A task group is refining the process and understanding of the mission of the magazine and its content. While the magazine promotes and requires validation of statements made by authors, the editorial staff redirects research articles to the ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE) journal. Additionally, a "Reviewer Scorecard" is available to authors and reviewers. This provides the criteria by which the editors evaluate magazine material for publication and authors use first to determine whether their work is appropriate and then to shape their article so it meets the spirit of the magazine.

Please be reminded that the submission of manuscripts must now follow the magazine's formatting guidelines. These guidelines appeared in the 2013 September issue of ACM Inroads. They also appear on the ScholarOne Manuscript Central site under Resources, together with a template showing the manner in which an author must submit a manuscript.

It appears that the ACM Inroads website is one of those well-kept secrets in the computing education community. Have you visited http://inroads.acm.org/ lately? You will find many goodies there including an active blog on a variety of computing education topics. The web administrator, Joe Kmoch, and his supportive crew welcome you to become more involved with the site and stand by ready to help.

Once again, we are grateful to all authors who contribute to the ACM Inroads magazine. Feel free to contact these dedicated individuals who present their views on a variety of topics. Their efforts help make this magazine an outstanding publication.

John Impagliazzo
Editor-in-Chief

Copyright held by author.

The Digital Library is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2013 ACM, Inc.

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