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Magazine: Letter from the editor
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This issue marks the fourth one since we renamed "Crossroads" to XRDS, which for a quarterly magazine means we're about to celebrate our one-year anniversary. In one short year, we've covered interfaces, programming, human computation, and now e-commerce. The editorial team has worked hard to sustain packed content from top authors. Here's to another year of great issues! If there is an article you've found particularly useful or interesting, the authors would love to hear from you, so please write to them and cc the editorial team ([email protected]) so we know what you like (and don't).


"The green sector is hiring—and growing fast—thanks to an increasingly eco-conscience public and infusions of stimulus money."


back to top  The Yard Stick

A year is also a clear milestone to begin to evaluate how we've done. Our immediate goal with XRDS was to boost the quality of the articles and move to more coherent and thematic issues. We're very pleased with our progress on that front. If you compare any issue of XRDS with Crossroads from yesteryear, I think you'll agree.

We're now in the process of figuring out our goals for year two. A number of transformations are on the table, including expanding the role of XRDS with new student-centric initiatives. More on that in future issues.

In other news, I report with both sadness and excitement that our fabulous Jill Duffy, senior editor at ACM and our headquarters liaison, will be moving on and joining the editors of PCmag.com. Jill has been a driving force in the incredible transformation of this magazine. Her talents and enthusiasm will be sorely missed by the entire XRDS team!

We're gearing up for the next issue of XRDS to focus on green technologies. If you've been contemplating a quirky article, whether an opinion piece or a summary of your own research, it's not too late to submit (see the editorial calendar online: http://xrds.acm.org/editorialcalendar.cfm). We're looking for topics ranging from intelligent power grids and electric vehicles to recycling processes and robotic street cleaners. Feel free to bounce ideas off us at [email protected].

back to top  Organic Growth

Green tech might seem like a curious departure from our usual core CS topics, but you might be surprised by the sophistication of these systems, and how much software is needed to make it all happen. If you're thinking about jobs, the green sector is hiring—and growing fast—thanks to an increasingly eco-conscience public and infusions of stimulus money. As an added bonus, it's a feel-good industry, where you can innovate, improve people's lives, and help mother earth.

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Chris Harrison is a Ph.D. student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Before coming to CMU, Harrison worked at IBM Research and AT&T Labs. He has since worked at Microsoft Research and Disney Imagineering. Harrison's research focuses on how to interact with small devices in big ways through novel sensing technologies and interaction techniques.

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DOI: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1925041.1925048

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©2011 ACM  1528-4972/11/0300  $10.00

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