Under the Flagship of GISK-We Explored for ALSC

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free ;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.

–The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Coleridge)

What a year it’s been for the Great Interactive Software for Kids Committee.  The Samuel Coleridge poem above calls to mind the pioneering spirit of the committee members who served along with me 2007 to 2008.  Kirsten Freeman-Benson, Anna Healy, Angelique Kopa, Jane Ritter and Becky White could all be called brave mariners for the trials and tribulations we went through to get our committee work done. 

There were so many firsts this year I can hardly name them all.  We got a brand new beautiful logo.  We wrote articles and campaigned to be known to the outside world.  Thanks to the ALSC Board’s motion to approve last year, we had a ticket to sail, to “burst” into the sea of electronic media.  We went from evaluating PC-CD ROMs to evaluating multiple platforms like the Leap Frog Console, DS/Wii and Xbox360 and somehow we ended up on the virtual planet of Second Life discussing software in Cybrary City.  We reached heights we never thought were possible, all in a year’s time. 

I wish I could be on this committee forever…I have never felt so passionate about something I’ve worked on as GISK.  I cannot begin to articulate how much being the chair of this committee has stretched my mind, increased my opportunities for learning and ENLIGHTENED me.  It’s bittersweet that I must announce that I will be rotating off the committee as chair in March due to family obligations.  But I have faith and hope our work will continue to serve the ALSC membership and our audience of school libraries, public libraries, parents and their children, even without my presence. 

I congratulate Angelique Kopa, a worthy successor and the incoming chair to the committee–I wish her the very best.  I am confident that the committee’s fate is in capable hands with Angelique and our priority group consultant, Randy Enos at the helm.  My fellow committee members are knowledgeable and tenacious and I am so fortunate to have worked along side each and everyone one of them.  Thank you for your hard work.  I told you to “be the miracle” and you were! 

There is still so much to do.  There are so many learning opportunities, so many worlds to explore, so little time and we’ve only scratched the surface.  I learned that there was such a thing as videogame literacy and that vendors actually listened to our argument that there was educational value in the games they produced, if you deeply believed and showed your sincerity.  It was sheer will from the six of us that shook the videogame industry into recognizing ALSC and recognizing the GISK committee.  And when it rained, it poured–we had over 85 submissions.  Now that we’ve broken out onto the waves, it should be smooth sailing from here on out. 

Technology continues to be profound and ever-changing and we emerge victorious only if we stay abreast with the new developments.  In the 11th hour, we allied ourselves with Dr. Scott Nicholson of Syracuse University’s School of Information Science and his Games and Gaming Member Initiative Group which unites all gaming groups within ALA.  I am confident that our committee will  continue to represent ALSC in the technological world in the best way possible and make the Board proud.  Thank you all, very much.  It’s been a pleasure…

Signing off as chair,

Ann Crewdson