Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to this latest edition of our VDMIS newsletter. Please enjoy the many great articles we have to offer you within its pages. We are sure that you will find relevant topics to delight in from a wide range of contributors. We have all worked really hard to bring you this issue crammed full of thought-provoking research along with practical information. It is our hope that you will be able to take advantage of these excellent ideas and integrate some of them into both your own study and your classes.

I am now midway into my last full-time contract here in Japan, and it is bitter sweet. I have been here more than 20 years now: 20 wonderful, fascinating years that I have utterly enjoyed. There have been ups and downs as in any place, but, through it all, I have been helped and pulled and prodded to do my best. I have been surrounded and well supported by incredible professionals in this field. I have gained new friends and colleagues, been enriched by numerous experiences and, in the same breath, this year, lost colleagues to other universities and to death, too…

I especially relish this part of my life—the editing work—polishing, revising, reworking, rewording, snipping, deleting, elaborating on, encouraging, and on and on…To be honest, I think that it may be somehow in my blood, dating back to my grandmother who, for a time, was an editor for the Canadian White Ribbon Tidings.

I hope you will consider writing up your own research or special activities and successes in the area of video and digital media to share with us all. If interested, please submit to co-editor Kenneth Chyi for our next issue. We both look forward to your ongoing support and contributions.

Finally, in passing, let us all congratulate Kenneth on his new position within the TESOL organization. Well done, Kenneth!!!

All my best,

Joyce Cunningham

Professor Emerita

Ibaraki University

Japan