From the Editors

A personal note from Douglas Rosenberg

This, the fourth issue of the International Journal of Screendance, marks a number of turning points. Claudia Kappenberg and I will be turning over the editorial duties to current editorial board members Harmony Bench and Simon Ellis. Harmony and Simon will bring a number of new and energetic ideas to the journal, and I am very excited about their stewardship. We received tremendous support for the first three issues from Parallel Press at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Now and for the foreseeable future, however, the journal will be an open source publication, hosted by Ohio State University. The move to open source is a choice brought on by new models of scholarship and access, and discussions about how knowledge is commodified in academia. We will have more information about that in the future, but if you are reading this, you are probably accessing it in its new incarnation. It is my hope that we can continue to grow and inspire the conversation about screendance and that we will be able to bring new voices and ideas to these "pages."

For any project to succeed, a number of things need to coalesce simultaneously and countless people have contributed many ideas and copious energy to every stage of this journal. I especially want to note the work of Nathan Jandl here. Nathan has been the editorial assistant for the journal since its inception. About the time we began the process of bringing the first issue to press, Nathan showed up at my house, sent by a neighbor to borrow a tool for his summer gardening job. I became aware that he was a PhD candidate in the English Department and it occurred to me that the young man standing in my driveway might be the perfect candidate to help with our fledgling journal. Luckily the idea piqued his interest. I cannot overstate his contribution to these first four issues. Nathan has quite literally read and edited every line of every essay or article on every page. He has communicated with writers and helped to shape the intellectual rigor of the publication. His probing intellect and keen editorial skills have made the journal possible for me, and he has enhanced every text he assisted with, all while pursuing his own PhD, which he will soon complete.

The process of building a journal from the ground up is daunting in retrospect. Somehow it has found traction and I could not be more proud of our collective efforts to this point. It has been a privilege to be a part of this process and I will continue to be involved, but very happy to watch Harmony and Simon steer us in new directions.

A Personal Note from Claudia Kappenberg

When the Screendance Network launched the journal in 2010, we wanted it to be an open platform for many different voices and perspectives, and to be experimental in how these dialogues would be curated and disseminated. Five years down the line it is my pleasure to find that the community of writers and readers has grown enormously and to be able to pass on the editorial lead.

As we migrate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to Ohio, I would like to add my thanks for the amazing support from Parallel Press, who helped us get of the ground and create an international presence. I would also like to thank my own University of Brighton, who has backed the screendance project from its inception and through all the stages of development. I would like to thank Kyra Norman, who helped to managed the Screendance Network in its very first days, and Sam Cochrane who came on board to run the day-to-day business of the journal at the UK-base. And finally I would like to thank the team at Ohio State University, who have welcomed us and have built a new site for the journal.

It is very satisfying to see such an energetic and engaged debate on these pages, gathered under the name of the International Journal of Screendance. This journal was a team effort, as Doug writes, and continues to be so. I intend to use my newly found freedom for one-off projects and special issues in order to further develop the critical discourse, forge new links and expand the parameters. And no doubt I will, occasionally, shout from the sidelines.