[games_access] Happy Seasons Greetings/New Years/Etc!

[Thomas Westin]

Thanks Michelle,

and Happy <insert  your favorite holiday> to you all from me too!

Got some flu myself but not too bad, still up and running

I'll be offline for a week or two now, will rest by doing some  
physical work, renovating our bathroom so I'll be busy but it'll be fun

/thomas

On 21 dec 2007, at 01.22, d. michelle hinn wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm about to head out (tomorrow morning) for about 10 days of travel  
> from Champaign, IL to Detroit, MI then to Tampa, Florida (the colder  
> norther part, not the 365 days/year warm parts), back to Detroit,  
> and then back to exciting Champaign-Urbana before the new year hits.  
> I won't google up a "how this translates to European travel given  
> differences in vehicle speeds, etc" because, well, even I'm not that  
> nutty. :) Unfortunately I got hit by some death flu (and I even got  
> the flu shot!) for the past 48 hours or so and am just now getting  
> it shaken off a little bit!) -- so I have a lot to catch up on as  
> the brain fog clears.
>
> First, I wanted to wish everyone on the list a happy new year (at  
> least according to most Western calendars)! It's been a rough road  
> at times for us this year but we made it through, important lessons  
> were learned, and we've experienced lots of growth. I know for a few  
> of us it's been a tough year in our personal lives as well and I can  
> appreciate that we are a volunteer group and that life gets tough to  
> balance. We do what we can with the time we have to try and make  
> change. And I think if you add up everything that's happened in the  
> last year, we've gotten a lot done. We've learned important lessons  
> on approaches not to take, approaches we haven't yet taken, and so  
> forth. We have an exciting 2008 ahead of us, no doubt.
>
> Second, I want to thank everyone for their participation this year!  
> There's always more to do but we have to recognize that we are a  
> small group (for now!) and feel good about what we've been able to  
> do in the world of game accessibility. We're starting to tackle some  
> of the harder issues now -- social justice, legalities, advantages/ 
> disadvantages of a symbol system for rating accessibility (long  
> talked about in the SIG but has it's trickiness in how the check/ 
> balance system will work like the ESRP with their full time  
> employees), the complexities of guidelines, the academic puzzle of  
> how to frame what we do and say in a larger design paradigm, and  
> much, much more.
>
> Third, I want to take the time to encourage everyone to get  
> refreshed and ready for a new and exciting year with the SIG -- "the  
> book" will happen this year (a general announcement will follow as  
> soon as legal stuff is worked out), we have conferences to look  
> forward to, work with the Electronic Consumers Association (the ECA  
> that has been formed to help fight the legal shutting down of games  
> -- one that we can use to help show a potential positive side that  
> the industry could/should be contributing to as much as they can  
> because it HELPS put the industry in a positive light), a grant to  
> work through, fund raising, a new website...so much more! This is  
> exciting!
>
> So I will be reachable while I'm gone but obviously things will slow  
> down from my end for the next week or so, as I imagine will be the  
> case for others as well. Relax and enjoy time with family. And, as I  
> have said before, hope for peace in the new year. The world, more  
> than ever, needs some healing.
>
> Michelle
> Chairperson, IGDA Game Accessibility SIG
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