Kidlink Policies

The officially adopted policies of the Kidlink Project as of September 23, 1999.

Purpose

The goal of Kidlink is to get as many children through the secondary school level as possible involved in a global dialog. We want their responses to the Four Kidlink Questions.

Our Motive

Kidlink is based on the idea that getting kids around the world to talk to each other will allow them a direct experience with friends having the common experience of childhood but often in very different circumstances.
By hearing a range of opinions and developing familiarity with different ideas, we can hope to overcome some communication barriers and solve some problems in a more cooperative manner.
We hope that when Kidlink kids become adults they will take a more global and long-term perspective on issues, rather than acting to maximize local, short-term interests.
Kidlink is impartial as to what methods are being used to solve the issues of the world today. We do not promote specific solutions to these issues, or any political points-of-view.
Kidlink's participants live in countries all over the world. Their societies have very different views on social, ethical, legal, and moral issues.
Kidlink has no opinion on these issues. Kidlink encourages participants to value these differences, and use them as a means of helping their kids gain a better insight into all views of a particular issue.

Rules For Kids' Dialog

Each Kidlink activity for children has its own set of guidelines and operates under the supervision of an adult Kidlink leader. Each participant must follow the guidelines and cooperate with the adult leader.
Some Kidlink activities are only open to youth through the secondary school level. Participants must send their answers to the four Kidlink questions before beginning these activities.
In all Kidlink activities, kids are free to honestly express their own views. Foul language or offensive manners are not allowed.

Rules For Teachers, Adult Coordinators, And Helpers

Kidlink welcomes participation from anyone working with kids within the Kidlink age range. After having the kids introduce themselves with their answers to the four questions, you are welcome to pick from our activities those that are best for your kids.
Kidlink also welcomes anyone who shares our commitment to the goal of creating a global dialog of youth to assist us in our activities. All of our activities are run by volunteers.
Adults must follow the guidelines for the Kidlink activities they and their kids join. They must not post messages to those lists, where kids through the secondary school level are allowed to post.
The volume of mail on the Kidlink lists has become great enough to become a burden for some. We try to minimize the burden by having a clear purpose for each list and encouraging participants to stick to the purpose. It should not be necessary to send the same message to more than one list. It is not appropriate to use the Kidlink lists for distributing information from other sources about non-Kidlink projects, events, etc.

Local Site Responsibilities

The local adult coordinators should make sure the kids understand that their messages are public and should help them deal with the issues of what is appropriate in a public forum. They should also understand that art and photo files in the archive are also public. Kids who are working independently should make sure their parents know what they are doing and approve of their participation in Kidlink activities.
Each local site is responsible for their own rules about participation. There will be differences among the sites in both the procedures and the judgements of appropriateness. For instance, some sites may ask kids not to post home addresses, while home addresses may be perfectly acceptable in other areas.
The general rule is that teachers or other organizers should do what the parents in their community would expect them to do. If they would expect to be asked for written permission, then this should be required. But please do not ask people in other communities to follow your community standards.

Outsiders rights

All messages from all of the discussion groups are stored in publicly accessible archives on the North Dakota State University computer system. The Kidart file exchange area is also accessible. No specific permission is necessary to use the archives for research or publicity purposes. We expect those who use our messages or files to give credit to the source and to use them only in ways which respect the integrity of the kids and adults involved in the Kidlink projects.
It is not appropriate for non-participants to use the Kidlink messages or archives to obtain email addresses to send messages to our participants.
All of the Kidlink mailing lists are exclusively for the support of Kidlink activities and exchanges among Kidlink participants. Messages from outsiders will generally not be accepted.

Other Texts

• Kidlink's Cultural Challenge
• Kidlink does not crosslink with other web sites. Here is what Kidlink tells its volunteers about the issue.