Invitation to participate in the KIDS-91 Project

A Global Online Dialog for children 10 - 15 years of age.

The KIDS-91 project is a grassroots movement with a single ambition in mind:

To get as many children as possible involved in a global dialog starting NOW and going on until Sunday, May 12, 1991.

Your help is solicited to make this a success. Our goal is to maximize the number of participating countries. If we can get 256.000 kids involved in some way, then we will certainly feel good.
We want to know the childrens' responses to the following questions:

1. WHO AM I? We want the participants to say a little about themselves. What is your name? How old are you? What are some of your interests, your hobbies, your concerns? What else do you want others to know about yourself? 2. WHAT DO I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP? This item is to share your vision of what you want to be when you grow up in terms of work, education, and in general. 3. HOW DO YOU WANT THE WORLD TO BE BETTER WHEN YOU GROW UP? How would you like to improve the way we treat each other and the environment we share? 4. WHAT CAN I DO NOW TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN? What steps can you take now to realize your personal goals and your vision of the world.

Three to four lines of text in response to each question is fine.

Finally, we would like the children to draw themselves as adults in their desired future role. If one child or a group of children want to visualize their vision in other ways, for example by using computer graphics, video tape recording of a theatrical performance, or whatever, then that is also fine. All contributions will be greatly appreciated.
The main means of collecting all the responses will be through global electronic computer conferencing. Other means of communication will be used where access to computer conferencing is difficult for technical, economic, or other reasons. Maximum participation is the main thing.
We need YOUR help to get this message spread throughout the globe, as well as to help find persons who are willing to function as liaison officers between all the children out there and our 'Mission Control Center'.

The reward

We commit to try to get all participating children online to an electronic dialog on Sunday, May 12th, 1991, be it directly to participating computer centers or indirectly through other means of communication. Indirect means of communication may include ham radio, TV-conferencing, telephone, or whatever.
We commit to make an exibition of selected parts of the received responses as well as documentation of the event. This exhibition will be shipped back to the children of the world for them to see and enjoy. Their responses will also be made available in other forms. Hopefully this will help them realize their vision.

How to help out?

The project is truly global. The Project Coordinator, Odd de Presno, lives in a small place called Saltrod, not far from the town Arendal in South Norway. Nancy Stefanik from Washington DC in the U.S., is the Assistant Project Coordinator. "The Mission Control Room" is an electronic conference called KIDS91 on the computer network SciNet in Toronto, Canada. Many other computer networks will have conferences functioning as "regional mission control rooms" or "network nodes".
The project was kicked off during the Annual Electronic Networking Association Conference in San Francisco (USA), in late May, 1990. It was inspired by the reults of a similar dialog which took place two weeks earlier among kids in the United States, Norway and Canada during the annual Arendal Childrens' Cultural Week in Norway.
By May 27th, networkers from Italy, Hungary, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Norway, Australia, Lithuania, Canada, and Japan had already participated in the planning of the event.
We need more people to set up and run supporting conferences on other nets. People who can port questions, responses and other information to and from other parts of this global enterprise. Let's try to get all corners of the world hooked up one way or the other!
If you want to help, we invite you to join us in the KIDS91 conference on SciNet. There you will be directly involved in the project. Your use of SciNet will be free of charge, but you'll have to cover your own communica- tions costs.
SciNet is available from outside North America through all major packet networks, like Transpac, Datapak, Telenet, Tymnet etc. The Network User Address is: 3020 95600437. '3020' is the Data Network Identifier for Canada. You may have to add a prefix depending on your local packet network's requirements, often a '0' or 'a0'.
North American users can dial in through Tymnet and Telenet local dial-up numbers.
Those who want to participate should contact one of the following for information:

Nancy Stefanik:	MetaNet=stefanik, PeaceNet=nstefanik, AppleLink=x0447, TCN=tcn145
Knut Braatane:	kbraatan@bitnet
Odd de Presno:	CompuServe=75755,1327 , TWICS=ODDPRESNO, MCI Mail=OPRESNO, MicroLink=MAG220, and his private BBS at +47 41 31378 (300-9600 bps CCITT. V.22bis, V.32 up to MNP-5, 24 hours).

Or contact SciNet directly at: 339 Wellesley Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1H2, Canada, Phone: (416) 922-7001.
Looking forward to your involvement in KIDS-91!