The KIDS-91 Newsletter A Global Dialog for Children 10-15 Years Issue number 3, October 7 1990 Art by Karina Vestfossen de Presno, 1990

1. KIDS-91

The aim is to get as many children as possible involved in a GLOBAL dialog continuing until May 12th 1991. We would like their responses to these questions: 1) Who am I? 2) What do I want to be when I grow up? 3) How do I want the world to be better when I grow up? 4) What can I do now to make this happen?
Responses should preferably be written in English. Contributions in other languages are also welcome, but we may not be able to make them part of the electronic data base. We would like the children to illustrate their future vision, for example in a drawing, a video tape, or something else.
The responses will be collected through global electronic mail. Other means of communication will be used where access to electronic mail is difficult for technical, economic, or other reasons.
On May 12th, 1991, the children will be invited to "chat" with each other in a global electronic dialog. Exhibitions of selected parts of the responses will be shipped back to the children of the world for them to see and enjoy.

2. THE NEWSLETTER

is an information bulletin for participants, sponsors, teachers, mediators, promoters, and other interested persons.
Suggestions and contributions to the next issue are more than welcome. We hope to port it within 45 days or so.

3. PROGRESS REPORT

Information about KIDS-91 is reaching more places. For example, it is now available on CompuServe's HamNet (the place for radio amateurs), CDNnet (Canada), IRIS (U.S.A.), KIDSNET (BITNET), FrEdmail (network in schools across U.S.A. and some in Canada, with direct connection to some schools in Australia and Ireland), the Well (San Francisco).
We still need help to reach more children, and in particular those living in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia.
Friends are continuing to hand-carry the "Letter to Teachers" into difficult-to-reach places.
Last month Odd de Presno visited the English Grammar School in Riga, Latvia. More than 80 responses were hand carried back to the west, turned into electronic text and sent to the KIDS-91 data base of responses on SciNet.
To correspond with children on this school write to English Grammar School, I, Zvardes str., Riga, LATVIA 226004.

*Note*: It may take up to two months for your mail to get there, since it's now sent via Moscow. No email available yet.

LaBA, a children's newspaper in Riga, Latvia (circulation: 60.000) plan to make KIDS-91 their project. Also, they are inviting similar publications in Estonia and Lithuania to do the same thing.
Merlin, an educational BBS in Maryland, US, will have a conference in line with the Kids 91 project.
KIDS-91 has been mentionned twice in "Jornal Do Brasil" in Rio de Janeiro. A large article presenting the project was recently printed in "Verk og Virke", a Norwegian magazine.
Responses keep coming in from new places around the world. Here are some recent entries:

Question #1: Who Am I?

HELLO, HOI, HOLA, CON TA BAI! My name is Zoe Dickinson. I am almost 14 and have just moved from Amsterdam to Seattle. I am really excited about this project, because I can speak to everybody in the world. If there is someone who speaks Dutch, Spanish, or Papiamento I would be glad to hear from them. I am looking for *keypals* from Holland, Spain or the Antilles.
My address on CompuServe is 76702,637 attention Khatman or on NWI on Infonet, Khatman. *)

My name is Alberto Blanco, I'm 14 years old, I like play basketball, football and lisen music. I go to the Instituto de Bachillerato Principe Felipe, Madrid, Spain.
Responses in Portuguese came by mail from Diogo and Solon Azevedo Coutinho in Brazil to Mary Lou Rebelo in Japan. She translated them into English and posted them in the "KIDS91" conference on TWICS, Tokyo. Odd de Presno downloaded them from Tokyo and sent them to the final destination, the "KIDS91" conference on SciNet in Canada. (Their mail address is: R. Visconde de Santa Isabel, 503/304, Rio de Janeiro,RJ, 20560, Brazil)

I am from Riga, Lativa. My name is Remo Meri. I am 13 years old. I am in class 8a. My hobbies are model car collection and mark collection. I like to draw, too.

Question #2: What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up?

When I grow up, I hope to work in hotel management. I think this would be fun and interesting and because I like to travel. I got interested in hotel management from my cousin. She likes working in hotels. (Zoe Dickinson)
I don't know, I want one job in which, I don't stay boring and I will can get a lot money. ( Alberto Blanco)

From Brazil: I'm going to be a computer scientist (Diogo), I'm going to be a dentist (Solon).

When I grow up I want to be a designer, who draw designs for cars and ships. (Remo Meri)

Question #3: How Do I Want The World To Be Better When I Grow Up?

I would like my kids [if I ever have them] to grow up in a peacefull world. I think it is rediculous how the people treat each other. I think everybody should treat each other the same even if they're rich or not. Here in Seattle we have a lot of homeless people that bothers me a lot. (Zoe Dickinson)
I want the world, with the countries cleaner, the alcohol and drugs are prohibition, the men don't killer the animals. (Alberto Blanco).

I want that people don't destroy things done by nature. (Diogo, Brazil).

I want the world to be less polluted. (Solon, Brasil)

I want Latvia to be free and ecology clean. I want all world to be ecology clean. We cannot swim in our rivers and the Baltic sea because rivers and our sea are very dirty. I want to see Baltic sea clean. I want to see Latvia nuclear free. (Remo Meri)

Question #4: What Can I Do Now To Make This Happen?

Alberto Blanco says: "I can help, don't give paper to the street, pick up the paper."
Diogo from Brazil thinks: "Don't cut trees, don't throw garbage in the sea, don't damage animal and other things", while Solon writes: "Don't throw garbage in the streets and preserve the natural areas."

I must learn hard and then I shall be clever and can help to solve ecology problem. (Remo Meri)

*) Editor's note: You can write Zoe through Internet mail using the address: 76702.637@COMPUSERVE.COM

4. IN SANTA MONICA, USA

The municipal teleconferencing system PEN (Public Electronic Network) in Santa Monica, US, plans to bring KIDS-91 into the city's classrooms as a teaching tool.
The PEN Action Group, a committee of volunteers, wants to make KIDS-91 part of the 1990-1991 curriculum in Santa Monica/Malibu United School District public schools. Private schools, both parochial (religious) and for-profit (secular) will also be involved.
The PEN Action Group will distribute information to individual teachers, and raise funds as needed to provide modems and phone lines for school computers (already in place).
Santa Monica has already established links with individual KIDS-91 participants. PENners just hosted GLOBAL DIALOG president Sergei Alexandrov for several days in Santa Monica, and their 10 to 15-year-olds are now looking forward to correspond via KIDS-91 with Alex's 11-year-old daughter Svetlana in Moscow.
Santa Monica's art community offers a special climax for the KIDS-91 program. They feel privileged to be home of the Electronic Cafe concept, now being spread globally. On the final weekend of KIDS-91, PENners hope to set up a so-called "Hole in Space" -- an electronic video link via traditional phone lines of video cameras and screens on the Santa Monica Pier and in other locations around the world. Participants will be able to speak and see each other in real time via parallel video and audio links.
Kevin McKeown (known as Dr Memory on many regional, national and global networks) will port the ongoing discussions to and from Santa Monica via PEN and CompuServe. He hopes that PEN will be one of the leading communities in the KIDS-91 effort, and invites YOU to get to know THEIR 10- to 15-year- olds.

5. SPONSORS

Televerket, the Norwegian public telecommunications company, is sponsoring the KIDS-91 project with NOK 20,000 (US$ 1.00 is around NOK 6.00).

6. TO PARENTS

We want parents to help their children participate! This can be done in several ways:
The easiest way is to interview them, write down their responses, and send them to SciNet on their behalf. (Remember the drawings.)
Another alternative is to ask your children's teachers to involve their classes in the project. Give the teachers our "Letter to Teachers", which tells them how they may use KIDS-91 in their classes.
To get a copy of this letter, send an electronic message to the editor, or a letter to SciNet (please enclose a self-addressed envelope).
If you want your children to receive the Full Treatment, you can do the following:

• Select a participating networking system, for example SciNet in Canada, and access the 'local' KIDS-91 area.
• Let your children write responses and send them electronically to KIDS-91. For example, on SciNet they should be sent to item 11 through 14 as "responses". Send drawings by mail.
• Let your children participate in regular online "chats" with children from other places, and especially in the global electronic "chat" on May 12, 1991. Encourage them to explore the world through their new friends.

7. GUIDELINES FOR POSTING REPLIES

All replies will eventually be printed out to be used in exhibitions and other publications. To be able to do this efficiently, we aim at porting all responses to SciNet in electronic form. There they will be stored in four items in the KIDS-91 conference as shown above.
For this reason we have a request:

• If you post more than one child's responses, sort them by question.
• Make sure that the responses to number 1 contain the name, age and place of each child.
• After each child's responses to the other questions, add his or her name! Like this: (Alberto Blanco)

8. ANALYSES OF RESPONSES

Graham Orpwood, one of the founders of SciNet and also Professor of Science Education at New York University, plans to make an analysis of how the students' responses reflect their interests and the implications of these (interests) for the content and methods of the formal school curriculum.
Others may want to analyse the children's responses in other ways, and are invited to do so. Contact SciNet about how to get access to the data base.

9. FOR INFORMATION

about KIDS-91 or if you want to help out or participate, contact the editor or one of the following persons:

You can also write to KIDS-91, c/o SciNet, 131 Bloor Street West, Suite 200, Box 326, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1R8, Canada.