"Young Talk" And Norlink

We say Kidlink started in May 1990, but some claim it started in November 1989, by Odd de Presno and Anne-Tove Vestfossen organizing an international online event for children leading up to a Children's Cultural Week in Arendal (Norway ) in May. 

Photo of kids participating in Arendal Cultural Week 1990. (By Arendal Photo Club.)

At the time, Odd was moderating a "Europe Today" conference on PARTIcipate, an online service on Compuserve (USA ). On November 18, he opened a "Young Talk Plan" conference. Its purpose was to plan a "channel" for kids in preparation of the event during the May Cultural Week.

The resulting kids' channel, "Young Talk," was born on January 18. Their daughter, Karina (11) was host. It had several participants, from 7 to 16 years of age. Here is what Jaela said to her friends in "Young Talk": "I like moms online friends. I got to meet a lot of people when she took me with her to meetings. My favorites are Papa Bear, Kate, Mickey, PJ, Sheila, and Legato. But they are old."

In April, Nancy Stefanik (USA) heading a group of teachers associated with SciNet (the Science and Technology Network for people in Education) in Canada , enthusiastically joined the "movement." The activity moved to SciNet's computer system in Toronto, detailed planning of the May 13 event started, and the project was renamed Norlink.

The following questions were in focus (Compare them with Kidlink's current four questions):

1. Who am I?
2. What do I want the world to be like when I grow up?
3. What can I do NOW to make the world a better place when I grow up?

On April 30, the Norlink youth dialog started , and everything culminated with a giant online chat on Sunday, May 13. In just 14 days, 260 children participated. 26 lived in New Foundland, Toronto and Ontario, Canada . 178 lived in the U.S., in San Fransisco, Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and 56 called in from Arendal and Tromsø in Norway .

Here are some drawings submitted to the Norlink project.

Preben Thommassen (12), Saltrød, Norway.

Cecilie Johansen (12), Saltrød, Norway

Roy Henning Halvorsen (12), Saltrød, Norway

Ottar Valvåg (12), Tromsø, Norway