The KIDS-93 Newsletter
A Global Dialog for Children 10-15 Years

Issue number 4, March 29, 1993

1. "I am worried about interrelation between the people".

The goal of KIDS-93 is to get as many 10-to-15-year-old children as possible involved in a GLOBAL dialog continuing until May 8th 1993. All participating children are required to answer 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?
Here are some recent responses:

** From Kustanai, Kazakhstan (Ex-USSR) **
1. My name is Typkalo Kostya. I am 11. I am interested in science fiction, and adventure literature, bow-shooting. I want to know much about submarine world, I like to play the computer. I am fond walking in the forest, bathing and swimming.
I live in Kustanai. I study at school N10. I am worried about interrelation between the people.
2. I want to get higher education and to be at the head of my own firm. I see myself kind, strong and a gemus of mathematics in the future.
3. I want the world to be a big paradize garden (Edem), I want the people to have everything they want.
4. In order to achieve something, it's necessary to begin with friendship. We must work hard to realise our dreams.

** From Stockholm, Sweden **
Hello! My name is Helga Arborelius. I live in Sweden, in Stockholm. I am ten years old. My hobbies are basket-ball and accordion.
When I grow up, I will become a doctor.
I want the world to be juste. Everybody should have food and a bed to sleep in. I support a girl in India. Her name is Devika. She is five years old. I have got a brown, black and white guinea pig. I call her Mimsan. She wants to have pen-pals in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or English!

2. 150 students from 14 sites in KIDFORUM

KIDFORUM is a forum set up to promote exchanges between classroom groups of students on topics related to the KIDLINK themes (based on the four KIDLINK questions). It has been created to make it easier for teachers to have whole classes participate in KIDLINK.
The second KIDFORUM topic, "Environment-2093", opened on the first day of the new year and ran through February 26. Fourteen schools from Denmark, Iceland, Germany and USA participated.
To start this idea exchange between classrooms, 150 students wrote short science fiction works describing the environmental picture they imagined in their respective communities 100 years into the future.
In the final week of Environment-2093 Lauren Fox, an 11 year old from Ohio, USA wrote, "...it was interesting to learn what other children think about our planet, Earth...Some of (the messages) made me think of how precious our world is to future generations...I didn't like the fact that some children thought that the world wouldn't have a pleasant outcome."
Joann Wilson, Environment-2093 Moderator, had expected some pessimistic forecasts, for she had asked students if they imagined a picture of doom or a picture of hope. She had structured the topic to draw out idea exchanges between kids with differing world views. Over the run of the topic, 45% of science fiction works had themes of doom; 55% of the works were hopeful.
Since KIDLINK tries to foster positive thinking and encourages kids to focus on building a better world, the moderator didn't expect the discouraging and alarming theme of hopelessness evident in many of the works of doom.
When she opened that concern for discussion on the KIDLEADR list, other adults concerned about the contradiction offered a set of ways to teach students environmental responsibility without generating notions of powerlessness and hopeless inevitability.
The students who wrote science fiction works with hopeful themes expressed confidence in human potential for making the world better. They envisioned marvelous inventions including elevated smog free platforms, water driven engines, programmable bicycles, and the pollution eating "VacSucker," as well as responsible environmental policies and personal stewardship, especially through recycling.
In this they were very much like adult KIDLINKers who participated in the KIDLEADR discussion. Even in the face of unpleasant reality, both groups wrote of creative solutions and positive, responsible action. Here's to the next 100 years!
Planning for topics occurs on the KIDLEADR list. Members can suggest topics on this list or to Lara Steffansdottir of Iceland, the KIDFORUM Coordinator.
The next topic, "Native litterature", started on February 22. Our moderators are two this time: Brad Templeton from New York and Hafsteinn Karlsson from Iceland. Brad was the one who proposed the topic. He works at the Harris Hill School, Penfield, New York, USA. Hafsteinn is a 36 years old schoolmaster at the Villingaholtsskoli (primary school) in Iceland.
Lara Stefansdottir presented the "Native litterature" topic in these words:
The children read a native litterature (by author or subject) to their own region of the world and construct a brief synopsis of the book or a review of an author's accomplishments.
In their letters to KIDFORUM the children can make a short personal "review" of the story. Furthermore it would be wonderful to hear what they thought was exciting, good, bad and if they liked the book (story) or not.
It would also be exciting to hear if they think that a story (or an author) can change how people think or the world. Can an author change the world? In the KIDLINK questions the children has to answer what they themselves can do about the future. Could they change somthing by writing a story?
It is important to send the authors name, publisher, copyright for each story so other schools could request the books for their library.. Note that questions asked here are just thoughts, NOT something that the children have to answer. The children themselves could also write their own story to share with the others.
Please encourage your students to send feedback to the children that have sent messages to KIDFORUM. It is so hard for a little heart to put a lot of work into a message and never get any response.

3. President Clinton in KIDCAFE

The rule is very strict: only kids 10 - 15 years of age are allowed to "speak" in KIDCAFE. However, an exception was made for president Bill Clinton of the U.S.A. The story goes like this:
The fifth-grade classes at Stewart Elementary School in Oxford, Ohio, U.S.A. were planning a bake sale on March 2 to raise money to donate to the U.S. government to reduce the U.S. deficit. Ahead of time, they announced the event in KIDCAFE to let the other kids know what they were doing. They also asked that other classes join them in taking similar actions.
The media learned about the plan and wrote about it, and the story was read in the White House. The result was that the president wanted to send a personal message to the kids. This is what he wrote:

Date: 02 Mar 1993 11:57:40 -0005 (EST)
From: "Office of the President"
Subject: Message from President Bill Clinton to KIDCAFE
To: KIDCAFE@vm1.nodak.edu

I understand that adults aren't usually allowed to send messages on KidCafe; thanks for giving me a chance to use your network to send you all a thank-you note.
I wanted to thank you for paying attention to the work we're doing here in Washington to get our country moving again. I'm very impressed by your concern about our country's deficit - and your decision to try and help do something about it. And a bake sale is certainly the sweetest way I can think of to reduce the deficit.
It's very important that all Americans understand that we have to work together to make this country a better place for all of us. I'm very happy to see that all of you at Stewart Elementary School already understand that.
Someday, when you are teachers, and doctors, and police officers - and some of you are here in Washington - you will be better leaders because you learned the value of cooperation and teamwork while you were growing up in Oxford, Ohio.
Keep working hard, keep working together, and keep working on new ideas.
President Bill Clinton

Anybody out there still thinking that networking is not giving our kids a voice?
By the way, the president's letter prompted the following adult reply in the KIDLEADR conference:

Date: Tue, 9 Mar 93 17:31:08 +0200
Organization: Institute of Semiconductors AS Ukraine
From: Vadim Popov <igor%termos.kiev.ua@relay.ussr.eu.net>
Subject: Re: Mr Clinton's message to KIDCAFE

Dear Mr President,

Recently we have read your letter in KIDCAFE. We are very glad that you pay attention to the problems of developing more close contacts between children of different countries. Our children also participate in KIDLINK project, and we believe that this project may help to bring up a new generation which would be free from racial, national, religious and political hatred and which would be more tolerant to other peoples' opinions, habits and values.
We wish success to your efforts aimed at improving American economy and promoting international peace and security. We hope that both American and post-Soviet children will be able to say when they grow up that during Mr Clinton's Presidency the world became a better and safer place to live in.
Yours sincerely, A group of parents of KIDLINK participants from Kiev, Ukraine

4. KIDLINK's Annual Celebration May 6, 7 and 8

At the end of the year-long KIDS-93 project, KIDLINK invites the kids to "chat" with each other in a global electronic dialog. We do this to bring them closer to each other on our "Birthday", to play with modern communication technologies, and to tell the other kids out there about our projects.
Last year, 3,100 kids participated during 48 hectic hours. They joined in from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
What will happen this year is up to you, but please note that the Celebration is coming up awfully fast - it's just five short weeks away. So if you want your kids to participate, start making plans now!
For more information about how to participate in the online chat or e-mail exchange, please write coordinator Mark Hunnibell at HUNNIBELL@delphi.com .
Peter Daly from the United Kingdom is our coordinator for the Global Ham Radio segment. On February 23, he brought the following good news:
I got word back from UK Radio Authority this morning, confirming that my application to have KIDLINK given the same status as JOTA (Jamboree on the Air, scouting annual celebration) and TDOTA (Thinking Day on Air, guides annual celebration) has been granted.
Naturally the UK Authority can only speak for UK, but since Scouts and Guides already have existing approval of other national authorities, it will be much easier to gain similar extensive approval now that we can quote the UK's position, when approaching other authorities.
If you want to participate in this part of KIDLINK's Celebration, please get in touch with Peter at peted@gn.apc.org .
Information is also available in the following key files: KIDLINK CELEB (how to register for participation), KIDPLAN SITETIPS and SITEINDX, KIDLEADR BITHELP1 and BITHELP2 (for BITNET folks), and KIDLEADR IRCHELP1 and IRCHELP2 (for Internet). Details about how to retrieve these files are given below.
Go for it!

5. Sponsors

The Danish Ministry of Education, which is behind the "School's Database Service" and the conferencing system SkoleKOM, is continuing their financial support of the KIDLINK activities in Denmark. Over the past two years, they have covered most of our local coordinator, Claus Berg's, telephone and modem expenses. Claus is also playing a key role in KIDLINK world-wide.
The Ministry will cover his telephone expenses during the coming year. They will pay for substitute teachers, while he is absent from school to participate in KIDLINK activities. Finally, they're giving Claus one day off each week during the coming school year (starting August 1993) to help improve the the Danish participation in KIDLINK.
The total value of this support is estimated to Dkr. 68.000- 78.000 (around US$ 10.700-12.300).

6. Around KIDLINK

The KIDPROJ "Polar Walk" project brought a lot of excitement in classrooms around the world. Many reports were written, as were several poems. Here is one co-authored by Roger Jennings and James Moody in Mrs. Wilkerson's grade 5 class at Rosewood Elementary School, Rock Hill, S.C., USA:

CONGRATULATIONS

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Dr. Michael Stroud,
We want to say that we are really proud.

Pulling through the weather so ferocious,
Raising money for Multiple Sclerosis.

You tried real hard, you tried your best,
But the weather was just too much a pest.

The blinding storms and wintry cold,
Didn't matter because you were bold.

>From South Carolina, we congratulate you,
>From your very hard time, you made it through!

Young Kirill Lugovsky (Protvino, Russia) is getting internationally known. One of his KIDART pictures (ART020) - "The End of The Evil Power" - was recently printed in the Danish magazine 'Tidens Skole'.
Then there's Sam Wong, student helper at Mr. Kelly's 6th grade Class at Fellows Elementary School, Ames, Iowa, USA. He's launched a global KIDS-ACT project run entirely by kids for kids!!! The first challenge to the other kids is:

1. Find the cost of the following items :
A. 1 Hamburger and 1 small french fries from McDonalds
B. 1lb of fish for frying or baking*
C. 1 gallon or four liters of unleaded gasoline
D. 1 gallon or four liters of regular 2% (reduced fat) milk
E. 1 loaf of regular white bread
F. 1 kilowatt or 1 basic unit of electricity
* = Your choice of normal white fish

Josh Wardell, a KIDS-92 veteran youth (now at 9th Grade, Guilford High School, Guilford, CT, USA), has been crafting text and images from the KIDSHOW presentation of KIDLINK into a Macintosh version assisted by KidLink adult volunteer Mark Hunnibell. When finished, the Mac version will be functionally similar to the MS-DOS version, while using some of the unique capabilities of the Macintosh.

7. New Documents and Files

These are some new or updated files available by e-mail from the KIDLINK archive:

General information:

GENERAL		What is KIDS-93?
NATIONS		Countries participating in KIDLINK
TIPS		Practical tips about using KIDLINK
NEWS393		KIDLINK Newsletter #3

All newsletters dating back to KIDS-91 has been moved to this library. Their names are NEWS191 for newsletter #1 of KIDS-91, NEWS292 for the KIDS-92 newsletter #2, etc.

KIDS-93 Project Information:

CELEB		** KIDS-93 Celebration in May **
PROJECTS		KIDLINK Project Overview

To get a list of all available files in the KIDLINK archives, send a message to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu . In the TEXT of your message, write the command: GET KIDLINK MASTER
To get one of the files from the list above, write the command: GET KIDLINK <filename> as in "GET KIDLINK GENERAL". If you have problems retrieving files, please e-mail Odd de Presno (opresno@extern.uio.no).

New or updated files in the KIDPLAN archive:

SITEINDX		The file containing the names of all sites that plan to participate in the KIDS-93 Celebration in May and where they can be found in various file names.
SITES01		The first file of sites
SITETIPS		Annual Celebration General Tips

To get files from the KIDPLAN library, write the command: GET KIDPLAN <filename> as in "GET KIDPLAN SITEINDX".

New or updated Celebration files in the KIDLEADR archive:

BITHELP1		BITNET Relay Help - Part 1
BITHELP2		BITNET Relay Help - Part 2
IRCHELP1		IRC Instructions - Part 1
IRCHELP2		IRC Instructions - Part 2

To get files from the KIDLEADR library, write the command: GET KIDLEADR <filename> as in "GET KIDLEADR IRCHELP2".
A number of new art creations has been made available through KIDART, the KIDLINK Gallery of Computer Art, including many new ones from Moscow. The library contains more than 140 files. For a list of current offerings, send a message to the LISTSERV containing the following line: INDEX KIDART

8. More about KIDS-93

Most of the dialog between the kids is based on electronic mail. During the days 6 - 8 of May 1993, however, the children will be invited to "chat" with each other in a global electronic dialog.
While KIDLINK is an announcement service, the global online discussion forums, KIDLEADR, KIDPROJ, and KIDPLAN, are meeting places for teachers, parents and other persons involved with the KIDS-93 project. KINDEX and KINDEXW are special services set up to help participants cope with the volume of messages in our various conferences.
The project operates the following forums for the children themselves:

RESPONSE		where the children send their personal introductions (their responses to the four introductory questions)
KIDCAFE		where they can 'talk' about anything they like
KIDS-ACT		where they can discuss 'What we can do NOW to make the world a better place to live'.
KIDFORUM		for exchanges between classroom groups of students.

To join KIDLINK through Internet/BITNET, send the command SUB KIDLINK Yourname to LISTSERV@vm1.NoDak.EDU (for example: SUB KIDLINK Ole Olsen). The command should be in the BODY of the text. The discussion forums are also available through several conferencing system and mail exploders around the world. Write us for more information.
All discussion forums are open for everybody, but only kids between 10 - 15 may write messages in KIDCAFE, KIDS-ACT and KIDFORUM.
A 130+ picture slide show about KIDS-93 is available (for MS- DOS computers with VGA color display). To get a copy, send a formated 1.4MB diskette, an envelope carrying your return address, plus US$10.00 to KIDLINK, 4815 Saltrod, Norway.
You can also get this slide show by Anonymous FTP. For details on how to do it, send a message to the LISTSERV containing the following command: GET KIDLINK KIDSHOW
The KIDS-93 newsletter is an information bulletin for teachers, participants, sponsors, mediators, promoters, and others. Suggestions and contributions are invited. But please don't wait until the next issue to plan activities in your community! Be sure to write us if you want to get on the mailing list for KIDS-93!! Onward!

Editor/Project director:		Odd de Presno, Saltrod, Norway.
Mail address: Telefax:		Saltrod, Norway (Europe). +47 41 27111
Online addresses: Internet: UUCP/EUnet: DASnet: Saltrød Horror Show BBS:		opresno@ulrik.uio.no uunet!ulrik.uio.no!opresno [DEZNDP]opresno SYSOP. Phone: +47 41 31378.

If you want to help out with KIDS-93, or participate, contact the newsletter editor, write to kidlink-info@vm1.nodak.edu or contact one of our local contact persons around the world for more information. For a list of contact persons, send a request to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu (or LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 on BITNET) With the following commands in the TEXT of your message: GET KIDLINK CONTACTS
KIDS-93 has local representatives in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States.
You can also write to KIDLINK, 4815 Saltrod, Norway or just sign up ...