The KIDS-93 Newsletter A Global Dialog for Children 10-15 Years Issue number 5, April 30, 1993 Picture by Mollie Parrish (14), USA

1. "I want people to be independent."

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. ** On May 9th, we start the 12-month KIDS-94 project **
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?
KIDLINK has now received answers to these questions from 50 countries around the world. Here are some recent responses:

** From Kuwait **
1.I'm a boy. My name is Matus Navrat. My nationality is Slovakia (which was Czechoslovakia before its split) but presently I live in Kuwait. I am 13.
Here in Kuwait I visit Gulf English school. In my country I visit school with extended learning of foreign languages. My favorite sport is basketball and I often swim. I like football, baseball, voleyball, hockey and rugby as well. I like playing with computer games very much.
2. I want to work with computers in my job. Maybe I should like to program computers. With computers the work can be creative and I can create new things. Or I want to be a politic leader which joins all the planets and nations in universe. I want to finish the higher education, too.
3. There are many things I want them to be in the future. My opinion is that the wars which are still going on in countries such as Afganistan and Yugoslavia must stop. My hope is that it will be done soon.
Then I think that people have to take a bigger care about the environment, which we all share. If someone is polluting and poisoning this environment it has of course bad effect on all of us.
I mean the effect is not only on those which are close to the source of the pollution, but in smaller scale it influences all other living things.
4. I want the people to join together and do something against the polluters and tyrans which are leading the wars. It is of course hard to reach such goal, but if we do not do something against them, they will surely kill nature and ourselves as well.
I would also like this issue to include some clips from the KIDFORUM item's till now. I would be glad to say, that I was willing to give a helping hand writing this, but I'm afraid it's impossible this time.

** From Makerere College School, Kampala, Uganda **
My names are Mwesigwa. Viola. Iam 13 years old. Iam the humblest girl in our family. Iam not greedy. I like helping my sisters and brothers. I also want to be friendly to the house girl.
I want to be an accountant in a bank, factory / industry. If not that I want to become a doctor/ nurse.If not I want to become a business woman e.g shopkeeper etc.
I want the world to have peace, get everything the people want. I want people to be independent.
What I can do is to study hard, become a politician and a friend of the current president.

** From Guatemala **
1. My name is Stefan Benchoam. Im a boy. I dont like school very much. I live in Guatemala city. My school name is American School of Guatemala. I have a dog and a lizard. I have 3 brothers. I like sports and music.
2. When I grow up I want to be a basketball pleyer. A golf pleyer and go to the P.G.A. tour. A very good comedient. And an architect and bild buildings all over the world. And at last be an owner of a Recicling factory.
3. I would like everybody to recicle when I grow up. I would like the oil drilling to stop. Use california admicion cars. don't use things that are gasoline. Use horses to walk, or to walk.
4. Build recicle factorys. Have a meeting with the president and tell the peoples to recicle. Give bags sow they put the trash in the bags. Give papers to the people that say don't throw papers in the flor.

2. ** Announcing the KIDLINK Society **

KIDLINK is the brainchild of Project Director Odd de Presno, and up to know it has kind of been his "intellectual property". Not so any more!
On March 6th, 1993, the KIDLINK Society was founded. All rights to the KIDLINK grassroots movement were handed over to the new nonprofit organization on this date.
The Articles of Association were electronically signed by Dan Wheeler (USA), Claus Berg (Denmark), Oscar Becerra T. (Peru), Mike Burleigh (England), Lara Stefansdottir (Iceland), Richard Naylor (New Zealand), and Odd de Presno (Norway).
You will find the full text of the Articles of Association in the file KIDLINK AOFA . To retrieve this file, send a message to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu . In the TEXT of the message write GET KIDLINK AOFA .
We quote from the Articles of Association:

Membership in the KIDLINK Society is open to any person or organization wishing to support the purpose and goals of the KIDLINK Society.
There are three types of membership: (1) individual membership, (2) organizational membership, and (3) youth membership. ...

The founding members of the Society has elected themselves as the Board for the duration of KIDS-94. We simply need some time to get organized, and in the online world things like this takes time.
By the end of KIDS-94, there will be a common election among all members. The KIDLINK Board is to consists of one representative from each of the following six world areas: (1) Europe, (2) Africa, (3) Asia, (4) Pacific, (5) North America, and (6) Central and South America, plus the Project Director.
We currently only have dues established for individual members. The Society have two types of individual membership:

Ordinary member: US$ 25,-
Sponsoring member: US$ 100,-

Payment of dues may be done using VISA, EuroCard/Mastercard, and American Express, as well as by bank transfer. (All the founding members have paid their dues.)

** IMPORTANT NOTE: You do *not* need to be a member to participate in KIDLINK. All our activities have been free and will continue to be free!!!

The membership application form is in the file KIDLINK DUES . Add the command GET KIDLINK DUES to the command above to get this form.

3. ** 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.
With just a week remaining before the Annual Celebration - or TELEBRATION, as some people like to call it - many majors sites with known intent to participate have not yet sent in their SITE information.
The template for registration is in the short KIDLINK CELEB file. Alternatively, you may send a private request for the form or any other file to Mark Hunnibell at HUNNIBELL@delphi.com , and he will send you the files as soon as possible.
Beginning on Friday, April 30, 1993, updates to any and all celebration-related files will be posted and announced on a daily or more frequent basis to get the word out. Announcement of these revisions will be made to the KIDPLAN list.
Last year, we had our own 'private' IRC server set up to which people without Clients could TELNET to participate in the global chat. There is promise that we'll have another such system set up this year. The big difference this time around is that the system will be permanent and will offer more than just chat. Information of how to access this system will be sent out via KIDPLAN as soon as it is available.
Peter Daly from the United Kingdom is our coordinator for the Global Ham Radio segment, which seems to be really big this year. Check out the file SITES0H in the KIDPLAN library, or write Peter at peted@gn.apc.org for more information.
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!

4. "Cost of Living" 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 current topic in KIDFORUM is "Cost of Living". It started on April 1st, and will continue until May 15th.
The topic is divided into four subjects: 1. Basic needs, 2. Luxuries, 3. My thoughts about the topic, and 4. The best things in life are free.
"We're all excited to see what the kids will define as basic needs ...," says Jim Kuhl. He has volunteered to be the moderator for the "Cost of Living" topic, and works as a sixth grade teacher in New York, U.S.A. Write him at JKUHL@ONONDAGA.BITNET if you want more information.
Let's close with one of our favourite messages from KIDFORUM's "Native Litterature" topic:

> Grettir and the berserks.

Author: Kristjan Gudmundsson
Publisher: Namsgagnastofnun, Reykjavik.

This book is based on one of the old Icelandic sagas - Grettissaga. It is about Grettir Amundason, when he kills the berserks and saved all the people in Thorfinns farm. Thorfinnur was not at home and when he came he saw Grettir very bloody. I like this book. It is not long - about 20 pages.

Olafur Ingjaldsson
Age 11
Villingaholtsskoli
Iceland.

5. Sponsors

KIDLINKers report from Moscow that "Demos Plus" Co. Ltd sponsors the Moscow Children Computer Club's access to the Internet for participation in KIDS-93 and KIDLINK. They are also picking up the Club's traffic charges. ("Demos Plus" Co. Ltd, Ovchinnikovskaja nab. 6/1, Moscow, Russia, 113035. E-mail: info@hq.demos.su .)
MTC/Infograf in Oslo (Norway) sponsored the project by turning a set of graphics files into color slides to be used by Odd de Presno for presenting KIDLINK in Bologna, Italy, in early May.

6. Around KIDLINK

Remember President Clinton and the KIDCAFE participants at Stewart Elementary School in Oxford, Ohio, U.S.A.? Those where the kids who arranged a bake sale on March 2 to raise money to donate to the U.S. government to reduce the U.S. deficit.
Since our last report, eight of them has been invited to visit Washington D.C. to meet with the President at the White House. One of them, Celia Reikle, was interviewed by a Canadian radio station about their project and it was broadcast over all Canada and the upper U.S. The story have been all over the newspapers. Talk about kid power!
KIDPROJ has launced the "Where is the Mystery School" project. It is coordinated by students, teachers and parents at Elsmere Elementary School, Delmar, NY, USA.
It is an inter-disciplinary project using telecommunications and telecomputing as a tool to integrate reading, writing, the arts, science, mathematics, history, geography and culture into a motivational learning platform. Join KIDPROJ to watch the action.
In KIDCAFE, the activity was heavy during the first quarter of 1993. These were the ten most active letter-writing sites:

Sms. Guido Reni (Italy)		288 messages
Sms. Mameli (Italy)		209
Holyoke Middle School (USA)		169
Frankfurt (Germany)		164
Panzacchi (Italy)		155
Buffalo (USA)		121
Amity, CT (USA)		120
Sms. Panzini (Italy)		76
Sande (Norway)		70
Satid Chula (Thailand)		68
Hinnerup (Denmark)		65

7. New Documents and Files

Here are 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
NEWS493		KIDS-93 Newsletter #4
SPONSORS		KIDLINK SPONSORS

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
SITES02		Annual Celebration Sites # 2
SITES03		Annual Celebration Sites #3
SITETIME		Annual Celebration Time Chart
SITETIPS		Annual Celebration General Tips
SITES0H		Annual Celebration Ham Sites
SLIDES93		A 29 color slide KIDLINK presentation for MS-DOS computers with VGA color display! You may find it useful when talking to invited journalists during the Celebration.

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:

New or updated Celebration files in the KIDLEADR archive:

BITHELP1		BITNET Relay Help - Part 1
BITHELP2		BITNET Relay Help - 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. The library contains over 140 files. For a list of current offerings, send a message to the LISTSERV containing the following line: INDEX KIDART

8. KIDS-94

The KIDS-94 project will grow out from the platform of the KIDS-93 project. It will start on May 9, and continue until May 1994. Most of the dialog between the kids is based on electronic mail. During May, 1994, 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-94!! 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-94, 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-93/94 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 ...