------------------------------ KIDPLAN SITEK934 - 2 June 1993 ------------------------------ GET KIDPLAN SITEK93R for complete listing of available KIDS-93 SITE Report files. Send revisions, updates, or suggestions to Mark Hunnibell at: Internet: mark@kids.duq.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this file: Denmark - Copenhagen Norway - Arendal Peru - Lima ** USA - Cincinnati Ohio ** USA - Rock Hill South Carolina ** USA - Westley California ** Reports not yet available. Denmark - Copenhagen -------------------- Date: Mon, 24 May 1993 01:42:00 +0200 From: Claus_Berg@skole-kom.uni-c.dk Subject: Danish SITE Report Dear KIDLINK'ers/KIDPLAN'ers Here in Denmark we wind'ed down for this year's Celebration, sending all of you the best greetings of Thanks! We hope you all out there in the *Global Village* have enjoyed it, as much as we did here! Here's the Danish site-report from KIDLINK's Celebration 1993, May 6'th thru 8'th. The point's beneath are refering to our SITEINFO-file. Some irrelevant paragraphs are leaved out... Contact: Coordination Address Information: -------- -------------------------------- Claus Berg Tel Voice: (+45) 44 98 14 31 Vaerebrovej 52,7.1 Tel Fax/Data: same, but call first voice DK-2880 Bagsvaerd Internet: Claus_Berg@skole-kom.uni-c.dk DENMARK 1. Site Name or Description: "Eksperimentarium", Copenhagen - the Danish Science Center (very much like the Exploratorium in San Francisco) This is _really a very exciting_ place to celebrate KIDLINK's birthday. We also did it here in 1992, and were glad to be able to try once more. It gives us the advantages of a large room, capable of housing many people - and it also gives the visitors the possiblities to combine many other activities with *global scale interactive communications*. 2. Computers at site: 14 IBM PS/VP, DOS 5, Windows 3.1, using the Windows terminal program in a simple, but powerfull setup. Also equipped with electronic dictionaries. 2 large screens 33" and 27", 1 VGA Color data viewer. 3. Number of telephone lines, Fax/Voice combination: 16 telephone lines with 14400 TwinCOM modems logged on to the Danish (PortaCOM) conference system "SkoleKOM", 1 international telephone line for fax, using TwinCOM 14.4 fax-modem too, and the WinFax Pro Software. All equipment and software, telephone connections and on-line access sponsored by local companies. Unfortunately we had a lot of technical problems: lost connections, noisy phone-lines, busy irc-server's, whatever ;-( These problems made things works work slower, than we wanted them to - but the kids were positive and excited most of the time, though. We'll send a list of sponsors to Odd later on. 4. Preferred E-Mail addresses (for the event): Happy_Birthday@skole-kom.uni-c.dk (e-mail to our kids) Hello@skole-kom.uni-c.dk (greetings for adults too) Because many of the kids visiting our site, especially on day 2 and 3, were newcomers, we offered them participation by first giving them the opportunity to submit their RESPONSE via the SkoleKOM-system. To make it possible to handle replies to these RESPONSE's, which might arrive while they were not on-site anymore, or maybe in the days after the event, we've set up two local conferences in SkoleKOM. All replies to the accounts used by these new kids were automatic forwarded to these conferences. This makes it easier for others to do the follow-up. This is a *concept*, which we've developed in accordance with the many courses for Danish teachers, which we've been doing. We feel, that it makes it much easier to *share* incoming e-mail. 5. Fax capability: We exchanged a couple of fax-messages, and a few artworks with other sites - but we didn't manage to get things working as well as intended. Nevertheless I feel, that this is a very good activity. 9. Dates and hours of intended operations May 6'th, Thursday: GMT 0700 thru 1400, (local time 0900 thru 1600) May 7'th, Friday: GMT 0900 thru 1400, (local time 1100 thru 1600) May 8'th, Saturday: GMT 0900 thru 1400, (local time 1100 thru 1600) 10. Number and ages of kids you are planning for: May 6'th, Thursday: 3 classes: 7'th, 8'th grader's, 13 thru 14 years old. Approximately 75 kids. May 7'th, Friday: open house, 10 thru 15 years of age - 25 - May 8'th, Saturday: open house, 10 thru 15 years of age - 25 - On first day: Thursday, May 6'th - there was a lot of kids here, the 3 school-classes participated sending messages to the Lists of KIDLINK, they also trying to establish IRC-connectings to KIDLINK's own server - or by our local "talk-facility". Unfortunately ;-) the weather was very good on day 2 and 3, so many people choosed to enjoy their living elsewhere, than here in "Eksperimentarium" ;-( By the way Friday, May 7'th was a *public holiday* here in Denmark, called "Great Prayer's Day". So there hasn't been as many kids the last two days, as we expected. But the ones, that showed up, really enjoyed it. 11. Chat participation intentions: We plan to participate in IRC during all three days. But we also offer others the opportunity to do *talk-sesssions* with our kids, as described in point 15. 15 We invite other sites to join us in *talk-sessions* using telnet to our host: gw@sdbs.dk in Copenhagen via Internet. (etc.,etc.) Unfortunately we were only able to make it through to the irc-server's a few times during Celebration, but we had some very cosy *talk-sessions*, especially with Iceland ;-) We do feel, that *talk* is a good opportunity too, while irc might be too crowded - at least for slow-typing Nordic kids. 13. Miscellaneous: We've been doing a lot to involve the press. We had a *pre-release* press meeting, while Odd had an intermediate landing in Copenhagen on his way to Italy on April 30'th. The Danish minister of Education will give the *keynote* speach, doing the official opening of our event. We have also arranged a press conference on May 6'th. We really feel, that we've been able to make it in the press this year. See the list attached this report... :) Even though we feel very pleased with the press coverage, we also know for sure, that we'll have to make next Celebration something completely different, if _we_ should be able to get their attention again (big grin!) Last year we had T-shirts for all participating kids, with the Ministry's logo on front and "KIDLINK" printed on the back. This year we choose to print badges instead. This was how Odd described them: * nice badge used during the Celebration. Black KIDLINK logo on dark yellowish background with EKSPERIMENTARIUM (the site name) printed above. On Tuesday, June 8'th the Danish *crew* will meet to evaluate. This is an *Adult-only* session ;-) Last year we started with a meeting of Evaluation sitting in the old sunny backyard of the Ministry of Education, and afterwards we visited a Greek restaurant (still in Copenhagen, though). ...I guess we'll do something similar this time. What we'll be discussing, is probably how we'll like to set up next year's Celebration in Denmark. Of course we're also having some of these ongoing discussions in our local conferencing system, where other Danish participants will be able to take the word. Maybe we'll be adding some comment to this report after June 8'th. Finally I'm glad to be be able to add a personal statement from another *old* Danish participant... I asked Niels Quist, Humlebaek School, who participated in Eksperimentarium with a group of *experienced* students on the first day of Celebration, to tell us, how they felt about it. Here's what Niels_Quist@skole-kom.uni-c.dk said: A DAY OF CELEBRATIONS ********************* A number of 7th and 8th graders from The School of Humlebaek had a great Thursday at the Science Centre in Copenhagen (The Eksperimentarium) together with their teachers, Vivian Andersen and Niels Quist. Getting into contact with new and old mates and friends around the world was of course one important and thrilling thing. It was time to refresh friendships with many - among others Kirill in Protvino - with whom Lykke from Humlebaek has had a long and interesting contact - which hopefully will continue. Also some new and interesting contacts were made on this day with so many e-mail greetings blowing around your eyes. This alone was a great success, however, the fuss about being focused on by the press and to give interviews to newspapers, radio and TV about KIDLINK activities and experiences didn't exactly make the event a less memorable one. In the taxi two 8th grade students and I got freely due to a late and directly broadcasted radio interview in Radio Denmark, I was told that this was the best day at school (or rather away from school) that they had ever had). Also Monday morning (we had a holiday the following Friday) - I was caught in the school yard by a 'thanks very much for the other day'. This 'thanks very much' we would like to convey to not only the Danish staff on this project, but to any around the world who has helped to make this possible. Best, Niels Quist on behalf of many ********************* Yours Claus Internet: Claus_Berg@skole-kom.uni-c.dk ...on behalf of *the Danish Crew* Steen Weidemann, David Simonsen, Mads Peter Jakobsen, Anders Strand, Niels Quist, Erik Dam, Lis Nielsen, Anders Poulsen and others... Attachment about "The Press coverage..." ------------------------------------ * We had a nice spot on the National TV News Channel on first day of Celebration, May 6'th, Thursday... a very fine interview with some of the kids, pictures from our site with the working kids - and a few seconds with Danish coordinator, Claus Berg, telling *how _easy_ it is to join us* ;-) * A directly send spot on the National Radio's Channel 3 on May 6'th; two boys telling the journalist, how they make contact through KIDLINK. * On Friday, May 14'th, the National Radio sent a program for children called "Fri for Boern" (English: "Free for kids"). Here was a feature on KIDLINK with more interviews. * Two girls made a radio interview with the Danish Minister of Education, who visited our site. This was sent on the local Radio Station (Radio Gladsaxe) on May 10'th. * ComputerWorld (Danish Edition), May 14'th; illustrated frontpage- notice: "Paa PC til Guatemala" (English: "Going to Guatemala by PC"). On p.37 in the same issue another illustrated half-page article: "KIDLINK fejrede tre aar, og ministeren kom med gaver" (English: "KIDLINK celebrated three year's anniversery, and the Minister (of Education) came with presents") In addition we guess, we'll see some more media-mentions of KIDLINK in the near future. The journalist++ from these media's collected materials during our Celebration - so these are *places*, where we expect something to happen... * Tuesday, May 25'th, on local Radio Gladsaxe station there will be a broadcasting called: "KIDLINK: 7'th class Buddinge School in global dialog via computer" * The editor of the Danish Computer magazine "Circuit - data & teknik" was *on the spot*; both for our event *Meet Odd and Claus* ;-) in the VIP Room of Copenhagen Airport on April 30'th and during the press conference in Eksperimentarium, May 6'th. Next issue: early June. * Another Danish Computer magazine "DataTID" showed up with a photo- grapher working very serious for nearly two hours. The following mentions _have_ allready been *published* by Odd on the List KIDLINK. (All printed articles have been/will be send to Odd). * article in Politiken 5/7/93 p. 3 "Pennevenner via computer" (English: "Pen friends via computer". * article in Det Fri Aktuelt 5/11/83 p. 22-23 with three pictures. "Kloden kalder" (Engl.:The Globe is Calling." * BagsvaerdBladet 5/11/93 front page: "Global dialog" with picture. * article in Undervisningsministeriets Nyhedsbrev: "Kidlink holder foedselsdag" (Engl.: KIDLINK has birthday party.". * numerous local language KIDS-93 newsletters with the English language version as "inserts" and a lot of KIDART samples. Norway - Arendal ---------------- Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1993 22:59:26 +0200 Resent-from: Eli Tunaal From: Eli Tunaal Subject: Site Report from Arendal THE KIDLINK CELEBRATION KIDS-93 SITE REPORT ARENDAL *INTRODUCTION* It did not look as if Arendal was going to have a celebration at all this year. Odd announced in early April that he would not even be here during the celebration, he was invited to Bologna in Italy to speak there about KIDLINK, and would follow the celebrations from there, basically from the sidelines. What now? Odd had always been the central coordinator for the event, and the only one who really understood all the parts of what would be necessary to make it work, technically, soft- warewise and administratively. There had always been able helpers, but basically they knew their separate parts of the whole picture. Odd was the one who could stitch it all together. And lately we have been having some positive response and attention both from the official school system and from the municipality's political hierarchy. We are taken more seriously than we have been for a long time. It would be totally wrong at this time to be absent during the most important event of the year for the KIDLINK project. It would also send some very strange signals to the rest of the world, to whom Arendal is the birthplace of KIDLINK. And the kids would miss out on the fun. I found that we could not allow this, we must try to do something, despite the drawback of a missing guru. Maybe not on a grand scale, but we would at least make an attempt to get "on the air" during the BIG DAYS. So I started to gather the good forces. *THE SITE* The manager of the town's municipal youth activity center (popularly called "Kilden"), Mads Aronsen, had lately become very interested in the KIDLINK project, and was only too happy to provide the necessary facilities for the celebration. We were installed in a fairly large room with plenty of table space, and an adjoining sitting room which was perfect for lecturing or discussions. "Kilden" is situated in the middle of town, and is frequented by youth of the age from 10-12 to over 20. It contains a cafe, practice rooms for rock groups, disco, theatre saloon and other facilitities for youngsters. The town's music school also has its quarters in the house. Youth of all shapes, sizes and mental persuations come here, to a completely alcohol- and drug-free environment where they can generally be themselves and pursue their own interests. *THE EQUIPMENT* Drawing on the experience and contacts from last year's celebration, I went to the same people and asked for their help. And there was nothing but yes and good will wherever I turned. The Norwegian Telecommunications Network (Televerket) installed and gave us free use of a total of 11 telephone lines for data communication, fax and phone. They also set us up with a Datapac connection, which basically did away with bottlenecks in the telesystem. DataHjelp, a local computer equipment firm, lent us their complete setup for tuition, which consists of six terminals in a network connected to a central server, of a type called DTC, which is locally compounded by the firm itself, and is IBM compatible. Semafor, a local firm which produces, among other things, modems, lent us nine brand new modems of type Semafor 2314 L, which transmit at 9600 and even 14400 baud. TBK, a company selling and installing tele equipment, lent us two fax machines and a phone. All completely free of charge. In addition Bosse Klykken brought his private PC down and installed it, and I brought mine. "Kilden" placed their own PC in the sitting room, where the Kidshow and Claus' Humlebaek introductory programmes where installed, for people who wanted to find out about KIDLINK in peace and quiet. We installed "PROCOMM" communications programme, the "TED" editor and the "LIST" file handling programmes on the network server, and these are also on my PC. Bosse's PC has other programmes, I believe he uses "TELIX" for communication. Through Agderforskning in Grimstad we had been given three accounts to use for the celebration, and Bosse secured a total of 10 (!) accounts with Bergen By Bite. We had more than enough capacity available. "Kilden" personnel provided posters and other signs, as well as maps and instruction placards in the KIDLINK rooms. The local paper "Agderposten" gave us an advertisement about the event, free of charge, in the paper on Thursday morning. *THE EVENT* Thursday 6. May Since Televerket had already installed the lines a few days in advance, we started on Thursday morning by collecting the network machines and rigging the equipment. Semafor and TBK brought their equipment down to us, and Jon Skrove of DataHjelp spent the best part of the afternoon connecting up and installing the network. By about 3 o'clock in the afternoon we were in fact operational, and the first kids had already started to arrive, despite the fact that we had only announced opening to the public from 6 pm. Since we were basically in business, the kids were obviously given a run of the setup, and we had the first contacts with the rest of the Celebration world. In the evening the center was open from 1800 to about 2100 local time (1600 - 1900 GMT). There were not many kids in that night, probably no more than ten. But we had all the equipment and all the various connection possibilities tried out, and found that virtually everything worked as planned. Friday 7. May Besides being my birthday, this was intended to be the major day for the activity. We had invited three school classes, suggesting that in the selection of the classes the schools should look at classes having an enthusiastic and slightly computer-mad teacher, having been told at least basically what it was all about, and having facilities available to follow up afterwards. At 0930 (local time, 0730 GMT) 7th grade from Hisoy Ungdomsskole (roughly equivalent to High School?) arrived. Their computer teacher Lars Holmeide was unable to come, and they were accompanied by Mr. Kjennevold, who was not very familiar with the workings of computers. I gave them a short lecture of the history of KIDLINK, the workings of data communications, and the setup for participation in KIDLINK. The class was well prepared, and had brought their answers to the four questions on a disk. They were therefore introduced directly to the chat setup, while I uploaded the answers to RESPONSE. Unfortunately it was a bit early in the day for any lively activity on the KIDLINK channel, and they started off by chatting to each other, but after a while they did establish contact with Melbourne and Wellington, and soon Iceland joined in. From then on the activity just took off. At 1100 local (0900 GMT) the next class arrived. This was 6th grade from Nedenes Barneskole (primary school) with their teacher Tor Arne Richvoldsen. Tor Arne is an enthusiastic and resourceful man, and knowledgeable about computers. Odd and I had already been in contact with him in advance, and he and his class were in fact well and truly operational in KIDCAFE, having long ago introduced themselves through RESPONSE. They have their own very functional setup at the school. They were given a brief lecture of the basics of KIDLINK, but most of it appeared to be old hat; the kids knew this, and they were rearing to go on the chat setup. When they were let loose, traffic was already picking up considerably, and rarely did they have to talk among themselves. I was amazed at their English ability, after all they have only been doing English - as a (boring?) school subject - for two years, but there were little or no inhibitions because of any lack of language. I doubt if the spelling would have passed tests at all times, but who cared? They were understood, they got replies, they were in contact. A great group. The third "class", from Moland Ungdomsskole's 7th grade, arrived at 1230 local (1030 GMT). This was not quite as expected, because only four students showed up, without a teacher. However, these four were very enthusiastic, and relatively familiar with the setup, since Moland has been involved with KIDLINK for a few years, with varying intensity. They were given their introduction and access to the keyboards, and away they went. By this time other kids had started to appear at "Kilden", and stragglers from the previous classes were also there, so the machines were quite busy. My three main and invaluable helpers Bosse, Rune and Per Ivar stayed on during our scheduled break, while I sneaked off for some food and rest, and I don't think the activity stopped at all. When I came back at 1800 local (1600 GMT), the party was going full blast. All machines were in action, and they stayed that way for most of the evening. Officially we stopped at 2200 local (2000 GMT), but Bosse, Rune and Per Ivar were quite happy to stay on, and so were some of the kids. One 14 year old girl came in about 1830. She had secured leave to go to the disco, but also wanted to see what this was all about. She patiently waited her turn, then dutyfully (and thoughtfully) answered the four questions, and then, somewhat hesitantly at first, tried out the chat. She was completely absorbed. In the course of the evening she made friends all over the world. She went home at 2330 with stars in her eyes. She never got to the disco. I chalk down Friday as a considerable success. The machines fully engaged, new kids introduced, and all having a swell time. A few mishaps should not be allowed to mar the day. Saturday 8. May No schools today, only the random appearing public. Would anybody come? We started at 1000 local (0800 GMT), and quite early the first kids started to appear. Most of them were "old timers" from the days before, but there were also some new faces. This early in the day there was not all that much activity, but after a while we did make contact with Australia and New Zealand, and soon Lara and her Iceland gang appeared. Quite a lively period, before people started to go home at the end of their Saturday shopping session, and about 1400 local (1200 GMT) we had a break. When we started again at 1800 (1600 GMT), I was attending Odd's daughter Karina's confirmation party, and I therefore did not personally arrive until about 1930. All machines were then occupied, and they had been since shortly after six, the three trusty musketeers told me. The evening was quite busy. Contact was maintained with Iceland for as long as there were people there, and then with Canada and the US. The site closed down at 2100 local (1900 GMT), and although there was still activity going on, we made a relatively orderly departure, and said good bye to the world. *THE ACTIVITIES* The facilities were set up with the following intensions: - The six machines in network were intended for chat, while also being useable for e-mail, if desired. They each had their own modem connection, and, apart from using the same server harddisk to run their programmes, operated as independent units. - Bosse's PC was intended as a specialized e-mail facility, but obviously also could connect to chat. - My own PC was basically for my personal use and for anybody trustworthy enough to be let on to it (grin), but was in fact quite often occupied excactly as the other machines. However, frequently it was used by newcomers who needed some peace and quiet (and perhaps some assistance) to answer the questions or write a letter to KIDCAfE. - Two fax machines were available, one intended for incoming faxes and one for outgoing. In other words we offered three basic activities: chat, e-mail and fax. We sent out quite a few faxes, but did not receive very many back. The ones we did receive, from Copenhagen, Akureyri and a long and very varied and interesting one from Holyoke Massachusetts, were greatly appreciated. Ours were basically scribbled greetings in attempts to make contact, which the medium of fax this time did not manage to do. E-mail was used, but not extensively. New kids, obviously, sent messages to RESPONSE. We also did send some messages to KIDCAFE, but not as a coordinated and organized activity. It served mainly as an alternative to chat. We had downloaded and printed out about 40 meters of the latest RESPONSE logs from the archives, and these we pinned up on the wall. They were useful for finding people that the kids could address directly in their KIDCAFE message, to enhance the chances of replies. (Incidentally, I have recently noticed that in at least a couple of occasions it has worked!) But about 90 % of the activity centered on chat. The other two just could not compete, and were only attractive as something to do when there was no free space in front of the chat machines. This is hardly surprising, and it is of course the special attraction of the celebration to offer this facility freely and without (too much) restraint, while otherwise parents' or school's telephone bills may put effective stops to this as a home or school activity (one of the more eager participants told me that he had had a modem at home, but it had been taken away for this very reason). However, since particularly KIDCAFE is the more longterm aspect of KIDLINK, I consider now, in hindsight, that greater effort should have been made to emphasize this facility. This would have been difficult, having chat available as we did, but the problem should be given some thought and some ideas might present themselves for next year. Incidentally, we had two world maps posted on the wall, one showing all countries that have ever been in on KIDLINK, and one where we plotted in the sites we had contact with during the celebration. A good visual representation of what is going on. *THE NUMBERS* We did not keep a count of attendants during the three days, so I have to make an estimate as follows: Thursday 6. May: Approximately 10, all newcomers. Friday 7. May: Hisoy Ungdomsskole, about 20, all newcomers. Nedenes Barneskole, about 30, newcomers to the site, although most had been in contact with KIDLINK already. Moland Ungdomsskole, 4 students, newcomers. In the evening, a total of 25-30, of whom roughly 50 % were newcomers, say conservatively 10-12. Saturday 8. May: All through the day I would estimate again about 25-30, mostly "old timers", but say about 10 newcomers. Totals: Total attendance including repeats: 115-125 visits. Total kids as newcomers: Approximately 85 kids. *THE MEDIA COVERAGE* In advance of the event, on Wednesday 5. May, the local paper Agderposten had a one column article on page two as an interview with me, introducing the celebration and inviting the public to come along. No pictures. On Thursday 6. May, Agderposten ran a sizeable advertisement for the event, free of charge, with all the times and other necessary information. On Saturday 8. May, Agderposten had a large article over five columns, centered on Nedenes Barneskole's involvement in KIDLINK, but including report from a visit to the celebration. Two nice pictures of the Nedenes kids at the keyboards, at school and at the site, and an introduction to the article on the front page. I also had alerted the local radio stations as well as the local office of the nationwide radio network about the event, but I just did not have the time to follow up with making myself available for interview. I do, however, believe that at least one of the local stations made mention of the celebration as part of their normal comment on events in town. Agderposten has been running articles on these events now for three years. I guess we cannot expect them to grasp at it with eager hands as a major piece of news every year, unless something new actually occurs. This year they wanted to present it with the school angle, to make it slightly different from previously, hence the Nedenes article. We could perhaps have worked at getting more press attention, also from others than the local press, but I just did not have the resources. *THE SPONSORS* These have already basically been mentioned, but I will make a list of them here, for easy reference. TELEVERKET (Norwegian Telecommunications Network): Contact: Svein Larsen. Installation, removal and free use of 11 telephone lines for chat and e-mail, faxes and telephone, including overseas connections as required. Also admission to and use of a Datapac line free of charge. DATAHJELP Contact: Owner/director Jon Skrove. Free loan of server and six terminals in network, including provision of all cabling etc. required. He also spent several hours actually installing and setting the machines up. It should perhaps also be mentioned that he had to reschedule his tuition arrangements to give us the equipment, which included postponing a sizeable course order from an important customer. SEMAFOR A/S Contact: Director Fredrik Major and Paul Johannessen. Loan of nine brand new modems of capacity 14400 baud (which we generally used at 9600 or 2400), including delivery and collection. TBK A/S Contact: Rune Karlsen. Loan af two telefax machines and a brand new telephone, including delivery and collection. AGDERFORSKNING Contacts: Per Sigmond and Kim Lilliestierna. Three accounts on their server (ATIK) free of charge for our use during the celebration. Inclusion on the introductory menu of ready made choices for IRC (via the server in Vienna) and for Telnet. General assistance and advice when I despaired at not understanding what goes on in the data communications world. BERGEN BY BYTE Via Bosse, they provided ten accounts free of charge for our use during the celebration. AGDERPOSTEN Contact: Marketing Manager Stein Heidal. Free advertisement in the paper. ARENDAL MUNICIPALITY Contact: Mads Aronsen Free use of the youth center "Kilden" and their facilities. Mads in addition was one of the major helpers on the administrative side before and during the event. *THE HELPERS* It gives me great pleasure here to acknowledge the invaluable help offered by some very special people to make the event happen. I have mentioned the sponsors and their contacts, but it would not have been possible without the direct help of - among others - the following great people: Bosse Klykken, who is a bit of a wizard on the computer, and provided the overall understanding that I was afraid had gone missing when Odd disappeared. He also devoted the best part of these three days (and nights) to the event, and was available virtually all the time. Rune Solberg, who (I believe) took time off from school to help out, and was together with Bosse on the managing of the systems and the tuition of newcomers. He also drew on his experience from last year's event, which came back to him after a while, despite the fact that he has not worked with computers for a considerable time. Rune was also present virtually all the time. Per Ivar Pedersen, who is the computer expert at "Kilden", but who had not previously been involved in data communications. He was our main contact at the site for computer and other arrangements, and was a great help in assisting the kids. He helped with all the preparations, and he also was present all the time during the celebration, being responsible for the keys etc. Mads Aronsen, the "Kilden" manager, was also available most of the time, and helped out with practical issues and with assistance to the kids. I must also mention Ole Peder Moy, who is reponsible for computer and data use at the municipality's school office, and who put us in contact with interested teachers at the various schools and organized the school visits on Friday. Tor Arne Richvoldsen was a great resource to have available. He could answer many of my questions and provided good suggestions on how schools could make use of KIDLINK. I would assume that he follows KIDPLAN and KIDLEADR relatively closely, and would guess that Nedenes may become a major participant in the various KIDLINK setups. *THE EXPERIENCE* Considering the rather shaky start, I feel that the event was a reasonable success. It was not very easy to control, being an open and publicly available site with limited supervision. We did have some older kids in who were allowed to try their hands at this and found it great fun. These were told to use an "A_" in front of their names to distinguish them from the kids, and very often they were quickly told to get off the air. But generally the kids were in the right age group. A couple of mishaps occured. One was the "#hotsex" incident, were one of the older kids, believing he was on the global IRC, wanted to switch to this channel and see what was going on, thereby unwittingly creating this channel on the KIDLINK server. Another occured right at the end, when one 15 year old boy who had been in several times and behaved reasonably well all the time, couldn't resist the temptation to "sign off" with the English language's most famous four letter word, presumably showing off his superior knowledge of English. He was immediately booted off by KidBot, but the "damage" was done. There may be others that I don't know about, since I was not available all the time to supervise the chat. I am personally unable to feel too strongly about the language issue. Kids will be kids, and it is an illusion to think that they do not know about and probably use these "out-of-bounds" words to a much larger extent than we are aware. However, there is a difference between what is said in a small group and what is said in a global environment like the KIDLINK celebration. Traditions, values and feelings vary tremendously in the many different cultures that are encountered in the KIDLINK family. Considerable harm can be done to the whole idea of KIDLINK, if some people feel uneasy about using it for whatever reason, bad language being one. In the light of this, I can see that we should perhaps have emphasized the use of proper language even stronger than we did. We should perhaps also have kept a closer watch on what was going on. Glorious hindsight. If anybody was offended, I accept the responsibilty, and offer our apologies. I know that no malice was intended. However, I do understand that mishaps occured also from other sites, so I guess it is a universal problem. On the technical side, there was not as much as a hint of a problem, thanks to all the good advice and practical help received from all and sundry. I note that this was not the case everywhere, and we consider ourselves very lucky to have got it all right. These things I feel we could improve upon: 1) Better work on the publicity side. 2) Better preparations for using e-mail with messages to KIDCAFE and directly to other sites, seeing that a number of sites were only set up with this facility, and considering that this is the basic activity during the year. 3) Closer watch on the language, or rather even more emphasis on proper behaviour on the air. 4) Stricter in enforcing the age limit. 5) Even closer cooperation with the schools. I would hate to go away from the idea of a publicly open site, despite the problem of control. It is important that this is avaliable not only to a forunate few who happen to go to a school where they have facilities and interest for this activity, but also to others not so lucky. There is a border line between control and freedom that is fuzzy at best, and not easy to establish, but I feel that KIDLINK must be careful not to become a closed and totally controlled society. I would advocate the open approach any time. In conclusion, I am very happy that we were able to stage the event, and feel that it achieved what it set out to do, namely: - get Arendal on the air, - generate continued interest in the municipality, and - give the kids a good time. See you next year! Tore Tunold Appendix: Direct replies to Marks questions, in so far as they have not been answered by the above. 1) Physical site setup? See above. 2) Computer monitor overhead projection? No. 3) More than one telephone line? See above. 4) Terminal with direct network connection? We called up through either Bergen By Byte or Agderforskning every time, and logged in to their systems for access to the KIDLINK server via the given number (192.88.240.244). 5) Problems between kids at our own site with more than one computer on line? Not problems, except that when there was nobody else to talk to, it got a bit boring for them after the novelty had worn off. 6) E-mail exchange with other sites? Not really, only generally to KIDCAFE. See above. 7) Fax experience? See above. 8) SITEINDX and other SITES files? These were very useful. A pity they were not fully available and updated longer in advance, this would have given us a chance to better plan and prepare for direct exchanges. (Cannot guarantee that it would have been done, but now the time factor also made it difficult.) But we downloaded them all and had them available for useful references during the event. I also found SITETIME and SITETIPS very useful. 9) Most helpful, least helpful? I don't think I will distinguish. They were all useful for their special purpose. 10) Too much info or not enough? Again difficult to say. I did not personally use all information available, but that does not mean that it was not necessary, for others or in other circumstances. The files have a relatively easy way of presenting the information, and I feel that all the info should be there, for use if required. 11) Regularly receive SITES updates? No. I took up some relatively early, and then I waited until close to the event to get the most updated versions. 12) "Private" KIDS IRC chat? See above. 13) Documentation good enough to get on? Yes. 14) Technical problems, did they affect us? Not noticeably. 15) KidBot? He/she/it was quite good. Not, perhaps, well enough explained, a lot of the kids were writing letters to him. (Fooled me until I found out what it was!) Careful not to make him too much of a censoring device. 16) Did I plan enough ahead? No. See above. 17) Anything I would do differently? Yes. See above. 18) Anything I would like others to do differently? I hardly feel that is for me to say. Everybody has to run this event according to his/her own premises, available resources etc. If I could make a *wish*, I would hope that more sites could get on the chat setup, and that sites (including my own) would improve on posting their site info further in advance. 19) What did the kids think? Allowing for the fact that we obviously only get hold of the ones who are interested in the first place, there can be no doubt that they all greatly enjoyed it. For some it may even have been the highlight of their lives. They will live on the experience for months to come. This I expect is also relatively evident from the above. Thanks to you for a great job, Mark! Peru - Lima ----------- Date: 13 May 1993 12:06:29 -0500 (EST) From: "Oscar Becerra T." Subject: Celebration in Peru The Big-Days 93 KIDLINK Celebration in Peru During two hectic days about 50 kids and 10 teachers and parents enjoyed the "telebration" held at IBM Peru headquarters. Eventhough online chatting wasn't available, messages were answered almost immediately from places like Cincinatti, Ohio, where Dan Wheeler (teacher at the University and one of the worldwide coordinators of the project), took the time to respond to each boy and girl, answering questions about his country and helping them think about the world we share. Katherine Amato from the University of Chicago sent a heartwarming answer to the peruvian minister message to Kidlink. Jamie Wilkerson, Patti Weeg and Rebecca Lawson from Rock Hill, South Carolina and Salisbury, Maryland spent hours with the group. Mike Burleigh lighted our saturday meeting with his weather reports from London and Lara with some other Icelandics completed with their messages the pictures and drawing we had on display from Gisli Tryggvi. Brenda Yowell from Texas sent questions to think about during the event. Even project director Odd de Presno sent us his greetings from Bologna, Italy, before boarding a plane back to his home in Saltrod, Norway. Locally the schools who participated were: 1. Santa Mar%a de Chincha. 9 young men and their teacher were up at 4 a.m. in the morning to make it on time for the celebration after 200 kms. on the road. 2. Newton College. A nice group of boys and girls and their computer teacher sent their answers to the four questions and spent a few hours on friday messaging with their newmade friends. 3. Fernando Wiese School for Deaf Children was represented by two lovely kids (a boy and a girl) who told the world about their school and how they learn lipreading to replace hearing. 4. British Peruvian School. One veteran from last year's celebration and some new friends spent their saturday morning chatting with the rest of the world and learning about it. 5. A local radio station: Radio del Pacifico, reported the event almost online and representatives from the peruvian edition of PC World were present to interview the kids. Computron, a local technical magazine for computer people requested a report on the celebration. It was hard to say goodbye for the kids, but the seed has been planted and we hope to see them as active participants in the newly born kids-94. The scarceness of communications facilities at schools will be the main obstacle but we'll see what they can do. Q: How was your site physically set up and did that meet your needs? A: A classroom for 30 people sittig Q: Did you have a computer monitor overhead projection system? A: Yes Q: Did you have more than one telephone line for computers/modems? A: No telephone it's a mainframe terminal with a satellite dish Q: Were you at a facility with terminals with direct network connections? A: Yes Q: If you had more than one computer on-line with a chat, did you encounter any problems between kids at your own site? A: No irc available Q: Did you do any e-mail exchange with other sites listed in SITEINDX? A: Yes Q: If you had fax capability, how did it work? How many faxes did you send or receive? To/from where? A: We received one from Holyoke magnet school in Massachusetts We sent the answers we received to the Ministry of the Presidency and a local magazine Q: Did you like the SITEINDX file and the other SITES files? A: I didn't have the time to retrieve the files Q: We know we had some technical problems, but how did they affect you in terms of activities at your site? A: We weren't receiveing many messages on thursday nor friday Q: Do you think you planned ahead enough for the event? A: About ahead enough Comments: I have a video tape in NTSC format and will be able to obtain a cassette with the kids interviews for the radio. The PC world issue will also feature kids opinions and it will be available in two weeks. Oscar Becerra Peru -- end SITEK934 --