The KIDS-95 Newsletter
A Global Dialog for Youth 10-15 Years

Issue number 2. September 7, 1994

Note: Throughout this newsletter, references are made to various KIDLINK archive files. An index of files, as well as instructions about how to get them, are given in the section New Documents and Files" below.

1. "It is hard, but I will try!"

The goal of KIDS-95 is to involve as many 10-to-15-year-old youth as possible in a GLOBAL dialog continuing until May 6th 1995. On May 7th, 1995, we will start the KIDS-96 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 received answers to these questions from over 23,000 kids living in 64 countries around the world.
Here are some recent responses:

** From Belgium **
(1) My name is Veronique Soquette. I am 15 years old. I am a girl. I live in Romsee (Belgium). I go to Saint-Joseph school. I hav a younger brother, Gregoire. He is 13 years old. I have a dog named Milou. I collect pins. I love Luke Perry (Beverley Hills 90210).
(2) Ik wou graag tolk worden. Ik spreek Frans, Nederlands, Duits and een beetje Engels.
(3) Om de wereld te verbeteren moeten we de oorlog niet meer maken.
(4) Om de wereld te verbeeteren, prober ik niet meer met mijn broer te twisten.

** From Egypt **
(1) I am Mariam Shenawi. I am 10 years old and I come from Egypt.
(2) I want to be a science teacher.
(3) I want to see all people helping each other. I want see them all helping their friends, old people and poor people. I want to see all children learning their lesson's.
(4) In the future, I hope to help them learn science and to learn what's right for them. That would help them learn more about life and would make the world better. Now, I should study and work hard so my world would be proud of me. I should help every one who asks for help.

** From Malaysia **
(1) I am Hou-Seng Cheok. I am 12 and a half years old boy. I live in Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. I'm studying in form 1, Damansara Jaya secondary school. My hobbies are playing computer, drawing comic and reading books about dinosaurs. I wish to have a new computer.
(2) I want to be an inventor when I grow up.
(3) I wish everyone would have one personal computer so that I can comunicate with everybody.
(4) I want the world to be a place of joy. Nobody knows how.!!!!

** From Malawi **
(1) My name is Yas and I'm originally persian (although I was born in Malawi). I have lived in Africa all my life, but I have travelled to many parts of the world, as my family is very spread out. I am 13 years old and am in the 3rd year of secondary school at Bishop Mackenzie. I'm intersted more in the Arts, languages, writing, drama etc. I think that one way of communicating with people is through the Arts.
(2) I'm not really sure what I'd like to do when I finish school, but I think I'd like to do something to do with writing. eg. teaching, news repporting. I would like to work with or around people. If I stay in Malawi for the next few years, I hope to go and finish my high school in Swaziland, and then hopefully go to university.
(3) As a Baha'i, I have been taught to accept peoples differences, rather than to see them as barrier in life. I beleive that "The world is but one country and mankind its citizens." and that the only way to World Peace, is when people overlook their differences of colour, religon, nationality etc. I hope that the world in the future will become a better place to live in, as right now alot of people don't know what to turn to in life, and often what they do turn to tends to be destructive.
(4) To make this happen I think that each person must individually beleive that they can make life better for others, making your own decisions instead of going ahead with something because the rest of the world is. We must learn that we are all same, and no one is inferior because they are different. I think that people are slowly realising that the world should be a much better place, and they will start trying to make it a better place when they realise that they are not alone. I think that these ideas can be brought about to teenagers, aspecially through the Arts. Through drama, dance and music. I think that visual things are more effective than listening to people talking. I'm part of a youth dance workshop which tries to bring forward these ideas of peace, and its alot of fun.

** From Nicaragua **
(1) My name is Lidiana Rios. Iam 10 years old. I was born in Costa Rica, But I am living in Nicaragua.
(2) I am not sure what I will be. There are so many choices!
(3) I think the world should be less polluted for the children of the future.
(4) I can recycle and reuse things, even if it is hard in Nicaragua since there is only one recycling plant in the entire country. But I will try.

2. ABOUT: KIDCAFE

The students in KIDCAFE are finding that the new message categories of ABOUT: and QUERY: make it possible for them to do a lot more than just write to keypals. Brett Wertz (Nebraska, USA), with help from Nate Thorell (North Dakota, USA) has published several issues of a newsletter about computer games. This is one of their reviews:
The 7th Guest is one of the best games I have ever seen or reviewed. 6 guests come to a mansion and are trapped in the mansion until one of them solves the mystery of the 7th Guest. You are not one of the guests but you can try to solve the puzzles anyway. Some of the Puzzles in this game are VERY hard. . . . It is pretty scary too. You can expierience some almost realistic scenes and the graphics are totally amazing.
Caro Capatto (Buenos Aires, Argentina) wrote about terrorism. After reporting the news that a Jewish building in Buenos Aires had been bombed, she said:
I'm really sad. How can some people do such things??? 2 years ago a bomb exploded in The Israel embassy. It's the second terrorism act here. How can they kill lots of people just cos they have a different religion??? We are all human beings, and that's what really counts. We have to learn many things, and one of them is to respect each other. haven't we learned yet?? With all the terrible things that happened... how can we show, explain to them.... I want an ideal world with LOVE & PEACE!
Amy Cotner asked for help with a summer project she was doing at the National Zoo in Washington DC, USA. She got a prompt response from Jen Drage in England:
The Red Squirrel is a unique animal in my area, the north-east of England, because they are been wiped out by the forign Grey squirrel, which was introduced from America to Regents Park zoo in London. It did so well, that many of the squirrels where released, as there were far too many.
Jen went on to explain a lot more about why the red squirrel is losing out to the grey squirrel. A new team of youth has taken over as moderators for the KIDCAFE list. Their job is to review every message sent to KIDCAFE before distribution to ensure that it follows our guidelines. We do this to make KIDCAFE a successful experience for everyone.
Our new Moderator Team members include:

Bosse Klykken from Norway <klykken@rvo.bbs.no>
Tommy Chang from the United States <TOMMYCHANG@delphi.COM>
Jaron Ghani from England <jaz@ghani.demon.co.UK>
Tryggvi R. Jonsson from Iceland <trigger@ismennt.is>
Kate Sandler from the United States <kate@trillium.soe.umich.EDU>
Andraz Tancek from Slovenija <PTTSC3@PUBLIC1.NOPRMD.mail.si>

Bev Thurber <bev@ctdnet.acns.nwu.edu> is continuing from the old team. We are all appreciative of the original team, including Mark Assad, Nathan Willis, and Ben Walter, for getting us off to a good start.

3. "Random Acts of Kindness"

KIDFORUM is set up to promote exchanges between classroom groups of students on topics related to the KIDLINK themes (the four KIDLINK questions). Through this forum, it is easier for teachers to have whole classes participate in KIDLINK.
The "Random Acts of Kindness" topic ran for two and one-half months, from May 15 to July 30, 1994. Students and teachers from Guatemala and the United States exchanged observations of people engaged in considerate and thoughtful acts of kindness towards one another.
Madeleine Friedman from Nova Middle School in Davie, Florida, USA, moderated the topic. Although it has previously been difficult to get participation in KIDFORUM at this time of the year, the topic went well. Here is a sample of letter from the topic:
Every day we pass in a street called the OBELISCO we see a little boy that was very lonly. One day we stop and ask Are you alone? yes.He answer. Next day we found a sereal of POPEY. We went to give it to him. He started to eated he liked very much.
Now every time we pass there we se him , he always say goodbeye.
Carmen Ines Acu$a, 5-1, Guatemala.

4. Now in KIDFORUM: "The Four Questions"

Many coordinators think that the kids and their adult helpers should take the answers to the four KIDLINK questions more seriously. These questions are NOT JUST a cheap ticket into the action. They should be answered thoughtfully and carefully.
What better starting point for a KIDFORUM topic!
The RESPONSE topic started on August 15, and will run through October 5, 1994. It will be based on the kids' answers to the four KidLink questions, as well as the basic thoughts behind KIDLINK. These are some of the ideas that will be addressed:

• What should be done with the answers to your questions?
• What do you think about other kids' answers?
• Do you think question 4 is difficult? Why?
• Discuss what you learn about others through their answers.
• List the similarities you see in the answers from various countries.
• List the differences in the answers from other countries.
• How can adults use your answers to make a better world now?
• Reflect on your own answers. How do you think differently now? What made you change your mind?
• Based on the 4 questions, what do you think KIDLINK is?

The kids are recommended to discuss the questions with other kids, who have recently submitted answers.
Our moderators this time are Zoraini Wati Abas from Faculty of Education in the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Mary Esborn from Baldwin and Adams Middle Schools, Guilford, CT, USA. Besides coordinating the topic, they will advise the participants on how to search the KidLink database for RESPONSE information.
You can get the full text of the original announcement of this topic by sending an email to the LISTSERV (see address below). Put the following command in the body of your mail: /ship kidlink 584
The next KIDFORUM topic after "RESPONSE" will be about schools. Moderators are Peter Wrightsmith in Ashcroft Primary School, Sidney, Australia, and Brendan Desilets & colleagues in John Glenn Middle School, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA.
This time the kids are to create their virtual school and focus on subjects related to creating such an institution. The moderators are currently making descriptions relating the topic to different subjects in schools, so that it can fit different type of classes.

5. The KIDLINK 1995 Worldwide Computer Art Exhibition

All the computer art submitted to KIDLINK this year will also be entered in the KIDLINK 1995 WORLDWIDE COMPUTER ART EXHIBITION. The Botkyrka Friskola (Botkyrka Private School) in Stockholm, Sweden is organizing the exhibit to be held in April, 1995. High-quality color prints of the computer art will be displayed in a traditional gallery format at the school.
Copies of the prints will be available to other schools so they can organize their own local exhibitions. The works will also be available as computer files in the KIDLINK Gallery of Computer Art. The director of the exhibition is Sebastian Marquez <postmaster@botfri.se>.
There are now several new help files for KIDART, including a full set of files for Mac users written by Mark Hunnibell (USA) and Mike Weaver (Saskatoon, Canada):

KIDART ARTEX	KIDLINK 1995 Worldwide Computer Art Exhibition.
KIDART SUBMIT	How to submit a work of art to the KIDLINK Gallery of Computer Art and to the KIDLINK 1995 Worldwide Art Exhibition.
KIDART POLICY	Policy on the Use of KIDLINK Artworks.
KIDART MSDOS1	KIDLINK Binary Starter's Kit for MS-DOS.
KIDART MAC	How users of Macintosh computers can participate in the KIDLINK Gallery of Computer Art.
KIDART MAC1	Getting the software you need to participate.
KIDART MAC2	Downloading, Converting, and Viewing KIDART Images.
KIDART MAC3	Converting and Submitting Artwork.
KIDART MAC4	Other options.

Codirectors of the KIDLINK GALLERY OF COMPUTER ART:

Stephan de Haas, the Netherlands <sdh@hacktic.nl>
Dan Wheeler, U.S.A. <Dan.Wheeler@UC.Edu>

6. Now in KIDPROJ

The KIDPROJ team has been working hard on making available a fine sample of telecom projects that span the curriculum. Teachers are now offered to join the following long term KIDPROJ projects:

"What's in a Name?"

Objective: To develop a greater awareness of how names work globally, as a contribution towards helping people understand each other better, get on better with each other, and work together toward a more peaceful world. The project will provide experience in researching topics in several disciplines, like linguistics, etymology, sociology, theology, ethnic geography, history, and mythology, as well as making use of networked information resources in such research.". Project Moderator: Din Ghani <din@GHANI.DEMON.CO.UK>.

"Desert and Desertification"

Topics will include our perception of the desert, the effect of man on the desert, the desert in the future as well as the desert in literature, history and cultures. Project Moderator: Hannah Sivan <boker@zeus.datasrv.co.il>.

"KIDZINE"

Objective: "To produce a monthly online magazine for the whole of KIDLINK. Each issue will contain articles, reviews, news items, letters, puzzles, stories... all written by 10-15 year olds who are part of KIDLINK: it will be a magazine by kids, for kids." Project Moderator: Jaron Ghani, United Kingdom.

"Flags"

A collection of the flags of each of our KIDLINK nations is being gathered. Students are encouraged to draw their flag using a 'paint' program and to send a separate description and explanation of their flag. Project Moderators: Robbert Uittenbroek, the Netherlands <parwanto@HACKTIC.NL>, and Andraz Tancek, Slovenija <PTTSC3@PUBLIC1.NOPRMD.mail.si>.

"SS Central America - A Shipwreck to Remember"

Objective: "A high seas adventure involving the sinking of the SS Central America... the search, the discovery, and the recovery of the Steam Ship..." Project Moderator: Jamie Wilkerson <Jamie.Wilkerson@SUNBELT.NET>.

"Multi-Cultural Calendar"

Objective: to gather holiday and festival descriptions as well as sound and picture files for holidays all around the world. Project Moderators: Mike Burleigh <UBJVM6Q@CCS.BBK.AC.UK> and Patti Weeg <pweeg@SOURCE.ASSET.COM>.

"KIDCLUB"

KIDCLUB kids meet every Saturday for IRC (Internet Relay Chat) at 17:00 GMT and discuss prearranged topics. The kids themselves lead the topics and sometimes guest speakers are invited. Project Moderators: Mike Burleigh and Patti Weeg.

7. The KIDLINK Society General Assembly

The KIDLINK Society, the owner of KIDLINK, held its first General Assembly in the KIDPLAN2 "conference room" between May 22 and July 7. The election of members to the Board of Directors gave the following result:

Lara Stefansdottir, Iceland	lara@ISMENNT.IS (for Europe)
Richard Pavonarius, Japan	richard%apic.or.jp@uunet.uu.net (for Asia)
Richard Naylor, New Zealand	rich@TOSH.WCC.GOVT.NZ (for Pacific)
Dan Wheeler, U.S.A.	Dan.Wheeler@UC.EDU (for North America)
Eduardo Tornaria, Uruguay	(etornari@VARELA.EDU.UY) (for Central and South America)
Claus Berg, Denmark	berg@inet.uni-c.dk (preliminary for Africa - 12 months)

After the end of KIDS-95, a new election will be held for board members representing Africa and Asia.

8. Around KIDLINK

Michael van Eeden in Holland <mieg@hacktic.nl> has been appointed Assistant Moderator of the RESPONSE mailing list. Three Assistant Moderators were appointed for KIDPROJ: Patti Weeg, USA <pweeg@SOURCE.ASSET.COM>, David Lloyd and Hannah Sivan, Israel <boker@zeus.datasrv.co.il>.
The last trickle of site reports from the KIDS-94 Annual Celebration in May is now available. Check out the KIDPLAN SITE94RP file for details. This is the bottom line:

• 44 reports was received from a total of 73 participating sites.
• We had confirmed participation of over 3,000 kids during the three day Celebration event.

The KIDLINK CELEB file has been revised to reflect all the information you need about the KIDS-95 Celebration in May 1995. It may seem like a very long time off, but with so many wonderful projects planned for the coming months, we want to make sure that all the participants in these projects get the invitation to join in the party in May.
The KIDLINK Gopher menus for the KIDART Gallery are being revised. Those lucky souls with a direct Internet connection and suitable software like Mosaic, will be able to view the images themselves online. Those without a direct connection can use the Gopher as before to save or mail UUEncoded art selections to themselves.
Tips: If your connection with the Internet is only by electronic mail, there now exists a simple method to read the Gopher's menus and texts. To get the Gopher's main menu, send mail to listproc@www0.cern.ch . Put the following commands in the body of your mail:

send gopher://kids.duq.edu:70/1
help

The second command ("help") will give you information about how to use the service.
Several KIDLINK adults have been involved in making a KIDSHOW for Macintosh computers. Hard working coordinator and key "designer" Mark Hunnibell made version 1.0 available just a few days ago. See the KIDLINK KIDSHOW file for details about how to retrieve a brand new copy.
Note: The Macintosh version expands to 1.7 MB when unpacked from it's BinHex or SEA form. Make sure you have enough disk space before you retrieve and open the package.
During the summer, we have discussed the possibility of having a KIDLINK conference in Arendal, Norway, on July 30 - Aug 1, 1995. The discussion will soon continue in the KIDPLAN mailing list.

9. New Documents and Files

Important: If you are new to KIDLINK, then you must start by reading the file KIDLINK GENERAL!
The following is a selection of some new or updated files now available by e-mail from our archives:

KIDLINK MASTER	KIDLINK Document Descriptions. It tells you how to get the most _important_ files.
KIDLINK GENERAL	What is KIDS-95? A *must* for all participants!
KIDLINK WIZARD	KIDLINK People _you_ can ask for help!!
KIDLINK AGE	KIDLINK's Policy on Age Limits
KIDLINK TIPS	Practical tips about using KIDLINK
KIDLINK NATIONS	Countries in KIDLINK
KIDLINK REPORT	KIDLINK in the classroom
KIDLINK SOCIETY	KIDLINK Organization Overview
KIDLINK CHARTGIF	KIDLINK's Organization Chart (29 Kb)
KIDLINK DUES	KIDLINK Society Membership Form
KIDLINK PROJINFO	Criteria for approval of projects
KIDLINK NEW-LIST	How to get new special language KIDLINK forums
KIDLINK TRANSLAT	Help needed: Translators.
KIDLINK TEACHERS	Help needed: The KIDLINK REPORT file
KIDLINK BIBLIOGR	Bibliography of Kidlink Media Reports
KIDLINK KIDSHOW	How to get a copy of the "electronic book" about
KIDLINK FLAGS	The national flags of the participating countries.
KIDLINK SPONSORS	List of KIDLINK sponsors (local and global)
KIDLINK OTHERNTS	Resources for kids outside KIDLINK's age range.
KIDLINK NEWS195	KIDS-95 Newsletter #1
KIDCAFE GUIDE	Revised complete guidelines for participation.
KIDCAFE SHORT	Short version of the instructions.

In Spanish:

KIDLINK PREGUNTA	Las cuatro KIDLINK preguntas
KIDLINK REPORTS	KIDLINK en las AULAS
KIDLINK NEWS195S	Noticias DE KIDS-95, No. 1

In Scandinavian:

KIDLINK NEWS195N

KIDS-95 newsletter #1 (Danish)

In Japanese:

KIDLINK KANJI

How to send/receive Kanji text (English)

In Dutch:

KIDLINK GENERALD	Wat is KIDLINK/KIDS-95
KIDLINK SOCIETYD	Overzicht van de KIDLINK Project Organisatie
KIDLINK TIPSD	Handige tips bij het werken met KIDLINK
KIDCAFE GUIDED	Richtlijnen voor KIDCAFE.
KIDCAFE SHORTD	Korte versie van de richtlijnen.

In French:

KIDLINK POLICIEF

Re`gles de conduite du projet KIDLINK.

To retrieve files from the list above, send an electronic mail message to LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU (or LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 on BITNET). The TEXT portion of your message should include the GET command for the file(s) you want to receive. It will look like this:

GET KIDLINK GENERAL
GET KIDCAFE GUIDED

The files are also available through KIDLINK's Gopher:

gopher kids.ccit.duq.edu 70
-or-
telnet 165.190.8.35 login: gopher
-or-
URL: gopher://kids.duq.edu:70/1

Browse through the menus to find the information below, stored by subject.
If you only have email access to the Internet, it is still possible to use the gopher. The KIDLINK GOPHER2 file describes an easy way to use Gopher via email.
A number of new art creations has been made available through the KIDART archive, 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
These pictures are also available from the KIDLINK Gopher.

10. KIDS-95

is a project run by a non-profit organization called the KIDLINK Society. Most of the dialog between the kids is based on electronic mail.
KIDLINK is impartial as to what methods are being used to solve the problems of the world today. KIDLINK does not promote specific solutions to problems or political points-of-view.
While the KIDLINK mailing list is an announcement service, the various coordinator forums (KIDLEADR, KIDLEADP, KIDLEADJ, KIDLEADS, KIDLEADN), KIDPROJ, and KIDPLAN are meeting places for teachers, parents and other persons involved with the KIDS-95 project.
KIDS-95 operates the following forums for 10 - 15 year old youngsters:

RESPONSE	where the children send their personal introductions (their responses to the four introductory questions),
KIDCAFE	where they can 'talk' about anything they like,
KIDCAFEP	Portuguese language KIDCAFE
KIDCAFEJ	Japanese language KIDCAFE
KIDCAFEN	Scandinavian language KIDCAFE
KIDCAFES	Spanish language KIDCAFE
KIDFORUM	for exchanges between classroom groups of students.

To join KIDLINK through the Internet, send the command SUB KIDLINK Your Name to LISTSERV@vm1.NoDak.EDU. (Replace "Your Name" with your real name.) Put the command in the BODY of the text.
Our discussion forums are also available through conferencing system and mail exploders around the world. Write us for more information.
All forums are open for everybody, but only kids between 10 - 15 may write messages in KIDCAFE, KIDCAFEP, KIDCAFEJ, KIDCAFEN, KIDCAFES, and KIDFORUM.
A 130+ picture slide show about KIDS-95 is available for MS-DOS and Macintosh computers. For details about how to get a copy, send an email to the LISTSERV containing the command: GET KIDLINK KIDSHOW
The KIDS-95 newsletter is an information bulletin for teachers, parents, participants, sponsors, mediators, promoters, and others. Suggestions and contributions are invited.
The newsletters are distributed through the KIDNEWS mailing list, the KIDLINK announcement service, and the KIDLINK Gopher.
Subscribe to KIDNEWS by sending email to the LISTSERV with the command "SUB KIDNEWS Your-full-name" in the text of your mail. (Please use your real name instead of "Your-full-name".)

Editor/Project director:		Odd de Presno
Mail address: Fax: Internet: email address:		Saltrod, Norway (Europe). +47 41 27111 opresno@ulrik.uio.no

If you want to help out with KIDS-95, or participate, contact the editor, or write to kidlink-info@VM1.NODAK.EDU
You can also contact one of our local contact persons around the world for information about how to join and more. For a list of contact persons, retrieve the file KIDLINK CONTACTS.
KIDS-95 has local representatives in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovenija, Sweden, Thailand, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States.
Finally, you can also write to KIDLINK, 4815 Saltrod, Norway or just sign up ...