The KIDS-94 Newsletter
A Global Dialog for Youth 10-15 Years

Issue number 3. January 26, 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 Section 9: "New Documents and Files.

1. "Que todos los ninos del mundo estudien"

The goal of KIDS-94 is to involve as many 10-to-15-year-old youth as possible in a GLOBAL dialog continuing until May 7th 1994. On May 8th, 1994, we will start the KIDS-95 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 57 countries around the world. More than 4000 kids introduced themselves in the September - December period!
Here are some recent responses:

** From Mexico **
(1) I am Veronica Guajardo, I live in Monterrey, Mexico, and I speak Eglish. My school is named Centro de Educacion y Cultura del Valle and we call it CECVAC because of the initials.
My best sport is TAE-KWON-DO (karate, martial arts), I like to play the piano and to dance jazz and tap. The things that I do at home are play in the computer, read books of mystery and terror and watch T.V. I am 12 years old, my size is medium, I wear glasses, my eyes are brown and I like chocolate.
(2) When I grow up I would like to study medicin, so I can work like a doctor. There are 5 sons in my family, 4 girls, and 1 boy, and I am the youngest one.
(3) When I grow up I would like the world with no pollution and without robbers.
(4) I am starting to help at this by putting the example.

** From Israel **
(1) My name is Sharon Klugman, I'm 15 years old and I live in a city cold Ramat-Hasharon in the center of Israel near Tel-Aviv. I learn in the 10th grade in a comprehensive high-school named Rotberg. My main subject is biology.
(2) I don't know what I want to be when I grow up but I do know that I want to be indeppendent in my work and I want to work in the field of medicine.
(3) When I grow up I want the environment to be saftyer, I want the to know that I can visit all the world with out to being afraid. I want to have friends from all of the world.
(4) To make the world better I can see every body for what they are and not for their religion. I can try to make contact with people from all of the world.

** From Costa Rica **
(1) Soy Roberto Dixon Cubillo.
(2) Quiero ser Abogado,Doctor o Presidente de la Republica.
(3) Me gustar!a que haya menos contaminacion ,que todos los ninos del mundo estudien que no usen drogas y que nadie sea pobre.
(4) Siendo presidente mejorar!a las fabricas para que no tiren tanto humo contaminante,quemar!a las plantas de droga que sea posible,hacer mejores escuelas con excelentes maestros y dar bonos gratuitos a los pobres para que no haya tanta miseria.

** From Hong Kong **
(1) My name is Lily Lam, I am twelve years old and I go to California International School in Hong Kong. Maths and P.E are my favourite subject in the school. My hobbies are playing tennis, volley ball, running, and watching T.V or movies. I come from Australia but now I live in Kowloon, Hong Kong,
(2) I want too be a Lawyer or an Accountant because I like maths and I talk well.
(3) I want less mental people like Mr To (my pre-algebra teacher) in the world and more intellegent people like me (only joking) to make the world better.
(4) Well, I can take people like Mr To to a quite place where less people live and teach them more about ten hours a day and I will donate money to help them and get what they needed.

2. KIDCAFE is bustling with activity

As usual, the KIDCAFE kids have been very busy making friends across the world. Over 800 messages appeared in KIDCAFE during the first two weeks of January.
This is what Julia Navratova said to Sian Kleindienst in the United States:
I am a girl 10 years old and I am in Kuwait but I was born in Slovakia {Europe}. My favourite colour is plum purple and because I am blond turquose is my colour too just like you. Whaw that's a rhyme, I get it just by not thinking about it. My family likes very much Chineese food, so I would be very pleased if you could send me a recipe of it. My favourite animals are dogs and horses, because we don't have a big house I don't have any of them. I like cats too but not as much as dogs and horses.
Not all students were looking for friends. Elise Mcginley asked for help on an ambitious project:
I am a 15 year old Australian girl. I am writing this letter because l want your ideas and opinions on drugs. I am writing a book about a girl who moves to the city and turns to drugs for help, fun and curiosity. She uses all kinds of drugs such as speed, LSD, marijauna, heroin etc. I know people who have taken drugs and ruined their lives, this is why I am writing this book to educate us the young people of today's society, telling them how bad drugs are, how they can ruin your body especially your brain! Please write back and give me ideas and maybe if some of you have known or know of people taken or take drugs, what they have been through or what they are going through.

3. KIDLINK's special language initiatives

The Portuguese language forums of KIDLINK are on the run. In KIDLEADP, they have been discussing a Role Playing Game (RPG) to be played among the kids in KIDCAFEP.
The game was proposed by a group of kids from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It assumes a situation of social chaos which forces the participants to struggle to survive. Each participant picks a special ability like running, fixing machines, being strong, knowledgeable about agriculture. They have to organize themselves in communities. The only available means of communication is a kind of hand powered amateur radio, which allows each group to communicate with the other. The Internet will be the radio.
KIDLINK and the RPG idea was presented at the IV Brazilian Symposium on Computers in Education and had considerable acceptance. Little by little, participation is growing. In KIDLEADP and KIDCAFEP, there are now five schools and about 60 individuals in 11 countries including Australia, Brazil, Japan, Portugal, Uruguay, and U.S.A..
The Japanese language forums, KIDLEADJ and KIDCAFEJ, are rather silent right now. Most of the activity is still taking place behind the scenes. Technical "challenges" abound when dealing with a language with such a large character set over a network designed to work only in ASCII.
Among the KIDLEADJ members are teachers and network coordinators living in Australia, Japan, Russia, and the U.S., all of them striving to introduce the Japanese KIDLINK into their schools. - Kevin Jackson of the All Japan Macintosh Users' group has been particularly helpful in providing overseas schools with the software needed to telecommunicate in Japanese.
This is a posting from the KIDLINK JAPAN Coordinator, Rich Pavonarius that illustrates what we are up against:
Andrei Pospelov is a teacher in Siberia. He's using very old 8-bit MSX machines that weren't Japanese capable until now. A couple of weeks ago I tracked down someone with the software necessary for Japanese computing. That person kindly offered to donate it to Andrei. He sent it to me and tonight I sent it off to Siberia. I hope it arrives safely because it cost me a small fortune in postage. (You don't want to know how much.)
In Japan, access to KIDLINK's lists, including the Japanese, is still not widely available to interested teachers and students. APICNET in Tokyo will soon update their system software so that members will be able to access most of our lists. When that happens, we should see an increase in Japanese participation in KIDLINK's projects.
KIDLEADS is the Spanish language KIDLEADR forum. For some months now, the members have been on translating KIDLINK documents into Spanish to pave the way for a Spanish language KIDCAFE.
January is summer vacation in Latin America, and it is therefore quiet in KIDLEADS right now. Don't let that fool you! Coordinator Eduardo Tornaria in Uruguay <etornaria@VARELA.EDU.UY> plans to open the KIDCAFES in March.
The Scandinavian language KIDLEADR forum is called KIDLEADN. Here, they have been busy translating key KIDLINK texts into local languages right. This is now done, and a brand new KIDCAFEN for the kids is currently opened for test purposes.
Odd de Presno is acting KIDLEADN forum coordinator, assisted by Mikael Sundholm <msundhol@bilbo.abo.fi>. The plan is to find people from Finland and Sweden to take the responsibility for running the two forums.

4. KIDFORUM's WAR & PEACE

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 War & Peace topic was a success. When it was all over on December 21, topic moderator Joann E. Wilson (Nebraska, USA) wrote:
The writings of approximately 200 kids in Kidforum's "War & Peace" topic can lead us into the new year hopeful for our planet's future, and encouraged by the value of this telecommunication medium.
Kids from 29 different sites participated. They wrote with insight, directness, sincerety, and respect.
The countries represented were Australia, Argentina, Bosnia, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand, Slovenija, United Kingdom, USA (13 different states), and Uruguay. This is what Darko from Slovenia wrote:
I spent a war in Slovenija at home in Ljubljana. I was very upset about it, but I couldn't do anything to stop it.
Dialogue subjects included, in descending order of number of postings from different sites:

Relationship of violent entertainment to war
One country's involvement in another's affairs
Relationship of money, guns and religion to war
Encouragement to Bosnian and Slovenian students
Prejudice and discrimination
Political disagreements
Leadership skills of men versus women
Value of communication in creating peace

For a summary of essay content, a dialogue directory, and a summary of the kids' ideas on ways to create peace, send an email to the LISTSERV with the following command: /ship kidforum 1017 1067 1065

5. Sport topic in KIDFORUM

The current topic in KIDFORUM is called "Sports life of my family and sports lessons in my school." It will continue until February 28th.
This time, there are two moderators: Alenka Makuc, teacher of physical education at the PTT High School in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is the one that came up with the idea. "I want kids to learn about sport and recreation habits in other countries, about new games, and be able to compare sports lessons at schools," she says. <makuc@public1.noprmd.mail.si>
Tor Arne Richvoldsen from Nedenes skole in southern Norway is co-moderator <nedenes@teknologi.agderforskning.no>. He has prepared a QUIZ for kids, and several fact files about the Olympic games. Tor is coordinating contacts with people working in Lillehammer (Norway) during the Winter Olympic Games (12 - 27 Febr 1994). "We will send Welcome greetings to Olympic athletes and be on line with the mascots of the Olympics," he says.
KIDFORUM coordinator Lara Stefansdottir is exited about the sport topic: "It is something that people have not easily related to computer communication until now. The kids that have answered our 4 questions have showed great interests in sports as stated by Dan Wheeler's Research Methods Class, Fall 1993."
Dan's report stated: "The sample contained messages from 134 girls, 119 boys, and 29 kids of unknown gender. The overall percentage of interest in sports was 56%. The difference between boys (57%) and girls (47%) was relatively small and not statistically significant."
During the first three weeks participants from 36 schools in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Island, Norway, Slovenia and USA (18 different states) have joined the sports topic.
For more information, send the command "/ship kidlink 420" to the LISTSERV.
On our gopher (see below), it will be in the 'Current Topic' directory until the beginning of March. Then it will be found under 'Information- Resources From Past Projects'.

6. Upcoming Celebration

Even though May seems distant, it is now less than four months until the KIDS-94 Annual Celebration. Our last three years of celebrations have shown us that you can never plan far enough ahead. The more planning, the more fun and value. A simple equation.
The new KIDLINK CELEB file gives an overview of the celebration and includes registration information and template. Following up on suggestions after last year's events, we'll be trying a few new ways of providing site information to others.
This year, each site will have its own individual file that can be specifically retrieved. These files will also be available on the gopher and, as a nice touch, they'll also be available for review on KIDLINK IRC. This way, people can always know who is doing what.
To make this work the best, all sites who are even remotely interested should sign up early and update often. This will allow others to develop their plans and adjust their information as needed.
For an idea about what happened last year, retrieve the file KIDPLAN SITEK93R. It indexes the reports from last year's celebration.

7. Why I'm here!

Read this message. It recently appeared under the heading "E-mail everywhere!" in KIDLEADR:

Dear Kidleaders,

I was following a discussion about what should and should not be posted on kid... lists. I've been thinking about why I am on these lists.
The response questions are wonderful because they are simple and they get kids to think about values and the future and then put some of those thoughts into words. Every teacher I show them to says something like, "Those are good questions. They make the kids think." Kidcafe is a great way to find someone to write to. I like having the kids sign their names. Everyone can tell kids aged 10-15 enjoy connecting with each other. My kids were excited about writing to people their own age.
The kidforum projects are well thought out and organized. Kidplan and Kidproj have highly creative ideas, all of which are wonderful! I find it simply grand to have so much food for thought and so many items from which to choose. Internet Relay Chat has to be the most exciting communication tool my students and I have used. Teachers at my school who see it in action rapidly become internet users.
I also like the requests in "Holiday survey" and "Environment Questions from Brazil" because they are short term and they give students another chance to communicate with a class or group in another region.
I appreciate reading the "food for thought" and the many other comments and concerns from various kidleaders.
Thank you for your ideas and support,
Bonnie Thurber, Computer Coordinator, Baker Demonstration School, National-Louis University, Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

8. Around KIDLINK

Last year there was a very successful topic on KidForum known as Native Literature. This year we will run it as a KidProj as it was felt that it needed more time to be run successfully. The name of the project is "LOCAL LORE."
The idea is for kids to read stories, poetry, books or plays written by local authors, or about their place in the world. After reading, kids should write a review and tell why or why not they liked it. They should include any information necessary for ordering the book so that Librarians and/or others will be able to order the book if they wish. Title, author, publisher, price if possible, year of publication would be helpful.
For more information about the LOCAL LORE project, write Mary Esborn at <BaldwinT@Biomed.med.Yale.edu>.
The KIDLINK LOG file archives are available via the KIDLINK Gopher. This means is that you can read all the messages sent to one of three lists (KIDLINK, RESPONSE, and KIDCAFE) in a given week (you get to choose the week you want).
The down side is that the log files can be rather large (you can't look though an index and pick just the messages you want and you may find that the larger files take longer to get and see.
The up side is that now many people can read the RESPONSE and KIDCAFE messages who may not have been able to handle the mailbox volume before. Once you have log file on screen to view, you can use your Gopher Client search mode to try and find a topic, name, or country of interest. (Contact Mark Hunnibell <mark@kids.ccit.duq.edu> for information.)
Mark tells that the KIDLINK Gopher continues to be used by hundreds of people each month and the usage is still increasing.
Some changes in how it works will be forthcoming in February. They will basically only affect those using telnet to reach the KIDLINK Information Server. A personalized 'interview' interface will replace the 'login:' prompt. This should permit users easier use of the system and, hopefully, greater functionality as well.
Patti Weeg <pweeg@source.asset.com> is maintaining the file KIDLEADR SCHOOLYR. It is also available from the gopher's 'KIDLINK in the Classrooms' menu. The purpose of the initiative is to better serve the participants' needs by scheduling projects within suitable time frames.
If you do not see your country listed, and have a few minutes, please drop by KIDPROJ, and place your calendar in Patti's mail basket.

9. New Documents and Files

The following new or updated files are now available by e-mail from our archives:

KIDLINK MASTER		KIDLINK Document Descriptions
KIDLINK CELEB		KIDS-94 Annual Celebration in May
KIDLINK CONTACTI		KIDLINK Contact Person Guidelines
KIDLINK CONTACTS		People to contact about KIDS-94
KIDLINK COUNTING		Request for help. Math?
KIDLINK GENERALJ		What is KIDS-94 (Japanese)
KIDLINK GENERALN		Hva er KIDLINK/KIDS-94 (Norwegian)
KIDLINK GEO-DAT		Data files for GeoClock
KIDLINK GEOCLOCK		Show the KIDLINK maps on your PC
KIDLINK GMT		What is the current GMT/UTC time?
KIDLINK IRCHELP		KIDLINK IRCHELP File Index
KIDLINK IRCHELP1		Connecting To KIDLINK IRC
KIDLINK IRCHELP2		Rules and Registration Info
KIDLINK IRCHELP3		A command guide and brief tutorial
KIDLINK IRCHELP4		Information About IRC Clients
KIDLINK KANJI		Telecommunicating in Japanese
KIDLINK NEWS194J		Newsletter #1,1994 (Japanese)
KIDLINK NEWS294		KIDS-94 Newsletter #2
KIDLINK NEWS294J		KIDLINK News, 2-1994 (Japanese)
KIDLINK NEWS294N		KIDS-94 Nyhedsbrev #2 (Dansk)
KIDLINK PROJINFJ		Kidlink Kidproj Info (Japanese)
KIDLINK SOCIETY		KIDLINK Organization Overview
KIDLINK SOCIETYD		The KIDLINK Organization (Dutch)
KIDLINK SPONSORS		KIDLINK SPONSORS
KIDLINK TIPS		Practical tips about using KIDLINK
KIDLINK TIPSJ		Kidlink Tips (Japanese)
KIDLINK TIPSN		Kidlink Tips (Danish)
KIDLINK PROJINFN		Kriterier for godkjenning av prosjekter (Danish)
KIDLINK NATIONS		Countries in KIDLINK
KIDLINK POLICIES		Official KIDLINK Policies

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 KIDLINK MASTER
GET KIDPLAN GOPHER

The files are also available through KIDLINK's Gopher. Telnet 165.190.8.35 login: gopher. (You can also use your own Gopher with the command: gopher kids.ccit.duq.edu 70 .) 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. Send a message to gophermail@Calvin.EDU . In your message's Subject line write: kids.ccit.duq.edu . Leave the text empty and send the message. After a while, the KIDLINK Gopher's main menu will be returned to you with detailed instructions on how to get more.
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-94

is a project run by a non-profit organization called the KIDLINK Society. It will continue until May 7 1994. 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-94 project.
KIDS-94 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 (currently testing)
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, and KIDFORUM.
A 130+ picture slide show about KIDS-94 is available (for MS-DOS computers with VGA color display). To get a copy, send a for-mated 1.4MB diskette, an envelope carrying your return address, plus US$10.00 to KIDLINK, 4815 Saltrod, Norway.
You can also retrieve the slide show by Anonymous FTP. For details, send a message to the LISTSERV containing the command: GET KIDLINK KIDSHOW
The KIDS-94 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: BBS:		Saltrod, Norway (Europe). +47 41 27111 opresno@ulrik.uio.no SYSOP. Phone: +47 41 31378.

If you want to help out with KIDS-94, 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. For a list of contact persons, retrieve the file KIDLINK CONTACTS.
KIDS-94 has local representatives in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovenija, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States.
You can also write to KIDLINK, 4815 Saltrod, Norway or just sign up.