Melke de Haas (11), the Netherlands, and Mariam Shenawi (11), Egypt.
Participants in the Great Hunt project. In Puzzle #42, one Hunter
was asked to draw part of a picture and then send the picture
to another Hunter who would finish it. 

The KIDLINK Newsletter
Global Networking for Youth 10-15 Years

May 6, 1995. Volume 6 : Issue 2. ISSN 0805-8881

Note: Throughout this newsletter, references are made to the LISTSERV. The full email address to this resource is LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU . Note that all commands to the LISTSERV must be written in the body of your mail.

1. "Que el mundo sea menos negativo"

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 35,000 kids living in 68 countries around the world.
Here are some recent responses:

** From Tehran, Iran **
(1) I am Saman Parsa. I am 10 years old. I am a girl. My school is Besmi School. I love: History class, Ski, Swimming, Chocolates, Cheese, Violin, Dolls, Rabbits. I hate: Cockroaches, Butter, Boaring TV programs.
(2) I want to become a dentist.
(3) No wars, no pollution.
(4) Close half the factories. Sign a global peace treaty.

** From Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic **
1) my name is Hector R. Echavarria. I`m 14 years old, I`m a boy and I live in Santo Domingo/Dominican Republic I study in the Santa Teresa School.
soy una persona divertida me gusta hablar y tener muchos amigos, me gusta oir musica especialmente de Michael Jackson y tambien me gusta jugar volleyball.
(2) me gustaria ser ingeniero en sistemas que es una profesion que tiene que ver mucho con la computacion.
3) me gustaria que el mundo sea menos negativo y mas optimista para que todos podamos progresar, y me gustaria que se acabaran los conflictos entre los paises y que todos los pueblos se tiendan la mano.
4) puedo cultivar la amistad de personas en diferentes partes del mundo para hacerles entender lo que pienso y tambien puedo ayudar con las acciones que yo haga en favor de mi progimo para que haci poco a poco vayamos comprendiendo que es mejor la amistad que la enemistad entre los pueblos.

2. KIDLINK is Five years old!

Over 500 kilobytes' worth of newsletters have "passed" since our first issue was published on June 17, 1990. So, if you want KIDLINK's history, read them.
While it is true that KIDLINK started in 1990, preparation started earlier on The Source (now defunct network).
On November 16 1989, Odd de Presno opened a public conference there called YOUNG TALK PLAN. Its purpose was to discuss the opening of an online forum for kids. A few months later, it resulted in these two messages:

"YOUNG TALK" by ODD DE PRESNO, Jan. 18, 1990 at 16:39 about
INTERNATIONAL ONLINE CLUB FOR CHILDREN (341 characters & 1 note)

They are invited to an international online club for kids.
ADULTS have READ-ONLY status. Anybody older than 15 is Old (!).
Join "YOUNG TALK" and give your child(ren) a unique opportunity to make new friends around the globe.
Odd

1 (of 1) ODD DE PRESNO Jan. 18, 1990 at 16:45 (1087 characters)
Hello, my name is Karina. I have a cat called Tigergutt, which translates into "Tiger Boy" in English. I'm 11 years old. My birthday is on the 16th of February. Then I will be 12 years old.
I live in a place called Saltrod, by the city of Arendal in south Norway. My interests: swing dancing, theatre, and my computer.
When I was younger I didn't like to read, but now I have started to read books, For the time being now I'm reading "Den vesle vampyren" ("The small vampyre"). It's about a boy called Anton, who is very found of reading about vampires. Suddenly one Saturday night while he is alone, his parents are out on cinema or something, a real vampyre enteres in through the window of his room ...
Many strange things happen. It's very exciting.
Today, I have played with my Barbie dolls behind the couch in our living room. Also, I have written a letter to my electronic pen pal Becky in Michigan. I hope that she will soon be able to come here.
I also hope that other kids will write about themselves and their lives.
Greetings from Karina Vestfossen Garcia de Presno.

There were not many kids online at the time. In March, the dialog was doomed. Complete silence. Something else was required. A person called Nancy Stefanik from the US came to rescue.
KIDLINK was born on May 25th 1990 following a wildly successful two-week online dialog between kids in North America and Norway. The three founders were Odd de Presno, Nancy Stefanik, and Knut Braatane (Norway). While Knut is still involved in the administration of one of our lists, Nancy is not in KIDLINK anymore.
The initial name was KIDS-91. Our 'Mission Control Center' was a "KIDS91" conference on an online service called SciNet in Toronto, Canada (Now: SciLink). There were no connection to the Internet. Many of us had to use packet networks to get there. . . .
Since then, our grassroots movement has grown with breathtaking speed. Let's review some of the highlights.
o The first response was posted by 14-year old Krystal Belchior of Fenwich, Ontario, Canada.
o The second response came from Astrid Anna Elise Helgesen, Norway. She wrote: "I want a job in which I can travel a lot, maybe as a historian or researcher or advisor."
She is now 18, and just back from 10 months at school in Japan. She has also been six months at school in France. When we called to hear her thoughts about her initial responses to the four questions, she said: "I basically mean the same today, though I am not pursuing a career as a researcher any more."
So, who is this Nancy Stefanik? We have asked her to answer our four basic questions.

3. Nancy Stefanik - KIDLINK co-founder

Date: 04 Mar 1995 10:29:00 GMT
From: Nancy_Stefanik@together.org
(1) I'm Nancy Stefanik, 35-year-old mother of year-old Jordan enjoying a relatively peaceful life style in rustic southern Vermont along the beautiful West River. I was involved with KIDLINK at the very beginning, when I saw Odd's original messaging inquiring if anyone knew any kids who wanted to chat with kids in Norway attending a Saltrod gala for kids that his wife Anne-Tove was organizing. I happened to be supporting several teachers new to telecom on SciLink, a new Toronto-based computer network for science teachers, and figured a few would be interested. And they were. The incredible energy that was released the next few weeks was proof that kids ages 10-15 would make great use of a forum dedicated to their dialog. Odd and I dreamed and laughed KIDS-91 into existence at the Electronic Networking Association (now defunct) conference in San Francisco a few weeks later.
(2) Ha! Now that I've "grown up", eh? Well, careerwise I'm definitely not doing what I thought I'd be doing when I was 10-15 years old. That's because jobs like "public interest computer networking specialist" did not exist then. I'm currently a consultant to Earth Force, a new nonprofit organization in the U.S. "whose mission is to enable kids everywhere to act on behalf of the earth." My job is to help them figure out how to support kids who are online. I work from a beautiful office looking out over the river in my little home. HOWEVER, I have just considered that I want to write a book or five about a 7th grade girl named Nan Kinkaid who is determined to save the world. So, for the next 2-3 months, that's what I'm going to try to do. Of course, I spend the majority of my day everyday playing with Jordan and Bob and our dog, Samantha.
(3) I could go on and on with specific ways I would like the world to be "better." In short, here's the kind of place I hope to live some time in my lifetime: A planet with the healthiest of ecosystems throughout, with commercialism harnessed and peace reigning and humans much more respectful of all other species. A world where diversity and children are valued very highly and people aren't afraid to understand and love.
(4) A world as described above could only happen if people are given the opportunity and support to learn about other cultures, societies, religions, etc. without necessarily having to be negatively impacted by them. One organization encouraged people to think in terms of a globe of communities rather than a global community. How about a globe of interconnected communities?
I envision an electronic support system for every 10-15 year old kid on the planet that goes beyond computer-based communication and involves on a daily basis more evolved forms of the technologies that KIDLINK features in its annual celebrations (videophones, videoconferencing, etc.). Imagine community centers and squares featuring regular cultural exchanges via videoconference with members of communities continents away. Imagine sophisticated but easy-to-use personal programming tools and language translation tool kits that allow every citizen - young and not so young :) - to create, communicate, and teach without language barriers. I sincerely believe that all the people who have been touched by the KIDLINK magic are important change agents and together are making this a better world.

4. Important donations to core operations

L-Soft international, Inc. made KIDLINK the latest recipient of their Awards for Student Internet Innovations. The award consisted of a high-end Dell Pentium system with one gigabyte of disk space, and an unlimited capacity version of L-Soft's LISTSERV electronic mailing list management software.
You may have noticed that KIDLINK uses L-Soft's LISTSERV lists for all its public conferences. (L-Soft is at this Web address: http://www.lsoft.com)
Susan Lowell, L-Soft's Communications and Marketing Coordinator, says "KIDLINK was chosen to receive the award because it empowers students to build their own world-wide community, giving them a unique opportunity to explore a multicultural environment while providing them with a place to experiment with their own Internet projects".
At about the same time, KIDLINK received an IBM RT PC from Yale University School of Medicine, the Department of Pharmacology (USA). This computer will serve backup and secondary purposes.
Both machines have been installed at Duquesne University (PA, USA), and is already helping us out during this Celebration. Our special thanks to Mark Hunnibell for his efforts!
One effect of our system upgrades have been address changes. KIDLINK now has many activities in our own KIDLINK.ORG Internet domain.
We have more space for files than ever. Newer software is due to arrive soon. The reliability of our overall systems has improved considerably, and then there is our budding World Wide Web activity!
Our new Web server will potentially change the way some of you use KIDLINK. For example, expect getting messages from our project lists to become easier. The official projected public startup date is set to 1 July 1995, but new offerings will appear gradually before that date. Stay tuned.

5. Random news (1995)

Enough history. So much is happening around KIDLINK that we need to tell you about. However, since this is in the middle of our Celebration, we must be short.

• On April 22, The 1995 KIDLINK Worldwide Computer Art Exhibition was simultaneously opened in Stockholm, Sweden, and the World Wide Web. The show presents computer graphics created by kids between the ages of 10 and 15 years as part of their participation in the KIDLINK global dialog. We had over 100 pictures from USA, Argentina, Uruguay, Slovenia, Chile, New Zealand, Egypt, United Kingdom, Russia, Denmark, Holland, and Sweden.
  The Stockholm Exhibition was organized by Sebastian Marquez in cooperation with the KIDLINK Gallery of Computer Art's Stephan de Haas and Dan Wheeler. Check it out at this Web address: http://WWW.UC.EDU/~kidart/
• The current KIDFORUM topic is "ART in My Life: A Kid's Point of View". It started on April 7th, and will continue through May 1995. In this topic, kids will discuss and share with others the importance of art, dance or music in their lives. There are many artforms that can be included such as drawing, dance, folk art, sculpture, weaving, poetry and many more.
  For information, write to: Mary Esborn at Baldwint@biomed.med.yale.edu , or Alenka Makuc, makuc@public1.noprmd.mail.si. To retrieve the announcement of the topic, send an email to the LISTSERV containing this command: /SHIP KIDLINK 660
• Great KIDLINK Hunt of KIDS-95 was a success. For a summary report, check out the KIDFORUM HUNT-SUM on the LISTSERV, or get it from the gopher. An interesting item: The three top achievers measured in number of puzzled answers were:
  1. Mariam Shenawi, 11 (Egypt)
  2. Jacob Ben-Dov, 14, (Israel)
  3. Youth (in Omsk, Russia)

  The other participants live in Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Slovenia, Ukraine, UK, and USA.

• The reorganization of KIDLINK has continued since our last newsletter. Marisa Lucena (Brazil) has been appointed KIDFORUM Assistant Coordinator. Lars-Erik Nilsson (Sweden) has taken over Dan Wheeler's responsibilites as KIDCAFE Manager, and Kathy Plamondon (USA) is a new KIDCAFE assistant.
  KIDCAFEP, the Portuguese language version of KIDCAFE, is now administered by a Portuguese team, Maria da Luz Figueiredo and Jose Luis Carvalho. The Scandinavian language KIDLEADN conference has a new Manager, Kerstin Nilsson from Sweden.
  Their email addresses are given in the KIDLINK SOCIETY file. Send GET KIDLINK SOCIETY to the LISTSERV to retrieve.

6. Words from operations. .

If you haven't heard the name Mark Hunnibell in your wanderings around KIDLINK, then you have still some miles to go. Anyway, this is a History and Celebration Issue, so read on to hear Mark's words for the day:
In October 1990, I signed onto CompuServe to show my daughters that a computer was more than a video game machine. Within days, I received an invitation to KIDS-91 from a man with an unusual name, Odd de Presno. That changed my life. All he wanted was for my kids to answer four questions...
Four years ago, I knew nothing of Internet. When, in early 1992, I offered to help coordinate the Annual Celebration, I never could have known what my inquisitive message to a university computer administrator lead to. All I asked was: "Who is in charge of IRC?" Our friend Doug Luce was on the receiving end of my query and his reply and subsequent assistance changed KIDLINK and me forever. Among other things, KIDLINK IRC and the KIDLINK Gopher can both be traced directly back to that one inquiry.
Thanks, Odd, for inviting me and thanks, Doug, for being such a patient and helpful soul. KIDLINK is endebted to you both.

7. KIDPROJ's "Virtual Trip" to China.

This project is now over. Boy, was it interesting! Just listen to this:

Date: Thu, 16 Mar 1995 14:24:25 +0800
Sender: Special KIDLink Projects <NDSUVM1.BITNET>
From: "ClassKid-1, HKIS-MS" <ms1@ms.hkis.edu.hk>
Subject: Virtual China, Xi'an, Group 1, Day 3, Part 2

Author : Natasha Chang, 7th grader
Place : Terra Cotta Warriors
Date : 15 March, 1995

(From a Terra Cotta Warrior's point of view)
I stand still, my greyish color self all by myself. Other warriors have lost legs and arms, some even heads. But I am still together. But who wants to be together, when the others are in pieces, and I am alone?
The smell of the excavation pit is nauseating, but I can't do anything but stand up tall, holding my spear. There is dust everywhere, and I want to sneeze. Oh! If only I had a nose!
When tourists come they speak loudly, but the echo of the pits make it even louder. Oh! Why can't I have ear plugs?
But there is something that I do have. I am an 8th wonder of the world. Not the 10th, but the 8th. And I am one of a kind. No one can take pictures of me. I HAVE ME!
Today, students came and they looked at me. They were surprised, bored, and excited. I wished I could watch them more, but they left. And I'm alone again, again, just alone.

8. KIDS-96

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-96 project.
KIDS-96 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 SUBSCRIBE 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-96 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
Information about the project is also available on KIDLINK's interactive information servers:

World Wide Web address:	http://www.kidlink.org gopher://gopher.kidlink.org
Gopher to:	gopher.kidlink.org
Telnet to:	165.190.8.35 login: gopher

If you only have email access to the Internet, it is still possible to use the Web and gopher services. This is explained in the KIDLINK GENERAL file. To retrieve this file, send the command GET KIDLINK GENERAL to the LISTSERV. Note: This file is a _must_ for all persons interested in KIDLINK!!
The KIDLINK 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, the Gopher and Web servers.
Subscribe to KIDNEWS by sending email to the LISTSERV with the command "SUBSCRIBE 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@kidlink.org

If you want to help out with KIDS-96, or participate, write to kidlink-info@kidlink.org
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-96 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, Slovenia, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States.
Finally, you can also write to KIDLINK, 4815 Saltrod, Norway or just join ...