Veronica Herszorn (15), Uruguay

The KIDLINK Newsletter
Global Networking for Youth 10-15 Years

December 31, 1995. Volume 6 : Issue 4. ISSN 0805-8881

IN THIS ISSUE "I would tell people to use email" KIDFORUM Progress Report Update: Conferencia KIDCAFE-SPANISH Generic KIDCAFE The KIDPROJ Progress Report KIDLINK's private IRC Network KIDLINK's World Wide Web Around KIDLINK KIDS-96

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. "I would tell people to use email"

The goal of KIDS-96 is to involve as many 10-to-15-year-old youth as possible in a GLOBAL dialog continuing until May 4th 1996. On May 5th, 1996, we will start the KIDS-97 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 48,000 kids living in 77 countries around the world.
Here are some recent responses:

* Dubai, United Arab Emirates *
(1) I am Serena Netto, 13, Girl. School: our own english high school. I like music, dancing and reading. Concerned about ill treatment of animals.
(2) I would like to be a engineer
(3) I would like for all children to have an opportunity for education
(4) I would make sure that all my classmates and school mates are aware of the shortage of good educational institutes

* From Colombo, Sri Lanka *
(1) My name is Arnav Manchanda. I am an eleven year old boy. The name of my school is Overseas Children's School. My hobbies are; exploring Internet with email, reading adventure and mytery stories, playing cricket, and playing with Lego.
(2) In general when I grow up, I want to be a computer programmer. In education terms I would like to be teacher who teaches people not to fight each other. In work terms, I want to be an architect.
(3) I would like to abolish the cutting down of trees by telling people, if they can, to use email or some other way communicating messages, important documents and stuff like that, instead of using trees for paper. To stop people fighting each other, I would start (when I am older!) an organization to stop wars.
(4) To start my first goal, I would tell people to use email, and other ways of communicating without paper. To start my second goal, I would post letters to presidents of the war fighting countries telling them to stop.

** From Karachi, Pakistan **
(1) My name is Ragni Marea Kidvai. I am an 11-year-old girl. I study at Karachi Grammar School My hobbies are reading everything but mystery/horror/ghost stories most of all; listening to music (all sorts and my favourite singers/groups are Elvis Presley, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Ace of Base, Mariah Carey & Pavarotti!); I enjoy dancing (I learn Indo-Pak Classical Dancing but enjoy all kinds, from Ballet to Modern); & I love watching TV, specially The X-Files, MTV, Channel V & Cartoons. I also love using computers. I can speak/read/write English fluently in addition to my own language (Urdu -Pakistani national language, which is a mix of Persian, Arabic, Hindi and other regional languages. It is written from right to left).
(2) I want to be many things when I grow up. I change my mind very frequently. Some of my ideals are to be a Singer in a Pop Group; become a Macintosh programmer (adore Macs! Can't stand Windows!); Astronaut; UFO Researcher.
(3) I would like to see the world free of hatred, wars, violence and child abuse.
(4) I think schools should spend a lot of time teaching and discussing and encouraging children to discuss among themselves good things like peace and love. They should also make kids more aware of the horrors of war and violence and the environment. I know that my city needs this a lot.

2. KIDFORUM Progress Report

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.
This year they been discussing the possibility of going on vacation to foreign countries, how to solve environmental problems, children's rights, and traffic.
Usually, classes in from five to fifteen countries participate in the topics, but individual kids are also welcome to share views. Often, the kids are invited to exchange information in real time on the KIDLINK IRC. Sometimes they also exchange ordinary letters, photos, or postcards.
The schedule of KIDFORUM topics until July 1996 can be read of the Web at http://www.kidlink.org/KIDFORUM/schedule.html. It can also be retrieved by sending the command GET KIDFORUM SCHEDULE to the LISTSERV.
The last topic of the year was "Hopeful Headlines" - about environmental problems, and how to solve them. Classes from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, Sweden, and USA kicked off by posting community profiles. The two most frequently identified problems were trash disposal, and pollution resulting from traffic. Other local concerns included: water pollution, pollution from factories, protection of habitats, and deer.
Next, the students worked in small groups to envision positive, hopeful resolutions for these issues. Some groups researched from their home sites, some called upon the creative power of their minds, and others sought more information by dialoguing with classes who had posted community profiles.
Joann Wilson, a topic moderator living in the U.S., tells: "Australian students Owen Klan and Timon Missen detailed their vision of a way to resolve environmental issues of concern to a class in Akranes, Iceland: over-fishing and trash disposal. The Rathdowney, Queensland kids authored a futuristic story addressing those issues which they headlined: 'Iceland Sorting Out Economic Problems.' From Michigan USA came the story, 'Rally To Rescue River A Reality.' It offered a peek into what could be possible in Wharton, Texas USA where kids were concerned about pollution of the Colorado River.
On January 1st, the "Blue Print Earth" topic will start. The main aim is to provide an exciting opportunity that would allow the kids to enhance their creative talents, and use their imagination to design gadgets, invent articles, and picture social or political scenarios which will make planet Earth a better place to live for our future generations.
Groups of students will be challenged to write an essay. The topic for the essay will be closely linked to the name of this project. The heading will be: GAIA...( which means earth ). Moderators are Indu Varma (Canada), and Tor Arne Richvoldsen (Norway).

3. Update: Conferencia KIDCAFE-SPANISH

Esta conferencia, en la que los chicos se comunican en espan~ol, se creo en el an~o 1994. En ese momento se intercambiaron 281 mensajes. En 1995 se integraron varios paises, y se intercambiaron 625 mensajes. Esto implica un aumento en la participacion del 45%.
Paises que han participado: Argentina, Australia, Brasil, Chile, Costa Rica, Espan~a, Estados Unidos, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, y Uruguay.
En este espacio los chicos han desarrollado 3 modalidades de comunicacion:

1. Mensajes personales, Establecen dialogos personales, tratando temas de su interes.
2. Mensajes referidos a un tema especifico. Temas que se han tratado: Tolerancia, tolerancia etnica, celebracion del dia de los muertos, tradiciones de los paises, ubicacion de las escuelas, breves descripciones geograficas de sus paises incluyendo: clima, flora, fauna, etc.
3. Desarrollo de proyectos, coordinados por docentes.
   • (Cuanto cuesta ser nin~o en mi pais?
   • Intercambio de cuentos.
   • Contaminacion ambiental.

Para mas informacion, escriba a Fernandez Sonia <sfernand@reu.edu.uy>.

4. Generic KIDCAFE

KIDCAFE has lost two valuable helpers: Nathan Willis has been very active moderating messages, coordinating the CAFETEAM, and served as assistant manager in charge of registrations for KIDCAFE-SCHOOL. He now leaves to start a new education.
Kathy Plamondon has helped out with the topics lists and support. Pressing engagements at work now forces her off KIDCAFE's coordination team. Both will be missed.
On the bright side, KIDLINK veteran and long-term KIDFORUM helper Mary Esborn (U.S.A.) has accepted the role as Assistant Manager in KIDCAFE. Mary's chief assignment will be to shape and mould KIDCAFE-SCHOOL into a success.
Active KIDCAFE participants know that the list was split into five lists in September. KIDCAFE-COORD serves as an informal planning forum for those who participate in KIDCAFE. This is new to KIDCAFE. The essence of KIDCAFE has been spontaneous discussion. It is now moving towards a form where we also plan parts of the action.
Also new since our last newsletter is that you can read the messages from KIDLINK's WWW-pages. This makes it easy for you to follow the discussion and for kids to find messages to the youth lists.
Since September, KIDCAFE-INDIVIDUAL have had around 3200 messages. The messages came mainly from kids seeking keypals, or exchanging messages with the others on the list. Most messages are still in English, but we have had messages in German, Dutch and Japanese this autumn.
KIDCAFE-TOPICS had around 1300 messages. The level of activity varies depending on whether there are topics that fascinate kids. September brought a very fine discussion about asking someone out on a date. Many kids told about how difficult it can be to summon the courage to ask the question. Others wrote encouraging messages with advice. Recently, the most engaging discussion was very American. It was about pledging allegiance to the flag. However, KIDCAFE-TOPICS has not only been about topics. Youth have exchanged tricky questions, presented poetry and chapters from novels that they had written.
KIDCAFE-QUERY had around 300 messages. Recently, the list has been very active with kids asking help about other children's religion, about their countries, and about scientific problems. This makes it a gold mine for teachers wanting to encourage their students to write short answers to other kids' questions.
KIDCAFE-SCHOOL was kicked-off on December 1st. By that time, over 100 schools had registered. Thanks to Mary Esborn it was finally decided that schools should send introductions before the kick-off, and that we should send Diamante poems. We also decided to meet for a brief chat on the IRC. Many schools responded to our call, and we received many fine poems. Some of them have been published on the KIDLINK WWW, and we are planning to display more of them. Here is a sample from Wilcox Elementary in Hawaii:

            Sea
      Salty, shimmery
  Flowing, Crashing, Waves
 They  both   are      blue.
  Speeding, roaring, winds
      Fluffy, cloudy
           Sky
by Chrissy, Ashley, Bryan, David, and Allen
 

Right now, schools are presenting their plans for the next term. Maybe you can find a partner in a small project there? Some schools have decided to exchange Haiku poems. Meanwhile, you can ask your students to answer the rhymies submitted by the Kendal Crittenden kids.
What is a "rhymie?" It is a riddle you answer with a rhyme. Like this: chubby kitten = fat cat, or tiny corridor = small hall.
Please note: Whole classes can write to KIDCAFE-SCHOOL, but not adults. If you want to discuss with other teachers, then please send your message to KIDCAFE-COORD. You can register on our WWW pages. For more information, connect to http://global.kidlink.org/KIDCAFE-SCHOOL. Information is also available from the LISTSERV by sending the command: GET KIDCAFE GUIDE.

5. KIDPROJ's Multi-Cultural Calendar

KIDPROJ announces the new and updated KIDLINK Multi-Cultural Calendar, a collection of holiday descriptions written by KIDLINK youth and adults from all over the world. Ben Walter made the first Web version of the MCC but has moved along in other directions. Mark Hunnibell and Stephan de Haas worked endless hours to make the new Multi-Cultural Calendar available on the KIDLINK Web site. Holidays are available in an array of index formats that include: country, month, author and holiday. The new Web address is: http://www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/MCC
Jamie Wilkerson, moderator of the SS Central America project, recently held an online IRC chat with KIDLINKers while she was in the Jules Undersea Lodge off the coast of Florida. Jamie never ceases to find exciting adventures for our students.
Stellan Kinberg, KIDLEADER from Sweden, has accepted the responsibility as KIDCLUB moderator. He and his team of KIDLINK youth are responsible for the weekly KIDCLUB IRC discussions.
Mike Burleigh (United Kingdom) started KIDPROJ way back in November 1991, and was a driving force in KIDLINK for so many years. However, all good must come to an end. Patti Weeg, a Title 1 computer teacher in Maryland, U.S.A, has agreed to carry on his work. Email: pweeg@shore.intercom.net. She will now be managing both the KIDPROJ and the KIDPROJ-COORD mailing lists, and activities.

6. KIDLINK's private IRC Network

The KIDLINK IRC is a private, multi-user system for real-time chats that allows kids all over the world to type back and forth to each other with responses within seconds. In addition to the opportunity for open chatting, special events are organized in connection with KIDPROJ and KIDFORUM activities.
If you don't know what it is, or simply want to get involved, send a mail to the LISTSERV containing the command GET KIDLINK IRCHELP. On the Web, try http://www.kidlink.org/IRC
In March, David Lloyd and Hannah Sivan (Israel), were appointed KIDLINK's IRC Network Coordinators. Now, David Lloyd has moved on to concentrate on building KIDLINK's new Hebrew language activities. Hannah Sivan will continue in her position as the KIDLINK IRC Network Coordinator. Her focus will be on the development of new and expanding uses of KIDLINK IRC in the school and in the home.

7. KIDLINK's World Wide Web

In December, the World Wide Web server was unavailable for some time while being moved to a new location. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Since our last newsletter, new features on the KIDLINK World Wide Web include:

• RESPONSE Forms: It is now possible to answer the four questions using your WWW browser if it supports Forms (most now in use do): http://www.kidlink.org/RESPONSE/4Q.html
• Registration for KIDCAFE-SCHOOL is also now possible via WWW: http://www.kidlink.org/KIDCAFE-COORD/register.html
• Thanks to the consistent format that Nathan Willis uses in the KIDCAFE REGINDEX file, you can now see a WWW version of the file with (over 100) schools listed with links to their individual registrations: http://www.kidlink.org/cgi-bin/KIDCAFE.REGINDEX
• Registration for KIDLINK IRC is also possible via WWW: http://www.kidlink.org/IRC/register.html
• Project information abut the KIDFORUM Virtual Vacation project was published on the WWW in several languages including English, Japanese, and even Arabic. Even though this Topic is over, you can still view this exciting set of pages: http://www.kidlink.org/KIDFORUM/virtual.html
• Much work is being done behind the scenes to bring these services to the KIDLINK WWW soon:
• Translations of KIDLINK documentation into languages like Arabic and Russian that use characters sets other than normal "Latin" characters. These pages will be viewable by anyone with a graphical browser. No special font support will be needed.
• Presentation of all the images and works in the KIDLINK Gallery of Computer Art (KIDART).
• A powerful search engine is being installed to allow high-speed search of different sections of the KIDLINK WWW.

We are now adding members to the KIDLINK Web Team who have a great deal of WWW publishing experience to bring to KIDLINK. This will increase both the quality and quantity of pages and services available on the KIDLINK WWW.

8. Around KIDLINK

This fall, Odd de Presno travelled Japan, Sweden, Brazil, Uruguay, and Iceland carrying the KIDLINK banner. He gave presentations in Recife, Salvador (Bahia), Florianopolis, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Montevideo, Tokyo, Stockholm, and Reykjavik. The visuals of his presentations are available on the World Wide Web: http://www.kidlink.org/society/presents. The presentation is available in English, Portuguese, and Spanish language texts.
The Annual Celebration is Coming! Even though it's still 5 months away, it's never too soon to begin preparing for the three-day Annual Celebration that begins on 2 May 1995. The KIDLINK CELEB file has been updated, and a new coordination team is forming. Coordinating this year's event will be Laurie Williams and Mark Hunnibell, both from the USA. For more information via e-mail, send an inquiry to: celeb-info@kidlink.org . On the World Wide Web, check out http://www.kidlink.org/celebrate
For an updated view of KIDLINK's organization, send a mail to the LISTSERV using the command GET KIDLINK SOCIETY, or check out this World Wid Web page http://www.kidlink.org/society/

9. 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.
The KIDLINK mailing list is an announcement service, KIDPLAN, and the coordinator forums are meeting places for teachers, parents and other adults involved with the KIDS-96 project.
KIDS-96 operates the following coordinator forums: KIDLEADER, KIDLEADER- PORTUGUESE, KIDLEADER-JAPANESE, KIDLEADER-SPANISH, KIDLEADER-NORDIC, KIDLEADER-HEBREW, KIDCAFE-COORD, KIDART-COORD, KIDFORUM-COORD, KIDIRC- COORD, and KIDPROJ-COORD.
KIDS-96 has the following mailing lists for 10 - 15 year old youth:

RESPONSE

this is where the children send their personal introductions (their responses to the four introductory questions). It has no dialog!

Several KIDCAFE forums. Here, kids can 'talk' about anything they like:

KIDCAFE-PORTUGUESE	Portuguese language KIDCAFE
KIDCAFE-SPANISH	Spanish language KIDCAFE
KIDCAFE-JAPANESE	Japanese language KIDCAFE
KIDCAFE-NORDIC	Scandinavian language KIDCAFE
KIDCAFE-INDIVIDUAL
KIDCAFE-SCHOOL
KIDCAFE-TOPICS
KIDCAFE-QUERY
KIDFORUM	for exchanges between classroom groups of students.
KIDPROJ	for long and short-term projects

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 the mailing lists set up for this age group (see above list).
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

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. This issue is at the following address: http://www.kidlink.org/KIDLINK/news795.html
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, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States.
Finally, you can also write to KIDLINK, 4815 Saltrod, Norway or just join ...