Suggested Pilot Study
Who-Am-I? in the Library
Duration: Three years
Submitted by Arendal Bibliotek and Kidlink
(Norway)

1. Test a model for broader use of the library's offerings to children and youth using Who-Am-I?, supported by ICT.
   1. To reach more young users.
   2. To reinforce the library as a meeting place, a cultural and social adventure center in the multicultural society.
      • for individual children
      • for children together with their parents
      • for children in cooperation with senior citizens.
2. Investigate related models of cooperation with organizations/departments within culture (library, museum, archive), as well as across area boundaries (social sector).

Who-Am-I?

Multilingual educational program that lets groups of children discuss basic questions about life to lead them to knowledge about themselves, their place, rights, friends, families, and roots.
The program consists of 389 option questions, and 244 optional activities distributed over six modules, but with no answers or preset solutions. The following questions are from the "Solving conflicts" lesson:

1. What causes disputes among people? Are misunderstandings likely to lead to trouble?
2. What if the friends you hang out with want to do something you don't? What do you choose - go with your friends or do "things" your own way?
3. Which side do you choose if there is a conflict between your friends and your family? Why do you choose like this?
4. How do you resolve disputes? Do you try to avoid people you disagree with? Do you find that listening carefully for what the other person really wants and needs can help?

The program can contribute as a means against mobbing, violence, racism, absence, shirk, bluntness, being unconcentrated, depressions, lies, emotional problems, broken promises, irregular habits, criminality, reactions of obstinacy, broken rules.

The Library Model

A group consisting of 10 to 15 kids 10-14 years of age meets once or twice weekly over eight months. Duration is two hours each time. Meetings are preferably on afternoons or evenings. The participants may have a richer experience if the group has kids with different cultural backgrounds.

The kids pledge to participate in eight to ten weeks, depending on the duration of the individual modules. Whenever a kid leaves the group, another kid is invited to participate in its place.

Initially, the meetings are coordinated by one of the library's employees. A senior citizen is recruited as volunteer helper. This person will later be asked to take over coordination of the group. Interested parents and students within relevant disciplines may be invited in as helpers, provided that the kids want it. The number of adult helpers is restricted to 4 persons. .

It is important to have a sufficient number of external coordinators to ensure continuity!

A senior citizen?

• Precious knowledge is stored in the heads of senior citizens. Many seniors are “walking treasures” of history, of folk art (their art work) and of music about to disappear. The dire need for preserving knowledge at risk of disappearance, and organize sharing with our coming generation.
• A situation wherein kids master a skill much needed by adults in general and seniors in particular. Transfer of knowledge the "other way" by .. the spontaneity of children rather than adult teachers. Interesting and fun.
• Foster new social interactions between kids and seniors. The seniors don’t function only as receivers of technological skills mastered by the young ones, but they are also contributors to the “young teachers” from their vast knowledge and experience.

The group meets in various rooms in the library. They may also meet other places, for example, in a museum, or an archive, whenever this enriches the discussion.

"The home" of this mobile group is a permanent exhibition in the library. The group of kids decorate it jointly with contributions to and from the Who-Am-I? program: self-presentations, textual contributions, printouts of web pages created by the group, photos, items, a map with colored cotton thread showing where those live who are having contacts with the group.

The decorations serve as "educational material" both for present and future participants. They visualize a communications process which might be difficult to understand by just staring at a computer screen. The decorations are hang in the kids "spirit": irregular, abundant, colorful, friendly, and creatively rather than orderly and "neat."

The first meeting in each module The module starts by the coordinator introducing Who-Am-I? and its objectives to the group: Who-Am-I? trains children in the art of getting friends at their age, and grow up in today's society. "You will prepare meetings with new friends by preparing good answers on questions typically being asked. You will discuss the answers with peers through the Internet. You will use the Internet meetings to train yourself in the art of meeting others, of being accepted, or rejected." (Background notes.) The coordinator provides an overview of Who-Am-I?'s contents in the module that is about to start for the northern hemisphere (see this calendar), how the work in the group is assumed organized, and emphasizes that: "Who-Am-I? is your program. This is not like at school or at home, where an adult may try to steer you in a direction they want to go. Here, you'll mostly be the person in control My role as a coordinator is to watch the time, answer questions, and in general to help solve any practical problems that might appear. My helpers have similar functions.. " Agenda for the rest of this meeting All participants present themselves to the group. If one of the helpers are in the same family as one of the participants, then the kids are asked to approve this. If they do not approve it, maybe because they feel the relationship is too close, then this helper must leave the group. The kids select their language of participation from the list of available languages For example, a kid whose native language is Spanish might participate in Spanish, while the rest participates in English or Norwegian. Contacts with more than one language area might give the group a richer experience, and also increase the "stature" of those speaking a minority language in the group. The kids discuss and decide the group's work rules (personal behaviour, other rules of cooperation). The coordinator reviews the suggested contents of the module's first lesson. (Click here for the first lesson of the first module.) The kids decide jointly what questions and/or activities that will be on the agenda for their next meeting, and the date/time of the next meeting. (The adult helpers do not participate in this decision!) The kids are being split into groups: Those who have not participated in the program yet They must get an email address, if they do not already have one. At hotmail.com, or some other suitable service. Those who have not yet answered Kidlink's four questions will now answer these, and submit them. This should also be done when working on the first module, even though it is formally not required. Only in this way will a kid be given a user name and password for use of the interactive services. when done, they can continue from item 2 below. When everybody are done, the group will start on item 8 below. Those kids who have participated in earlier modules with go the library's Internet terminals to acquaint themselves with previously submitted student contributions to this module in preferred mailing lists for participating kids), KidSpace, Kidlink's information pages for kid. They will cooperate so that those who are less familiar with computers and the Internet will also benefit from this activity. If there is more time, then the discussion of selection questions and/or work with the selected activities can start.

Subsequent meetings in each module
Agenda

The first 60 minutes 1 The kids discuss the selected questions or work with selected activities. This is done face-to-face without use of computers, unless the activity assumes use of such tools. The results of the discussion are summarized and displayed for everybody to see. The same is done with results of the joint activities. The adult helpers are available to answer questions and give advice. They might be asked to summarize conclusions, for example on a board, give progress reports, etc. The kids may also select an adult to coordinate the discussions. The next 60 minutes 2 Conclusions and contributions are published on the web so that the other participants in Who-Am-I? can review them, ask questions, and provide comments. Printouts of the contributions are posted in the exhibition area. The simplest form of publishing is to send conclusion to selected languages' conferences for kids, like to Kidcafe-norsk.. The probability of getting questions and comments may be increased by supplementing with web pages, etc. If one of the kids know how to create web pages, then making web pages is always a fun activity which motivates the whole group. KidSpace is an interesting alternative that might enable more participants to contribute. Still, it is important to send a mail to the kids' conference(s) to inform the other participants where the web pages are being posted. Note: The adult helpers are not to create web pages for the participants! 3 The program's suggested resources are compared with the resources used by the group. Suggested resources are being submitted. 4 Comments, questions, and suggestions received from peers in other places are being collected and handled. (The coordinator may print out mails appearing on the mailing lists for kids on paper to save time, and hang them up on the wall for the benefit of the group.) If the group receives no reactions from peers other places, then this lack of response should be made the main topic of the agenda. The group discusses how to increase the chance for reactions, and what actions are needed. Why do you think that we did not get any mails? Does it have anything to do with how we wrote or presented our message? This is a unique opportunity to discuss the things that happen if we do not succeed in getting contact with someone we do want to meet - without individuals in our group needing to feel hurt... Reaction received from peers through the Internet is discussed in the group, and may lead to various kinds of reactions (arguments, questions, revised or new web pages, etc.) 5 The kids will discuss and decide what questions and activities that are to be on the agenda during the next meeting. This will give those who want it an opportunity to meet prepared the next time around. If the group things today's topic was particularly important, then they may decide that the next meeting should be spent to dive further into the topic. Example: Who-Am-I? has only three questions about drug abuse. The group may decide to use one extra day on this topic, to invite an external person to give a presentation, or by using other educational programs or offerings to dig deeper. The kids decide when and where to meet the next time. The coordinators may challenge the kids to "research" using the library's computers or printed material to find resources that might enrich the next meeting's discussions or activities. The kids may also be challenged to find resources in the library's collections, or on the Internet, that might be used to justify, explain.

The Overall Schedule of the Pilot Project

Year 1 First half of the year: Planning. Preparation. Training of coordinator. The activity is limited to Arendal bibliotek External helpers are invited to take over as coordinators of the group, so that the employee of the library may be released for other tasks. Incentive plans for the external coordinator are used to ensure quick startup, and create a "critical mass" of kid contributions, and publication of reports of coordinators' practical experiences. Develop learning material and support resources for employees in other libraries wanting to join as of year 2. At the end of the period, work starts to negotiate participation by two other libraries (one small, rural library, and one in a large city (Oslo?). Year 2 Evaluation after having run one full program cycle. Activity goes in parallel in three libraries. Arendal bibliotek adds a group number 2. The other libraries starts with one group each. Training of coordinators Incentive plans to promote communication and cooperation between participating libraries, broad documentation of practical experiences, production of "learning material." Invite local schools, and other groups working for and with kids, to cooperate with the library as support resources/helpers (expanded arena). Year 3 Arendal bibliotek expands to three groups. The other libraries have two groups each. Evaluation. Tracer study to measure the program's effects on the kids. Evaluation of the effects for the library. Report with recommendations. What is needed for successful implementation at a national scale: Capacity, available computers and Internet connectivity. Practical types of cooperation, scope of the work, financial and practical details, suggested levels of ambitions, duration, technical solutions. Possible partners. Plans for continuation in the first three libraries after discontinuation of the pilot program's financing? Methods for increased cooperation with teachers and schools

Background