MEDIA | NEWS ARTICLES
Over the last 5 years the Awards programme has generated
considerable media attention. By profiling the Awards programme,
and the individual winning projects, Childnet hopes to
encourage "best practice" and draw attention
to the individual winning projects.
1999 |
2000 | 2001
| 2002 | 2003
| 2004 | 2005
2 July 2002, i.e magazine
CHILDREN SHOW THE POTENTIAL OF THE NET
The Cable & Wireless Childnet Awards celebrate
what could be described as the “dot hope” effect
of the Net. Stephen Carrick-Davies from the children’s
Internet charity, Childnet looks at the lessons
we can all learn from children and teachers
who are using the Net around the world to break
down barriers of distance, language and lack of
resources to inspire and bring hope to others.
It was whilst travelling into Paris
on the Péripherique
motorway
with Russian students Yuri and Katrin that I realised I
had found the perfect metaphor for the Internet. Thankfully
I wasn’t driving at the time because it is hard enough
making
an Origami model of a cockatoo with two hands, let
alone navigating the French traffic! But there I was being
given instructions about an ancient Japanese art form in
faltering
English and French by these Russian passengers
and soon dissolving into laughter as we viewed my final
creation which I had propped precariously on the dashboard
of our moving vehicle.
I’ve never been good at languages
- Russian, French, sign
language and yet it didn’t seem to matter because
it was
another language – HTML and specifically the website
from
these two passengers - www.oriland.com -
which had brought us together. “It’s a kind
of gymnastics for
the mind and training for the hands and entertainment
for the soul” Katrin was to explain when we finally
sat down to discuss her Origami skills so beautifully translated
on her website. “It’s amazing to see the way
our
site gets children talking, playing, laughing, learning!
Soon another 70 or so cyber-pioneers – children
and
teachers from around the world – would join us for
a week
of activities which would culminate in a special Awards
ceremony
highlighting and reward their achievements.
Before travelling to Paris, I had watched a group of children–
two of them deaf – attempt some of the models on
the
Oriland website. From the 140 entries which we at
Childnet had assessed it was clear why the children loved
this one. The opportunity to learn and be entertained at
the
same time, as well the opportunity to reach out across
cultures
and language interacting with other children and sharing
experiences. No wonder many children are wanting
more out of the net than passive “surfing” “chatting” or
even “messaging”! Over
the last 5 years of running the Awards with company sponsors
Cable & Wireless, and taking the event to
different
parts of the world, we have learnt the enormous value
of actually bringing young people together. Going back
to
the language – there’s an immediate magic because
without
knowing it they all speak the same language. It isn’t
so
much the celebrating the creative use of technology, but
the recognition that the “language” of creative
and fresh
purpose for the internet, which is important to value,
cultivate
and share with others. Take for example the story of
3 young sisters from Australia who before they had left
school had developed www.matmice.com -
a unique meeting place where other children from over 100
countries have been able to produce their own internet
web page all within the confines of a non-commercial environment.
Before the award was announced over 50,000
children had done just this, one month later the figure
had
almost doubled, a growth rate which any Internet company
would die for!
Or take for example another winner
in the Individual category–
this time a teacher Rick Hill, from Florida, who taught
himself macromedia to bring the world of Frog dissection
to
life! www.froguts.com invites
children to open a frog
up on screen and after identifying the different parts
dissect
the innards with a scalpel. “As a child I often dreamt
of
more interesting ways that subjects could be taught
to me” says Rick “Years later when I became
a
teacher I ended up gazing at the same conundrum
from a different perspective. Froguts is the result of
these daydreams, where fascination and ecology are
intertwined. The Childnet award has validated my
commitment to teaching and inspired me to go forward.“
“If you could bottle this energy and passion for
the Internet and sell it you’d make a fortune !” I
overheard
someone say whilst going through the awards exhibits
at
the ceremony. However “dot com” is the last
thing these
young people have on their mind. As one of the journalists
writing for the Sunday Times put it “In an era
when the
business models claim to define web success the
Childnet Awards suggest that the internet’s real
achievement may be neither these things”.
What was especially exciting about this year’s
winning projects
was to see how children and teachers are tackling
important issues such as children’s rights, the environment,
illness or suicide and using the internet to inform and
connect
with their peers – some of whom may live in another
continent. Take for example Benoit, a 15 year old from
Burkina Faso, who had travelled as the guest of award winner
EdukaFaso the
1st place
winner of the New to the Net category. Working on limited
resources this organisation is using the Internet to provide
new learning opportunities for Benoit’s school and
is
linking pupils in Burkina Faso with children in France
and
beyond so as to help and learn from the students in this,
one of the poorest countries in Africa. Benoit hadn’t
travelled
in an elevator prior to arriving in Paris, yet he was
being given an opportunity to begin to use a technology
which would transport him to other places and people far
previously unimagined.
Another such project to benefit
from the Awards is a previous winner - the Deafax Trust
which won an award in
1998 for their idea to develop a special international
website
for deaf children called Deafchild international. This
project is now a reality (see www.deafchild.org)
and
the website, which is run by deaf and hearing people, provides
chat rooms, games and other resources through
which deaf and hearing children can communicate and
practise their literacy skills. “Finding an incentive
to encourage
deaf children to read and write is a key educational
issue,” says Matthew James, Director of Deafchild.
This
new resource includes an international directory of deaf
schools with video conferencing facilities. Increasingly
the
ability to communicate effectively is key to being able
to
gain access to better education and employment and the
Internet potentially gives deaf children enormous opportunities
to communicate.
Increasingly we at Childnet are
seeing that building off-line community around the on-line
projects, is vital. Indeed,
for
the “dot hope” effect to be truly realised
you have to see
the impact that the technology (and the contact which the
Internet facilitates), is having on people first hand.
For
example, many winners over the years have used their
prize money not on their own projects but have given it
away to partner organisations in other countries who are
less fortunate then themselves. One of the winners from
the Sydney awards in 1999 best summed up this effect
when he wrote in his evaluation form “We have learnt
through the Childnet awards that human relationships are
more important than technology.” So
does this “dot hope” effect of the Net have
a future?
Will those who are rewarded for exploiting the commercial
power of the net use their influence and start to direct
some of their profits to those who are wanting to use the
medium for good and use it to build sustainable change?
We at Childnet are already hard at work on next year’s
awards programme and are seeking partners so as to
strengthen our work to make the Internet a great place
for
children. Increasingly Internet users will want to see
the
benefits of the Internet not simply in terms of how easily
they buy on line, but how the Internet is changing society
for good.
1999 |
2000 | 2001
| 2002 | 2003
| 2004 | 2005 |