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The Age, 5 June 2002

SISTERS SEE WEB POTENTIAL

By James Norman

As children increasingly take to the Internet, both as Web surfers and participants, questions arise about the educational benefits of building websites.

Three Newcastle sisters - Emily, 19, Sarah, 17, and Elise Boyd, 13 - have recently leapt into leading roles in children's website development. Their site matmice.com allows children to design websites by following simple step-by-step instructions.

The site recently won the top prize at the prestigious Cable & Wireless Childnet Awards in Paris, and was described by the judging panel as "technically superb''.

The Matmice site has attracted almost 100,000 children from more than 100 countries to date, and is expanding at the rate of a thousand new members a week, say the Boyd sisters.

According to its creators, Matmice takes children's education into a global domain. "Webpage creation promotes communication across countries and cultures,'' says Emily. "We see it as being more valuable than displaying a project in a classroom; while in a classroom your audience may be limited to the other kids in your class, on the Web it's possible to show off your project to kids on the other side of the world.''

She says a primary focus of the site is to allow kids with no technical ability to publish on the Web. It offers browsers a series of simple webpage creation options beginning with page heading, and then background colours and patterns can be selected through click boxes.

Users can add body text, headings, and pictures. A guest book and Web counter can also be added by clicking the appropriate box. The homepage is then automatically created, linked from the MatMice homepage.

"Educators are always trying to find ways to encourage reading and writing,'' says Phil Mahon, senior education officer for Information Communication Technology in Education Victoria. "Children using this site need to read and write while creating their own page. The children may also develop skills in spelling, scanning and presentation. They experience success in developing a finished product that can then be viewed by their peers from around the world, all done in a safe environment, which is of high importance to the site owners.''

Mr Mahon says one of the main educational advantages of children creating their own webpages is that it gives them a "sense of ownership'' over their work. "Matmice is interest focused - educators already know that the best learning happens when it is initiated from the learner's own experiences. Creating a homepage about yourself achieves this,'' he says.

Kim Baumann, media teacher at Carey Grammar School and a member of the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) annual awards judging panel for children's sites, says she can see useful applications for MatMice in the classroom.

"Teachers could definitely use this site with middle school visual communication students. I would recommend it to be used by teachers/students who are able to incorporate their own images. For example, year 7 art students could scan their own paintings and drawings and make their own art folio using MatMice,'' Ms Baumann says.

"This is a great way to make technology relevant to kids by allowing them to use technology to express their own interests.''

In 1998, Elise and Emily, selftaught webpage designers, created a site inspired by the cartoon series Rugrats. The interest it generated stirred the girls to make MatMice - whose name is a derivative of Rugrats. Their parents (themselves computer novices) put up the money to pay for the first MatMice launch, although once the site had attracted 20,000 users, purely through word of mouth, it quickly outgrew its local server.

Educational materials publisher Scholastic stepped in last July, sponsoring the site by providing a dedicated server and offering users the incentive of winning a $100 "Best website-of-the-month'' book prize. Although many kids are using the MatMice site to create fanzinetype sites for pop culture icons ranging from Harry Potter to Britney Spears, according to Karen Koch, head of media at Wesley College and member of the ATOM awards judging panel, there is definite educational value in that.

"How is that bad? How is it any different from kids keeping diaries and scrapbooks of their favourite things?'' she asks. Although Ms Koch says there is a risk of the technology becoming the focus instead of the content, her assessment is generally positive. "Technology is merely a tool that kids can now use to express themselves creatively and socially,'' says Ms Koch.

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