*Junior Summit: Internet conference at MIT endorses new nation
Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Thu, 26 Nov 1998 01:38:41 -0400
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Also see: MIT Media Lab http://www.media.mit.edu/ and
Junior Summit Home Page
http://www.jrsummit.net/tpls/home.wpi?pageID=1EN
http://www.msnbc.com/news/217432.asp
FWD MSNBC - 23 Nov 1998
'JUNIOR SUMMIT' ENDORSES NEW NATION
WEB, MIT MEDIA LAB BRING TOGETHER
TEENS FROM AROUND GLOBE
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 23 - The search began Monday for
children ready and willing to populate "Nation1" - a
cybercountry endorsed by a just concluded "Junior Summit" that
brought together 94 delegates from around the world. Hundreds
more teens from 139 countries joined the summit via the Web.
"WE BELIEVE that Nation1 has always existed," the 94 delegates
wrote in their declaration. "There has always been a universal culture of
young humanity, but only now are the means arising for us to make
common cause, using technology to bring all of us closer. Together we can
harness the natural virtues of youth: tolerance, energy, playfulness, hope
and a willingness to share."
Endorsing Nation1, a Web site that's been active for around a year
now, was just one outcome from the summit, hosted at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's Media Lab.
Children from as far away as Australia, India and Uganda shared their
ideas about technology and world policy with each other and another 2,900
colleagues in 139 countries via the Web and e-mail.
The teens discussed 20 action plans, among them "How to use
technology to improve education, but not replace teachers" and "How to
prevent homelessness and children living on the street."
And while much of the discussion took place over the last week, many
of the teens have been exchanging ideas for months.
ETHICS, NOT LAWS
Despite the variety of cultures, the teenagers were able to agree on
several basics for building cybernation.
"We believe in ethics rather than laws. We believe in trust not fear,"
Mariana Cavazos, 16, of Costa Rica, told the delegates and some 200
adults gathered at MIT's Media Lab. "Lying is bad. You don't hurt
another person's feelings and you don't take what is not yours."
Nation1 will have a central cyber bank backed by corporations,
government grants and private donations that will provide e-commerce
financing to equip schools with Internet-ready computers and network
connections.
Nick Moraitis, a 15-year-old from Melbourne, Australia, said starting
Monday he and others would be doing their best to recruit new citizens.
"We need to populate the country before we can change the world," he
said. "It takes more than week to build a country. We've only just begun."
COMMUNICATIONS GAP
A major challenge for the summit was creating a viable
communications system. "Not everyone has a T1 line," said MIT Media
Professor Bill Wright, referring to the direct high-speed Internet
connection. "Some places we went, the kids didn't have phone lines let
alone high-speed modems."
The Media Lab designed a Web site that works with both high and low
bandwidth connections. And while the summit couldn't wire everyone
who sought access, it did find resources to provide computers - and
technicians to set them up - to 85 teens in 78 countries.
Media Lab technicians also modified translation software so that
e-mail conversations held before the summit could be translated from
English to any of five languages in 10 seconds or less.
But with so many cultures represented, obstacles remained. Kids
dubbed the software translations "gisting" because while they aren't
always accurate, one gets the "gist" of the message.
And at the summit, a Taiwanese delegate complained that at summit
sessions where teens met face-to-face many conversations weren't
translated into everyone's language because moderators didn't have the
ability or the pace to keep up.
CREATED BY SEGA CHIEF
The summit is the brainchild of Isao Okawa, obviously not a
household name but he does carry some weight as chairman of SEGA
Enterprises - the company whose product so many children find so
relevant to their lives.
Okawa put together the first Junior Summit in 1995 after attending a
meeting of world leaders dealing with the wired planet. Children should be
involved as well, he figured, since they'll be using that wiring in the future.
Last week, Okawa went even further, donating $27 million to MIT for
the creation of a center for children founded on the belief that new digital
technologies will drive fundamental changes in education.
Others sponsoring the $2 million MIT summit were Citigroup, the
LEGO Group and Swatch.
Visitors can check out the Nation1 Web site as well as the Junior
Summit site for additional background.
[Reuters contributed to this story.]
END FORWARD
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **
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Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"
Also see: MIT Media Lab http://www.media.mit.edu/ and
Junior Summit Home Page
http://www.jrsummit.net/tpls/home.wpi?pageID=1EN
http://www.msnbc.com/news/217432.asp
FWD MSNBC - 23 Nov 1998
<paraindent><param>right,left</param>'JUNIOR SUMMIT' ENDORSES NEW
NATION
WEB, MIT MEDIA LAB BRING TOGETHER
TEENS FROM AROUND GLOBE
</paraindent>
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 23 - The search began Monday for
children ready and willing to populate "Nation1" - a
cybercountry endorsed by a just concluded "Junior Summit" that
brought together 94 delegates from around the world. Hundreds
more teens from 139 countries joined the summit via the Web.
"WE BELIEVE that Nation1 has always existed," the 94 delegates
wrote in their declaration. "There has always been a universal culture
of
young humanity, but only now are the means arising for us to make
common cause, using technology to bring all of us closer. Together we
can
harness the natural virtues of youth: tolerance, energy, playfulness,
hope
and a willingness to share."
Endorsing Nation1, a Web site that's been active for around a
year
now, was just one outcome from the summit, hosted at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's Media Lab.
Children from as far away as Australia, India and Uganda shared
their
ideas about technology and world policy with each other and another
2,900
colleagues in 139 countries via the Web and e-mail.
The teens discussed 20 action plans, among them "How to use
technology to improve education, but not replace teachers" and "How to
prevent homelessness and children living on the street."
And while much of the discussion took place over the last week,
many
of the teens have been exchanging ideas for months.
ETHICS, NOT LAWS
Despite the variety of cultures, the teenagers were able to
agree on
several basics for building cybernation.
"We believe in ethics rather than laws. We believe in trust not
fear,"
Mariana Cavazos, 16, of Costa Rica, told the delegates and some 200
adults gathered at MIT's Media Lab. "Lying is bad. You don't hurt
another person's feelings and you don't take what is not yours."
Nation1 will have a central cyber bank backed by corporations,
government grants and private donations that will provide e-commerce
financing to equip schools with Internet-ready computers and network
connections.
Nick Moraitis, a 15-year-old from Melbourne, Australia, said
starting
Monday he and others would be doing their best to recruit new
citizens.
"We need to populate the country before we can change the world," he
said. "It takes more than week to build a country. We've only just
begun."
COMMUNICATIONS GAP
A major challenge for the summit was creating a viable
communications system. "Not everyone has a T1 line," said MIT Media
Professor Bill Wright, referring to the direct high-speed Internet
connection. "Some places we went, the kids didn't have phone lines let
alone high-speed modems."
The Media Lab designed a Web site that works with both high and
low
bandwidth connections. And while the summit couldn't wire everyone
who sought access, it did find resources to provide computers - and
technicians to set them up - to 85 teens in 78 countries.
Media Lab technicians also modified translation software so that
e-mail conversations held before the summit could be translated from
English to any of five languages in 10 seconds or less.
But with so many cultures represented, obstacles remained. Kids
dubbed the software translations "gisting" because while they aren't
always accurate, one gets the "gist" of the message.
And at the summit, a Taiwanese delegate complained that at
summit
sessions where teens met face-to-face many conversations weren't
translated into everyone's language because moderators didn't have the
ability or the pace to keep up.
CREATED BY SEGA CHIEF
The summit is the brainchild of Isao Okawa, obviously not a
household name but he does carry some weight as chairman of SEGA
Enterprises - the company whose product so many children find so
relevant to their lives.
Okawa put together the first Junior Summit in 1995 after
attending a
meeting of world leaders dealing with the wired planet. Children should
be
involved as well, he figured, since they'll be using that wiring in the
future.
Last week, Okawa went even further, donating $27 million to MIT
for
the creation of a center for children founded on the belief that new
digital
technologies will drive fundamental changes in education.
Others sponsoring the $2 million MIT summit were Citigroup, the
LEGO Group and Swatch.
Visitors can check out the Nation1 Web site as well as the
Junior
Summit site for additional background.
[Reuters contributed to this story.]
END FORWARD
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **
HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/> Home Page
ARCHIVES <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/archives.html> read posts to HPN
TO JOIN <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/join.html> or email Tom <<wgcp@earthlink.net>
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