Example: KIDLINK ———————— Many parents and teachers regard the online world as a learning opportunity for their kids. Some of them turn to KIDLINK, a global service for children between 10 - 15 years of age. The service is operated by a grassroots network of volunteers. The objective is to get as many children as possible involved in a global dialog. Participation is free. Before joining the discussion, however, each child must respond to the following four 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 come true?

The kids can write in any language. Most answers are sent through the Internet to a large online database in North America. Anyone with an email connection to the Internet can search this database at will. When they have submitted their responses, they are invited to 'meet' the others in several KIDCAFEs. The cafes are split up by language. Here, they can discuss anything from pop music to how it is to live in other countries. KIDLINK grew from an idea in 1990 to over 10,000 participating children in 50 countries by May 1993. Schools all over the globe are integrating KIDLINK with their classes in languages, geography, history, environment, art, etc. To the kid participant, KIDCAFE may be the beginning of a personal network of international friends. For more information, send mail to LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU with the following command in the TEXT of your message:

GET KIDLINK GENERAL

Your personal network ——————————- Network is a word with many meanings. It can be a system set up to transport data from one computer to another. It can be an online service with many conferences, and a friendly connection between people (like in "old boys' network"). Here, we use it in the latter meaning of the word. We use our personal networks more than most of us think of. We have a chain of people that we call on to ask for advice, help, and who we invite to participate in projects or parties. When they ask us for assistance, we lend a hand. The online world has some interesting characteristics. One is that most participants in online conferences already have received so much help from others that they feel obliged to pay back. They do this by helping others. Those who help, know that helping others will be rewarded. The reward, however, may not come directly from the persons that they help. They contributions help maintain and develop the online world as one giant personal network. A typical example: I wanted to buy a 425 megabyte hard disk for my Toshiba 5100 personal computer. I discover the existence of such a drive, when a user told about his experiences in CompuServe's Toshiba Forum. Before placing an order, I wrote to check if he was still satisfied with the disk. The happy user did more than reply. He told about other sellers and offered to help out with return shipment of my computer when done. He made it clear that he had no financial interest in the companies selling the upgrade. We had no previous contact with each other. The online world is full of similar examples. The list of what people do to help others is very, very long. In most conferences and forums you get help, just like that. There is always someone prepared to help. Still, the best long range strategy to build chances of getting help when you need it, is to be visually present in conferences, that matter to you. 'Being visually present' means that you should contribute in the discussions and help others as much as you can. The p o s i t i v e contributors get a lot of friends and a disproportional amount of help from others. That is all it takes to build a personal network. One day you may need it. It will give you an incredible advantage. I have seen people get jobs, partners and clients through such contacts. The online world is full of opportunities.

Watch your words ———————— Written communications are deprived of the body language and tone of voice that convey so much in face-to-face meetings and even in telephone conversations. Therefore, it makes sense to work much harder to build in humor, sarcasm, or disagreement and avoid your words come across as stupidity, rudeness, or aggressiveness. One way of defusing misunderstanding is to include cues as to your emotional state. One popular technique is to use keyboard symbols like :-). We call these symbols emoticons. What :-) means? Tilt your head to the left and look again. Yes, it's a smiling face. Here are some other examples to challenge your imagination: ;-) (Winking Smiley), :-( (Sad), 8-) (User wears glasses), :-o (Shocked or surprised), and :-> (Hey hey). A bracketed <g> is shorthand for grin, and <g,d&r> means grinning, ducking, and running. Some people prefer to write their emotional state in full text, like in these two examples: *grin* and *smile*. Do not misunderstand. You still should not allow yourself to write the most appallingly insulting things to other people, and then try to shrug it off with a <smile>. Watch your words. They are so easy to store on a hard disk.

Religion and philosophy ———————————- CompuServe's Religion Forum (GO RELIGION) has many message sections with associated file libraries. You can get into serious discussion about topics ranging from Christianity, Judaism, Eastern Religions, Islam, Interfaith Dialog, Limbo, Pagan/Occult, to Religion and Science, Liturgical Churches, Mormonism, Ethics and Values, and more. You may also want to check out the New Age Forum. Usenet's offerings include these:

soc.culture.jewish Jewish culture & religion.
soc.religion.christian Christianity and related topics.
soc.religion.eastern Discussions of Eastern religions.
soc.religion.islam Discussions of the Islamic faith.
talk.religion.misc Religious, ethical, & moral implications.
talk.religion.newage Esoteric and minority religions &
philosophies.
alt.pagan Discussions about paganism & religion.
alt.religion.computers People who believe computing is
"real life."
clari.news.religion Religion, religious leaders,
televangelists.

The BITNET/Internet arena has The Islamic Information & News Net on MUSLIMS (available through LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU). ISLAM-L (on LISTSERV@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU) is a non-sectarian forum for discussion, debate, and the exchange of information by students and scholars of the history of Islam. BUDDHA-L (on LISTSERV@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU) provides a means for those interested in Buddhist Studies to exchange information and views. BUDDHIST (on LISTSERV@JPNTUVM0.BITNET) is for non- academic discussions. BAPTIST (LISTSERV@UKCC.UKY.EDU) is the Open Baptist Discussion List. THEOLOGY (contact U16481%UICVM.BITNET@VM1.NODAK.EDU) is a mailing list dedicated to the intellectual discussion of religion. In its self-presentation, it says:

Intellectual is stressed as opposed to the "personal," the inspirational, or evangelistic. This does not mean one cannot evangelize, but rather that participants should persuade rather than brow-beat or attack those they disagree with. Arguments are inevitable, but they ultimately should resolve into mutual understanding or at least a truce.