THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 25, 1995 TAG: 9504250035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 176 lines
THE WORLD WIDE WEB can be a bit overwhelming to a novice, but 9-year-old Andrew Coplon didn't hesitate.
Within seconds of sitting down in front of the computer, he had found ``Uncle Bob's Kids' Page'' and was printing out cheat sheets for Sega games.
``This is what I want,'' Andrew said. ``Man, this is fun!''
The Web, probably the easiest part of the Internet to use, has thousands of sites just for kids. At least thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. Who's counting? Andrew would happily have accessed them all, but he just didn't have time.
The Web, which is . . . well, let's see, how to describe the Web without resorting to spider references. It is a global (read: World Wide) network of computer sites that are linked (read: Web) so that each site you access refers you on to a gazillion others.
Certain words on Web pages are highlighted. On computers with a graphics program, like Netscape or Mosaic, clicking the mouse on the highlighted text will take you to the next computer site for information on that topic. Computers with a text-only interface use the arrow keys to do the same thing, but it doesn't look as pretty on the screen.
Andrew, admittedly a computer whiz, had no trouble catching on. It's even easier for older kids, like 17-year-old Josh Sargent, who studies the Web and Internet as part of his advanced computer classes at the Chesapeake Center for Science and Technology.
``I love it,'' he said. ``Not too many kids are into computers, but the Web is the easiest tool to use on the Internet. I think in a couple years, a lot more kids will be doing it.''
Already, there are tons of sites for kids. Uncle Bob's Kids' Page (Web address http://gagme.wwa.com/(AT)boba/kids.html) is a good starter. It's a loooong list of other sites for kids.
Josh scrolled through the Uncle Bob's seven sections.
``There are so many links,'' he explained. ``You can go everywhere on this page. Really, it's kind of like a station. I'll show you. It's got some pretty cool stuff for kids.''
For example, Section 1 includes the Michael Jordan page, The Lite-Brite Page, LEGO Information, Sea World, Super Nintendo and museums. Other sections include coloring pages, ``Star Trek,'' Disney, math stuff, Street Cents consumer info for kids, outer space stuff, school-related sites, Mr. Potatohead and White House press briefings.
Josh chose Section 1. ``All this stuff,'' he said, pleased. ``All this stuff. Super Nintendo, fun. It's great.
``I haven't been to many of these sites, actually. Hmmmm. Let's go see the Michael Jordan page (http://gagme.wwa.com/(AT)boba/mj.html). Sounds interesting.''
He scanned the statistics, the biography, the game schedules, the information from ESPN and Sports Illustrated. ``I'm not into sports, but I guess for somebody who is into sports, this is pretty cool. It's like a whole bunch of information on him.''
He paused, then added, ``I'm sure there's, like, pages like this on Einstein, too, stuff like that.''
Yes, there are (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/(AT)history/Mathematicians/Einstein.html).
Andrew was particularly taken with the Sega page (http://www.segaoa.com/). It contains, in addition to pictures of the game packages, codes, hints and downright cheats to get through the games faster. Once he had cracked a couple of games, he moved on to play Hangman (http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/htbin/RobH/hangman?go). He won them all. Then he tried to search the Web for references to Japan, China or Israel, but all the search sites were busy. So he called up some pictures of the Grand Canyon (http://www.kbt.com/gc/) instead.
``Neat,'' he said.
Another good starting place is a site called Interesting Places for Kids (http://www.crc.ricoh.com/people/steve/kids.html). It comes with a warning from the parent who set it up for his 9-year-old daughter: ``Some of the contents may not be suitable for all audiences. Parental discretion is advised.'' It even offers a link for more information on that topic.
Josh said he expects some sort of effort to screen kids from objectionable material on the Internet to succeed within a couple of years. Sen. James Exon of Nebraska has sponsored a measure, now working its way through Congress, that would outlaw ``indecency'' on the Internet.
At the moment, there is no way to control what kids access on the Internet, and because anybody can post material, it's possible for kids to bump into some less-than-wholesome sites. Uncle Bob recommends supervising small children while they browse the Web.
Steve Coplon, Andrew's dad, watched as his son cruised the Net.
``There's some awful stuff out there,'' he said. ``You've got to preview it. One of the reasons we don't get into bulletin boards too much is that there's no censorship out there.''
Josh checked out an unobjectionable site called Street Cents (http://www.screen.com/streetcents.html), a page related to a Canadian TV show that teaches kids to be wise consumers.
Street Cents had evaluations and tips on water (including a comparison of water guns), stocks and investing, hair (including an evaluation of horse shampoo) and other topics.
``Wow,'' Josh said. ``That's pretty good.
``There's all kinds of weird stuff (on the Web). Even if you have an interest nobody's ever heard of, you can find it somewhere, and other people who like the same thing. There's a place for everyone.''
One of his personal favorites is a NASA site where he downloads sound and video of, for example, repairs to the Hubble telescope.
But he offered to search for sites that might have broader appeal.
``There's, like, cool sites if you like music,'' he said. ``One of my favorites is Jimmy Buffett. You know of him? That's cool stuff.''
He pulled up a Buffett page (http://ameritech.ils.nwu.edu/buffett/buffett.html), which offered items such as a fan newsletter and even better things.
``You can get lyrics to the songs,'' Josh explained. ``It's really good to get lyrics like for rock 'n' roll bands where you can't understand the words they're singing. You can just look on here.''
Then he detoured into one of his favorite sites: colleges.
``I've logged into lots of colleges, like MIT,'' he said. ``I've been to all the Ivy League colleges and looked at those. The University of Illinois, they have a really awesome site. You can get all the admission information there on their Web site. You can get course descriptions. You can register for classes. The days of pamphlets are over.
``You wouldn't have to buy the $10 handbook that lists all the courses. Just spend a couple minutes on the Internet.''
Andrew reluctantly got off the Web after an hour and 20 minutes. Which presents another problem mentioned by the author of Interesting Places for Kids.
``Getting your kids off the Net,'' he writes, ``is a problem not addressed in this document. . . . Don't blame me; chalk it up to their education.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color drawing]
JANET SHAUGHNESSY/Staff
WED SITES FOR KIDS
Dinosaurs in Hawaii - skulls, bones, etc.
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/dinos/dinos.1.html
Star Trek - links to many different sites
http://gagme.wwa.com/(AT)boba/trek.html
Press Return - Scholastic Network's online multimedia publication
for middle and high school kids
http://scholastic.com:2005/public/PressReturn/Press-Return.html
Boy Scouts - what it says
http://www.scouting.org/scouting/
See and Say - the toddler toy. Click on the animal picture to hear
the sound.
http://www.pencom.com/(AT)ph/sas.html
Totware - links to Mac and DOS freeware and shareware for kids
http://www.het.brown.edu/people/mende/totware.html
Academy One - international online educational resource for kids,
parents and educators
http://www.nptn.org/cyber.serv/AOneP/
Disney Parks - Disneyland, Disney World and parks in Toyko and
Paris, too
http://www.best.com/(AT)dijon/disney/parks/
The Lion King - picture and promotional clips
http://bvp.wdp.com/BVPM/PressRoom/LionKing/LionKing.html
Kids Web - World Wide Web digital library, listed by category
http://www.npac.syr.edu/textbook/kidsweb/
The Smithsonian Institution - what it says
http://www.si.edu/
The Universe from the Hubble Space Telescope - out of this world
stuff
http://stsci.edu/top.html
LEGO - the little building blocks
http://legowww.itek.norut.no/
KEYWORDS: COMPUTER INTERNET INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY WORLD WIDE WEB by CNB