The operation of KIDSPHERE entails ongoing costs for hardware, administration and moderation. Hence we are led to the obvious question: "What's it worth?" Even with a volunteer-run service, one should pay some attention to the value of the volunteers' time and the value of donated equipment and connectivity necessary to keep the service in operation. And over the long run any volunteer operation can be hard to maintain if essential personnel are not retained on salary. Happily, we will see that the cost of KIDSPHERE, relative to its perceived value, is quite low. This is typical of many Internet activities, since they take advantage of a massive shared infrastructure to keep distribution costs extremely low.
A. Community-building
Statistical information on the reach of KIDSPHERE and on some of its estimated costs is given in Table I.
Table I Statistical information on KIDSPHERE. Addresses 2500 Redistribution sites 75-100 Estimated readership 10,000-20,000 Daily traffic 30-50 Annual traffic 15,000 Annual cost $100,000 Annual cost per reader $5-$10 Cost per delivered message $.0005 States 50 Countries 25 Schools and universities 500 Companies 90 Networks 40
The present mailing list involves close to 2500 addresses, involving 50 states and 25 countries. Approximately 75-100 of these addresses represent redistribution sites, which pass items on to regional, state and national bulletin boards. Hence the actual readership numbers in the tens of thousands. This group represents a significant fraction -- perhaps one quarter -- of the early adopters of networking technology in the classroom. It is unusual to be able to reach such a large fraction of a group likely to determine the future of a new activity, and even more unusual to bring people together in a forum in which all can readily voice their opinions. If one were to attempt this type of community-building ab initio, the cost would be enormous. Just to bring together 100 of the most influential people on the mailing list for a face-to-face conference would cost upwards of $100,000.
Actually just this sort of meeting has been organized. Last year a conference on "Building Consensus/Building Models: A Networking Strategy for Change" [Rutkowski 1994] was organized by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the Federation of American Research Networks (FARNET) in Crystal City, Virginia, with sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. The meeting was a remarkable one, having been preceded by online discussions among participating teachers and networking experts. Attendees were drawn from KIDSPHERE, COSNDISC and other online discussion groups relating to educational networking. The meeting was marked by its strong sense of community, not surprising to those who had already met online but a significant event for Washington observers who had not previously witnessed this type of interaction.
Since KIDSPHERE involves many more people than could participate in any face-to-face conference, and since its annual cost is no more than the cost of a typical conference, one could argue that the operation of KIDSPHERE is easily worth its cost in terms of community-building alone. Unfortunately there is little precedent for spending federal dollars on this type of community-building, and agencies will budget much more readily for yet another face-to-face conference while rejecting smaller requests for networked community-building as inappropriate expenditures. There is a cultural tradition here which should probably change -- an echo, perhaps, of the cultural traditions in the schools that are challenged as teachers and students develop independent online initiatives.
B. Activities
Community-building offers a direct product in terms of the collaborations which result among members of the online community. KIDSPHERE discussions have led to hundreds of such activities. Some of them have grown to a size which dwarfs KIDSPHERE itself, while others may have involved just a handful of students and teachers. Among the projects that have had their start influenced by KIDSPHERE discussions are the following:
"Surfing the Internet has been compared to 'drinking from a firehose.' KIDSPHERE is a terrific way to turn that firehose flood down to a steady stream of relevant information. What would we do without it?"
"One of my students, after working on the project 'What Children Play' for several weeks, was looking at maps and talking about where the other children lived and announced 'ALL THE CHILDREN IN THIS ROOM LIVE IN OHIO -- AND HERE IT IS!' Quite a bit of knowledge for a five year old."
"I have a bulletin board (the old-fashioned kind made of cork) where I keep print-outs of messages I have copied from KIDSPHERE. These are usually projects that any of my students can get involved in, and they usually do. As teachers we are able to reach a wide range of classrooms all over the world to help us with projects that stretch across all curricula. It's absolutely fabulous!"
"When I am developing ideas and educational materials, speeches or presentations, I often turn to KIDSPHERE teachers and administrators for guidance, examples and stories that will help to inform my thinking. I keep archives of KIDSPHERE on various hard disks so I have them available for reference. And when I am working with teachers who are new to the Internet, I advise them to start their explorations by joining KIDSPHERE."
"When I started using the Internet two and one-half months ago, I had no idea of what was possible or how teachers were actually using this vast resource. By reading the messages posted on KIDSPHERE, I quickly became familiar with the multiples uses of telecommunication tools and excited by the energy teachers and students are putting into their new global project. ... For me, KIDSPHERE is a valuable link to the classroom. In addition, KIDSPHERE serves as chronicler of how this new media/educational pedagogy/tool is being incorporated into education systems worldwide."
"KIDSPHERE was fundamental to my orientation to the Internet. It was the first list I subscribed to, and helped me find out about the other list I currently follow. I get good technical advice, and enjoy answering requests for hellos and working with elementary school projects (although I am a high school teacher)."
"I have posted several requests for information and had great responses each time. At the present time, I am trying to motivate other teachers in my school to use the Internet. One of the things I do is to print out many of the KIDSPHERE messages requesting participation and put them in their mailboxes. I think it might even be starting to work!"
"People on this list are friendly and helpful. It seems like there is a never-ending stream of really knowledgeable people who are willing to take time to help those of us who struggle to get the most out of a medium that we only marginally understand. ... KIDSPHERE has really been the catalyst that makes Internet useful for our school. I read the mail and give ideas to all my teachers. I find notices of such things which supplement our budget as the CD-ROM from JPL, the screen saver program review copy, and the book I received for the price of a review. ... In answering mail to others, I have received useful information in return. I could never have asked for any of this information because I didn't know it existed in the first place!"
C. Educational Reform
There is another sense in which the community-building of KIDSPHERE is important. This has to do with the role of networking in the process of educational reform. Reform movements such as school restructuring, which place increased power in the hands of individual schools and teachers, demand the presence of an infrastructure which gives these people access to needed resources. The traditional school and the traditional classroom are isolated enclaves, removed from power and removed from resources. Educational reform can shift the locus of power in school systems, and wide area networks can help place needed resources in the hands of empowered teachers and school-level administrators.
The changes demanded by these reform efforts are large in scope and significant in impact. They do not come easily even in those school districts which understand clearly what might be the benefits of change. KIDSPHERE provides a forum in which teachers experienced in these reform efforts can talk to those just undertaking them, helping them to build the level of confidence necessary for success in this type of venture. It is hard to quantify the dollar cost of educational reform, but districts often invest sums on the order of thousands of dollars per teacher in the pursuit of various reform efforts. The annual operational cost of KIDSPHERE is on the order of $10 per reader -- not free as some might want to assume, but extremely inexpensive in the general scheme of things.