PBS TechKnow Website for Kids Aims to Produce Savvy Surfers

Posted on March 11, 1998

PBS TechKnow, a Web site devoted to helping children become cyberliterate by teaching them how to make informed choices about the sites they visit, premieres today on PBS Online.

Available through the PBS Kids neighborhood, PBS TechKnow promotes smart Web surfing by engaging youngsters in activities encouraging them to examine -- thoughtfully and thoroughly -- the sites and advertisements they encounter on the Web.

TechKnow features include:

* "Get Your Web License Here" enables children to become smart netizens by taking a "Rules of the Road" quiz. The successful completion of this ten-question test earns the child a printable certificate of completion and access to an online compilation of hot sites, graphics and sounds.

* The "You Be the Judge" section demonstrates how content and design are crucial for making a great Web site.

* The "Computers in My Future" essay and Web site design contest, in which youngsters will have a chance to win a trip to American Computer Experience (ACE) summer camps.

The contest seeks essays of 200-250 words describing how computers will change the way they children will communicate, learn, work and play in the future. Contestants will incorporate their essays into Web sites of their own design, using resources found on the PBS TechKnow site. Ten grand prize winners will receive a one-week enrollment in any of ACE's camps at 21 colleges and universities throughout the United States, as well as air transportation. The deadline for entries is April 15, 1998.

PBS Online, PBS's award-winning site on the World Wide Web, produces high-quality Web programming as it pioneers the digital convergence of television and the Internet. PBS ONLINE features more than 40,000 pages of content as well as companion Web sites for more than 200 PBS programs and specials. PBS Kids is one of the eight neighborhoods available on PBS Online.