cooperative home page effort in public libraries

[Linda Woods Hyman]

>We are doing a program throughout March Break here at Parkdale called
>"Awesome Websearching".  We are challenging the kids to collect and
>suggest Web sites on five different topics.  The final goal is to have a
>group of teens join a Parkdale Teen Home Page Club which would
>prepare a small Parkdale teen site collecting all these web pages (after
>screening from us of course).  As we are in the process of determining
>the best course to take on this project, we would like to know what other
>libraries have done with similar projects.  e.g. we could have a link from
>our Home Page, "Parkdale Teens recommend".
>I'd love to receive some feedback on this topic.
>
One thing that will make this task easier is the use of Filamentality
(http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil).  As the blurb says:

"Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank interactive Web site that guides you
through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet sites,
and turning Web resources into activities appropriate for learners. So it
helps you combine the Filaments of the Web with a learner's mentality (get
it?). Support is built in through Mentality Tips, so you'll be guided right
along the way and end up with a Web-based activity you can share with
others even if you don't know anything about HTML, Web servers, or all that
www-dot stuff."

This application has been used by thousands of teachers, librarians and
students. I'll bet you will find it useful too. Your students can select
the product they create--from a simple hotlist to a full fledged treasure
hunt, web quest, or eletronic sampler. It's all free and best of all, the
file resides on the Pacific Bell server so it is available immediately as
they work. Students can go back and edit pre-existing work. When and if
they think it's ready, they can register their work so that "the world" can
use it too. Give it a try and tell us what you think!

Linda Woods Hyman
Pacific Bell Education First
Dept. of Educational Technology
San Diego State University
San Diego  CA  92182  (619) 594-4414
e-mail:  lhyman at mail.sdsu.edu
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired