Cub Scouts Impressed By LM_NET

[William Russell Smith <rssmith@TENET.EDU>]

LM_NET folks:

Thought you might enjoy this human interest story:

(Note: this article will appear in my regular newspaper column Sunday September
25, 1994.... the news before the news!)



              CUB SCOUTS ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY

By Russell Smith
Special Contributor


      I just made a den of Cub scouts very happy in the Houston area by
my computer interventions on the Internet (the Information Highway to
people who have been on vacation for about five years). By computer
(Martha.... Smith's at it again with that technical stuff... let's make
some funny newspaper hats for the grandkids!) I helped set up a
communication link between 8 Cub Scouts near Houston and about 60 librarians
around the world.

     Here are the details (kind of reads like a feature story with all of
the typical emotions albeit in a long distance mode): My old high
school friend from the Houston area, Duwayne Engelhardt, wrote me by electronic
mail Monday afternoon, telling me that he was sponsoring a group of Cub Scouts
who were going to earn their communication badges by using the Tenet (Texas
Education Network) access ramp to the Internet.  Duwayne is currently employed
as the computer coordinator for his school district after they decided he was
more valuable for his technical skills than his previous job with them (as
band director for a number of years).

     Duwayne said he was trying to get a Cub Scout group from somewhere
else (anywhere) to send greetings to his boys at their planned meeting
Wednesday evening. Since he was unable to locate any scouts he asked if I
would send a greeting. So I did and also my nine-year-old daughter
Sabrina.

     But I began to think the next day that I could do more... after all I
have helped many people with their problems and requests on the Internet and
I decided I would call in a few favors.

     So I wrote to a wonderful discussion group on the Internet called LM_NET.
It is composed of over 2,000 librarians and educators interested in media
topics. I explained the situation and asked for members to write to the Cub
Scouts at Duwayne's address.

     Then I wrote a cryptic note that night (Tuesday September 19) to Duwayne
telling him to "be prepared for a big surprise."

     Well, the friends on LM_NET came through like champions.  The first
indication I had that powerful and positive forces had begun to converge on
the scouts was when I checked my electronic mail on Tenet Wednesday
afternoon and there were a number of letters from LM_NET folks sent to my
box intended for the scouts.

     On the Internet misaddressed mail can be corrected in a flash. I
quickly forwarded the messages (about ten in all) to Duwayne's mail address
and they arrived there in a matter of a few minutes. There was also a message
from Duwayne saying (paraphrased here): "God Bless you and thank you! We are
getting mail from around the world!.

    Duwayne later wrote me and told me it was amazing to watch the events
unfold as the Cub scouts earned their communication badges and their parents
looked on in utter astonishment as many letters actually arrived while the boys
were working on the computer (Tenet's mail program flashes a message on the
bottom of the screen alerting the user that new mail has arrived and telling
who it is from).

     To say that some boys were very happy is an understatement. The parents
were also visibly impressed and educated about the power of Tenet and the
Internet .

     And as Paul Harvey would say: "And now the rest of the story":  Eight
boy scouts who lived in a very small rural town fifty miles from the big city
bustle of Houston had fun answering electronic computer mail from over sixty
educators around the world including Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and
other countries.

     They worked hard to answer the greetings and were assisted by Duwayne and
I as we each sent a broadcast thank you message to all of  the LM_NET
members. I think that some eight, nine, and ten-year-old boys will grow
up to be avid computer users, possibly becoming technologists themselves
when they grow up. It was all too easy for me to set up, yet all too kind of
humans around the globe to respond. And that's the rest of the story.

                    -30-

Russell Smith
rssmith@tenet.edu   rssmith7@delphi.com
Technology Consultant Region 14 Education Service Center
Abilene, Texas