Netd@ys Europe: Finland

Citation

(2001), "Netd@ys Europe: Finland", Education + Training, Vol. 43 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2001.00443aag.004

Netd@ys Europe: Finland

Finland

Project: MindTrek Festival

The festival was first held in 1999 when 10,000 participants took part in over 100 activities, which provided them with the opportunity to promote and learn about ICT developments. This year's events will be linked with the Netd@ys week.

European cultural diversity and identityStudents will be encouraged to get acquainted with their own cultural heritage through Internet projects related to the festival traditions in their regions. This should result in their having a better understanding about the diversity and roots of their cultural heritage.

Education and training for improving digital literacyThree annual home page contests for school and university students have been organised and have attracted about 350 participants. It is planned to extend this by encouraging others to organise similar contests. Theme workshops will be organised, as necessary, to teach home page creation at schools.

Project: Increase global awareness of environmental issues

A network of schools will provide a virtual learning centre to increase knowledge on environmental issues throughout the world and, in the process, new ICT skills will be developed. The project aims to unite developing and western countries.

CitizenshipInnovative educational and cultural approaches will be developed to encourage a respect for diversity and tolerance, all linked with environmental aspects.

European cultural diversity and identityA better understanding of cultural heritage will be promoted, with cultural environment being one of the main themes.

Equal opportunitiesMany of the existing participants come from rural or isolated areas in every continent and are all viewed as being "equal" in the project's learning environment.

Education and training for improving digital literacyInnovative Web tools will be developed that can be used on a broad scale. Global online networks will be established where it is considered interactivity is important. It is planned to develop a user-friendly and logical learning platform.

Project: Watch it!

A series of workshops will be aimed at a range of people. They will be organised in association with schools, museums and other organisations. The aim is to teach people, or make them aware of, the ways to approach and "read" visual messages as an integral part of general training. The basic model combines emotional, analytical and creative responses to visual material in order to encourage a personal involvement in the process of content questioning and understanding.

CitizenshipImage reading and sharing our different views on content perception is a base of true citizenship.

European cultural diversity and identityThe image "bank" stems from different collections, viewpoints and knowledge from different areas. To base visual practices on this material encourages cultural diversity. Identity building is developed by fostering self-esteem, which is supported with training skills to recognise media realities and stereotyped models.

Education and training for improving digital literacyImage-reading is particularly important when dealing with a large number of Internet pictures. The practices proposed under this project should help the participants to improve familiarity with the Web and what it offers.

Project: Involvement of European young people in creative cross-cultural learning with the Internet

Café9.net is a networking project linking, at present, seven of the nine European Cities of Culture for the year 2000. Young people, new media designers, artists and others will be involved in creating high quality new media content in the areas of education and culture. Café 9 venues will be established in each of the participating cities and equipped with various ICT facilities, which will enable people to communicate with each other.

CitizenshipMany of the proposed projects will address citizenship issues. For example, they include a festival of Romani music, a discussion event on urban utopias and the future of cities and citizenship.

European cultural diversity and identityThe concept of café 9 is presenting the cultural diversity of different European countries and their rich resources together with encouraging networking within these countries.

Equality of opportunitiesAttention will be paid to the use of new media for groups such as disabled young people and immigrants/ethnic minorities. In addition, it is also planned to address issues such as "cyberfeminism" and "women and technology".

Education and training for improving digital literacyMany projects will present the first attempts of the participants at using the Internet as a tool in artistic creation, learning and the dissemination of information, etc.

Project: Netlibris.net – European Literature Circle

Based on a project for young book lovers who live in different parts of Finland and who study literature in virtual groups. This concept will be extended through the Netd@ys project to involve young readers from different parts of Europe. Students will read books with similar themes in their own language and share their experiences in virtual discussion. A book database will be created and will consist of quality books, which have been published in more than one European language. In addition to students, teachers, librarians and writers will be involved.

European cultural diversity and identityA better understanding and appreciation of different cultures will be developed by reading books from different countries.

Equality of opportunitiesMany of the schools involved will be in remote areas and, at present, 90 per cent are girls, who are often less interested in ICT than boys.

Education and training for improving digital literacyThe students will learn to read and publish digital media in the project. At present, most of the teacher tutors are women who have not used ICT before.