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Main institution:
Stuttgart
City Library - coordinating contractor
Stuttgart
Address:
Konrad-Adenauer Str. 2
70173 Stuttgart
Tel.: +49 711 216 5710 / 5730
Fax: +49 711 216 5701
Contact person:
Ingrid Bussmann (Project Coordinator)
CHILIAS Project Partners:
Further
partners:
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Costeas Gitonas School Ltd, Greece
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University of Sunderland Information Services, Great
Britain
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Association of Finnish Local Authorities -Education,
Cultural Services and Leisure Activities Unit, Finland
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Akateeminen Tietopalvelu ATP Oy, Finland
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University Turku - Department of Education -Centre for
Learning Research, Finland
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Ravensburger
Interactive Media GmbH, Germany
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The Infoplanet
The Infoplanet is a WWW environment where the project
Chilias developed four complementary and integrated applications:
1.
A virtual library
- the Infoplanet Website which contains Web pages for children
aged 9-12 years on authors, books, media, topics like animals, sports, music and
the library in German, Finnish, English, Greek, Spanish and Portuguese. Infoplanet
has enhanced the attractiveness of the real library, supporting the bridge between traditional and new media.
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The Space
Metaphor
- The Infoplanet invites children to browse through a collection of Web pages
with creative and playful information. The CHILIAS consortium decided to use
the space metaphor to symbolise the idea of a virtual library
(information - knowledge - wisdom). Beside the attraction of space, planets
and stars for children, space symbolises the infinite human first for
knowledge, might be the limits of knowledge and wisdom as well. Planets and
stars can be an appropriate symbol for information. The Infoplanet has been
created in six language versions. Although the idea and the general framework
is common in all Infoplanets, content and materials are local because of the
cultural diversity. All Infoplanets are linked together by flag symbols and a
European map.
- The
topics
- The Infoplanets provide common topics based on the results of the User Needs
Analyses done at the beginning of the project. All sites have chosen local
topics as well according to the needs of their users. All topics (Topic
"Library"; Our Town; Music, Animals and Sports; The
Author Gallery) are presented with graphics, images, sound and text.
The
core of the Infoplanet is the Author Gallery. All sites provide
information about children's book authors, about their life, their books and
where to find the books in the library. The Author Gallery has been created in
close collaboration with the authors themselves. They have provided lots of
materials and information, written new stories or songs for the Infoplanet.
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Navigation
Tools
2.
An
interactive application for creative input from children, the
Storybuilder. Children create stories in their local language using the
symbols the Storybuilder provides.
The language problem is a challenge for the project idea to stimulate European
communication. Children of the target age group learn English, but they have
difficulties in writing in English. So the project has arranged storybuilding
events in all sites in the local language. A selection of stories has been
translated to English to share the ideas all over Europe.
3.
A discussion and feed-back tool for use by children,
the Guestbook. Children can write comments to selected topics and
answer messages from other children.
Although the language skills of the target age group set limits to European
communication, there are many children in all sites with a multicultural
background. So the Guestbook has contributed to multicultural European
communication.
4.
An information skills tool
- Infoton. Infoton provides interactive exercises in
basic information-seeking skills like alphabetical order,
classification and categorisation. The CHILIAS User Needs Analysis has clearly
shown that children of this particular age have difficulties in both
constructing a search and in deciding upon the relevant medium to search.
Therefore CHILIAS has created a learning environment aimed at the fostering of
expertise in information seeking skills and in subject knowledge. Within the
term of the project Infoton could only be developed representative in scale with
exercises on basic skills.
Keywords:
intuitive learning – children’s virtual library – user-driven project – courses
for children aged 9-12 – multimedia supported learning – www learning
environment – interactive information skills tool – basic information seeking
skills – public libraries services
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