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Common Ground
Compiled by Jeff Slutzky
jeff@rickardgroup.com
Happy Trails to Trailing Hyphens
Recently, over 800 domain names with labels containing trailing
hyphens were mistakenly registered in the ..com/.net/.org registry.
(An example of a trailing hyphen appears in the URL "example-.com.")
After consultation among ICANN, NSI-Registry, and the registrars
involved, notices were given to the registering parties that these
names were registered by mistake and would be canceled.
Names containing trailing hyphens have been prohibited since the
Internet domain-name system was implemented in the 1980s. Furthermore,
at the ICANN meeting on 4 November 1999, the ICANN board approved
a package of agreements that require any registered names to comply
with the format specified in the registry’s functional specification.
The registry software in use before 3 January 2000, however, permitted
registrars to enter them into the registry, and some registrars’
software failed to screen out requests to register them. Upon
learning this, the registry operator, NSI-Registry, promptly revised
the software to reject additional requests to register names containing
the forbidden trailing hyphens.
What’s wrong with noncompliant elements such as trailing hyphens?
Domain names in noncompliant formats—including those that contain
trailing hyphens—present interoperability problems. They can cause
software written in reliance on correct formats to malfunction;
several instances of actual malfunctions have been identified.
ICANN has commended NSI-Registry and the registrars involved for
effectively and promptly addressing this challenge to Internet
stability.
For a more detailed report from ICANN, see http://www.icann. org/nsi/trailing-hyphens.htm. 
Kidlink Makes a Small World, After All
Corresponding with an international pen pal has long been a great
way to introduce children to cultures outside their own. Before
the Internet age, a child might have waited weeks or months before
receiving a strangely stamped letter in the mail from an overseas
friend; today, that young person can have pen pals all over the
world and chat with all of them—every day.
Kidlink, located at http://www.kidlink.org, is one program that makes this possible. Founded in May 1990,
this nonprofit organization brings young people from over 100
countries together in a global dialogue. The children communicate
primarily through e-mail, but other interactive methods are used
as well, including Internet relay chat (IRC), Web-based dialogues,
fax, videoconferencing, regular mail, and even ham radio.
Kidlink has a private IRC server as well as a MUSH—a virtual world
that allows kids and teachers to create online objects and described
spaces. Through these and other methods, kids can participate
in short- and long-term projects in different languages. In addition,
they can submit artwork to the Kidlink Gallery of Computer Art,
where it can be viewed by Kidlink’s worldwide audience.
Those up to age 15 can join Kidlink easily by submitting their
full name, gender, city and country of residence, and school name,
as well as interests, hobbies, concerns, and any additional information
they want to include. The young person then answers the following
questions: What do I want to be when I grow up? How do I want
the world to be better when I grow up? What can I do now to make
this happen?
Kidlink also runs several general discussion groups for adult
volunteers—primarily teachers and parents—involved in facilitating
the Kidlink Global Dialogue. Through these groups, for instance,
teachers can share their experiences enhancing their curricula
with Kidlink’s services. A Kidlink announcement list can be found
at http://listserv .nodak.edu/archives/kidlink.html.
These various methods of interaction help support Kidlink’s goal
of supporting a virtual interactive space for children around
the world. Instead of having a limited number of long-distance
pen pals, kids today can have all the e-pals they want. It’s a
different world—and a smaller one.
Wiring Sri Lankan Schools
I*EARN, the International Education and Resource Network, is funding
a six-country civic education project entitled Community Voices,
Collaborative Solutions, involving computers, e-mail, and other
basic elements of modern information technology. Along with Jordan,
Lebanon, Egypt, India, and Pakistan, Sri Lanka is participating
in this cutting-edge educational experiment.
Three Sri Lankan schools are participating. They were chosen based
on interest and on the electronic facilities they could make available
to the I*EARN pilot project; ideally, they could serve as models
for other Sri Lankan school programs. One school, in Anuradhapura,
only recently acquired its computer facilities—a result of efforts
by the Lanka Academic Network (LAcNet), which is working with
I*EARN and which provides the school with logistical and technical
support for its new computer lab.
I*EARN is a global network of schools that has pioneered interactive
student project work on the Internet since 1988. I*EARN’s goal
is to enable elementary and secondary students to go beyond simply
being electronic pen pals and to use telecommunications in joint
student projects that will make a real difference in their classrooms,
home cities and countries, and around the world. I*EARN encourages
students to explore together their common humanity, global citizenship
and civic responsibility through collaborative learning, by using
technology to bring students from different parts of the world
into the same electronic classroom. In each of I*EARN’s 75 countries,
teacher training workshops are being held and students are jumping
into interactive project work.
For more information on I*EARN, see http://www.iearn.org .
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