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Author: Jacqueline Briggs Martin (on JOMB)
Illustrator: Beth Krommes (on JOMB)
Published: 2001 Houghton Mifflin (on JOMB)
ISBN: 0618548955 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Soothing speculation, striking details and spellbinding scratchboard art present a gripping account of The Karluk’s last icy voyage and the strength and resourcefulness that beat all odds.

More shipwrecks on JOMB:

• The Edmund Fitzgerald: Song of the Bell
• The Killick

Tags:and the Boat Called Fish, Beth Krommes, childrens book, Inupiaq, Jacqueline Briggs Martin, Karluk shipwreck, Podcast, review, the Ice, The Lampand the Boat Called Fish, Beth Krommes, childrens book, Inupiaq, Jacqueline Briggs Martin, Karluk shipwreck, Podcast, review, the Ice, The Lamp

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I've previously mentioned that I've been asked to present a blogging workshop by an industry association. Well, that organisation is the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators ( Gauteng) and the workshop I present will be part of the programme for first half of 2008. Please diarise the following dates so you don't miss any one of these events. Date: 28 February 2008 Where: Sandton

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I just put up a post on Mobile Life announcing MTN Banking’s “10 Things To Do Before You Die” promotion. Participants stand to win R50 000 that will enable them to do their chosen activity. The promotion lists some fun, interesting, meaningful and even life-changing things to choose from. - Discover the world - Start a charity fund - Climb Kilimanjaro - Drive a porche 911 - Be a highroller in

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Today I set up Google Ads to try to see if this blog can earn its way. Essentially, if you click on the ad, I earn a couple of cents (US) regardless of whether you buy something or not. Let me know if you find the advertisements intrusive.

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The SCBWI Gauteng (http://scbwigauteng.blogspot.com) is to host a course on writing for children on the 10 -14 March. The course, which will be conducted by well-known children’s writer Reviva Schermbrucker, will be held in Rosebank. SCBWI members will be charged R800 per person, while non-members pay R1200 per person. A 50% deposit, paid by the 31 January, will secure a place for prospective

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I have registered with Simpleology site so I can gain access to the course. The process was longish ( six steps in total), but I suspect it's because the blogging course is a promotional give-away, not the substance of what the I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.It

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Christmas turkey, gammon at Pam's house Originally uploaded by damariasenne The early Christmas dinner with my friends went very well. As I’ve been friends with Pam for almost twenty years now, it was not surprising that I’d meet mutual acquaintances I haven’t seen in a long time. It was great time to renew old relationships; form new ones. And as always, the food was plentiful and

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This week marks the second birthday of my blog, Storypot. When I first launched this blog, I wanted to create a place where I could showcase my children’s stories, with very little commentary. By February 2006, I knew that plan was not feasible. As I mentioned in this post, it was turning out to be a nice vault, but had very little character. So I started chatting a bit about my writing

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Please check out Arthur Goldstuck's Blogger of the Week, published on Thought Leader, today. Arthur says: Later today, history will be made when, for the first time, a South African journalist will be punished for blogging. A hearing is due to be held at Avusa (formerly Johnnic Communications) at 3pm today (Thursday) to decide the fate of a Sowetan sub-editor, who has been found guilty of ”

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My other blog, Mobile Life (www.mydigitallife.co.za), is featured in the December/January issue of Digital Life, a print digital lifestyle magazine available nationwide through CNA, Exclusive Books as well as bookstores, supermarkets and garage shops. So if you come across a copy of the magazine at the shops, please pick it up? This kind of publicity will help push my work into the general

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This past week I was approached by two documentary producers who followed up on issues I raised on my blogs. One of them was a London-based producer who read my commentary on a social issue and found my viewpoint interesting. He may end up doing the story or not, and he may ask me for some kind of assistance or not. At this stage, issues with him are pretty much open. I think this producer’s

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I mostly did this video as part of my experiment on my Mobile Life blog. But I couldn't figure out how to load it up on that site, so I brought it here. James Theledi, CEO of South Africa's Universal Service and Access Agency, was kind enough to be my guinea pig for my first interview using a mobile phone (LG KU990). His agency has the job of ensuring that the poor and disadvantaged also gain

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I finally got back my blogging functions, and can upload pictures, highlight text etc. Halelluja! It was a very frustrating time, mostly because I didn't know what was wrong and was too swamped with work to do anything about it. Anyway, I just wanted to apologise. To Kyra, I've written out the instructions to make makgabe and just want to double check them before I post. I'll let you know as

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Janet Riehl over at www.riehllife.com asked me to guest blog for her about an instance where I realised some family friends were actually relatives of sorts. US-based Janet was a fellow-participant in the LK Summer Challenge (www.lkarticlechallenge.com), where participants were asked to write 30 articles in two months. I later learnt Janet spent some time in Africa, including Botswana, and has

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My last shopping expedition into Flic en Flac, in Mauritius, was very disappointing. It was mostly my fault. A cab driver told me he knew of nice shops where I could buy some souvenirs and gullible soul that I am, I got into the car an drove off with him. I only realized I was not getting what I asked for when he stopped outside a boutique, where some really nice sales assistants tried to sell

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I've mentioned previously that my employer, ITWeb, launched a blogging platform called My Digital Life? I've finally given in and started a blog called Mobile Life on that platform. The blog, which will be updated weekly, explores the impact of mobile phones on how South Africans live, work, play and communicate. "Hopefully, there will be some pretty hot debates, and we will all learn something

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Yesterday we buried Aunt Meiki, my mother’s older sister. She was 75 and died suddenly. Her death hit me hard, mostly because I did not know her well and felt like we wasted a lot of time talking about nothing. She was very close to my mother, but my interaction with her was govered by tradition and cultural etiquette. When I was young, I would never have considered speaking to her unless I was

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The day was fabulous. Baby woke me up just after 5am to give me my present (a new key holder and a packet of chocolate). Then I was off to work. The morning seemed normal – chase up sources, draft a story, realize there is very little that is new in my “news” story, go back to sources for further info… all to the soundtrack of deadlines approaching at a screech. Then our receptionist said I had

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One of the major benefits I’ve started to appreciate about TV on a cellphone is that it can keep Baby occupied while we travel longish distances across town, or when she has to wait for long periods for something outside our home. ( I'm involved in a trial run by South African pay-TV broadcaster Multichoice and mobile network operator MTN. And for the record, I don't get paid to write/blog about

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I must say I’m very impressed with SA children's book publisher Anansi Books’ response time to web enquiries. Late last night I filled in an online form asking about their submission guidelines. By nine o’clock this morning I had a reply explaining submission possible methods. What a pleasure! So this weekend I’m dusting off a story and sending it through.There is still time to submit another

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This week I chat with Ramon Thomas, MD of Netucation, a Gauteng-based company that does research on the impact of technology on people and relationships. Specifically, Ramon and I talk about the use of new media like the Internet and social networking platforms in South Africa, and the impact of these platforms on children.

The interview also looks at the roles of teachers, parents, government and telecoms service providers to provide a safer environment for children to use technology.

ABOUT RAMON THOMAS

Ramon worked in IT Security for many years in South Africa, England and United Arab Emirates. This experience gives him unique insights into how the online world can impact on children, “the most innocent of Internet users,” he says.

Another event, more personal in nature, also motivated Ramon to become heavily involved in the impact of technology on people and relationships.

My own sister almost failed matric [last year of high school] in 2006 because she spent too much time on MXit, using a cellphone I gave her! Her marks continued to drop from June, to September to final exams. And she cried when she found out she didn’t pass with exemption [which allows automatic entry into college]. She ended up gaining a provisional exemption and so she is now doing her first year BA.

This led to Ramon writing “THE PARENTS GUIDE TO MIXIT.” The Parents Guide led to speaking engagements where he addresses parents at schools nationwide to raise awareness about the positive and the negative of MXit, chat rooms and cyberspace. Ramon says in time, the parents asked him to also educate their children.

When I talk to parents I narrow the gap between what they know and what the kids know. I bring the kids down to reality of the situation and lift the parents up so they feel more empowered to manage the conflict that has been caused by excessive cellphone use.

Q AND A

How many children/young people use MXit or any other social networking platform in South Africa?

Research is hard to come by. MXit has over 4 million users, growing at about 10 000 new users per day. I think this growth is going to accelerate as they expand internationally. Mig33 has become a very popular alternative to MXit and there are also several WAP-based chat services like Rivotext and others parents should be aware of.

It's important to understand that many of these services are international and so it's almost impossible to get the South African numbers. My estimate would be that maybe 6-8 million children are accessing premium content items.

What are the 3 most important trends emerging as young people interact with new technologies?

Accelerated development - This can be positive as hand/eye co-ordination is developed when playing computer games, and negative in terms of relationships between teenagers who are just beginning to understand male/female dynamics in the context of sexual relationships and roles.

There is also a strong impact on early childhood development. As a result, I am moving toward full agreement with Clifford Stoll's (author of High-Tech Heretic) views that computers should be not be available to very young children so they can have normal development of cognitive functions.

Lack of Netiquette and Social Skills- There is now a whole generation of children who grew up in a world where cellphones have always been available. These kids struggle to adjust in social situations that do not require cellphones. There is also tremendous conflict in what is deemed acceptable between children and their parents. They are almost two to three lifetimes apart.

Another challenge is that in the early days of the Internet and the Web, Netiquette was heavily enforced by the "tribal elders." For example, WRITING EMAIL IN ALL CAPS was considered equivalent of screaming and frowned upon. These days there are people who genuinely do not know, and there is nobody to teach them any better.

User generated content - This is the bane of traditional media companies. Users, with teenagers leading the way, are populating profiles on social networking websites with an almost unlimited amount of written, audio, photo and video content.

The content is self-produced, and every now and then of a superior quality to anything available on network television. This is leading to a huge shift in the consumption of media.

What is the trend that is uniquely African people need to pay attention to?

The biggest trend across Africa is the substantial growth in localised, regionalised and cultural specific content, translated into local languages. This is where Africa has always been left out and left behind. However, the "cheetah generation" as described by George Ayittey is going to make a meaningful difference in that aspect.

What are the three most risky behaviours that children engage in while online? Why do they engage in these behaviours?

a)Children have no idea of personal privacy. So they frequently exchange cellphone numbers in public chat rooms on MXit. They seem to ignore the fact that other people are watching and seeing this information being exchanged.

I think they do this because they don't see the consequence as immediate or real. It's supposed to be anonymous because it's a chat room.

b)Children accept invitations from strangers to connect and communicate on MXit and websites like Facebook. So in the context of social networking websites you must be findable. The problem is that there is no discretion on how to decide who to approve as a friend/connection/contact or not. Parents need to go back to basics about not talking to strangers even online. Just remind them constantly.

c)They post too many photos in public profiles. This is happening at an alarming rate on MySpace and Facebook. There is again no discretion as to what is acceptable amount of photos or not. So it's not even that the photos are explicit in any way. It's that these photos provide enough details for predators to use against the victims. MySpace has some excellent filters to protect minors from being contacted by older people. Others can learn from them on how to co-operate with government and law enforcement.

How much involvement do/should South African parents have in their children’s use of new media?

Many parents have a limited role as they may not have used it or even have access to it. Right now you have many Black children going to private schools, which have huge computer labs but some of their parents remain clueless about technology use.

In cases where parents have limited knowledge of technology, they should use the infrastructure from the schools to increase their own education/training and awareness of technology.

However, parents should not expect this to be driven by schools. They should be proactive in communicating the need for increased awareness of technology.

Would an education campaign/the provision of educational materials assist young people in keeping safe, or do we need other interventions? What are these interventions?

Other than educational materials, we also need to train peer counsellors. They could be current and future prefects who can handle first level problems before passing more severe problems onto more qualified experts.

There is going to be a need for more of these experts at provincial level to go into schools who can't afford to employ them.

Are telecoms service providers offering adequate protection for children while they use their platforms? How far should/does their responsibility for these children go?

Telecoms service providers can do much more to provide tools to block, regular and limit access. And beyond this they all should be forced by government to spend money on computer literacy/education and awareness programs. There is a direct economic benefit here because the more sophisticated users are power users, and power users are heavy users.

My Internet bill is more than R1000 per month and has been for years! They can and should provide the tools to at least give parents the choice to enable/disable the applications irrespective of SIM cards or cellphone network. So there should be legislated interoperability between providers.

What are some of the projects you have in the pipeline that will help South African children to be safer online?

I am working on bring www.wiredSafety.org programs into South Africa. I've completed my initial training with them and am now moving into more advanced and specific training. Much of what is need has been developed and refined by them. They are the biggest group dedicated to online safety with over 9000 volunteers worldwide.

I'm also going to work with Childline/Lifeline to provide training to their counsellors on the technology side of problems experienced children. We need all the support we can get here because resources are severely limited.

Next week Ramon and I chat about marketing and promotion strategies, and the strategies he employed to successfully market his business and the causes he supports.

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The 30 June deadline for Macmillan’s Write for Africa Competition is looming and my submission is not ready yet.

The competition is biennial, and it would be a pity for me not to enter. So I’ll have to set aside some time this weekend to attend to it.

Other than the $5000 prize money for each category winner( 8-12 and 13-17 categories), there is a lot of recognition and publicity for the winning authors.

So best I get off my duff and pull my story together. Even if I don’t get a mention, I will at least have given the competition a shot.

THE EZINE ARTICLE EXPERIMENT

The Ezine Article experiment is coming along slowly. I was skeptical that there would be benefits to submitting articles to a publishing portal, with the idea that they are made freely available to publishers in return for a biography and link.

But I decided to try it out, as a lot of Internet marketing experts punt is as one of the strongest strategies to drive traffic to your web site or blog.

My caution seemed even more justified as only a few people read my articles in the first week. There is no impact to the traffic to my articles on ITWeb, but more people seem to be reading the articles from the publishers' portal.

Of the people who read the articles, 17 were online publishers. I’m not quite sure how one tracks the actual usage. I don’t know the pubslihers'subscriber numbers either, so it’s hard to tell how many people will eventually read my articles. But that's teh point of the viral marketing - the articles will circulate all over the place, and everyone of the readers may choose to click through to the link I provided.

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I have submitted a post to Quasi Fictional, discussing how I blog and my feelings about the phenomenon. Also please explore the site and to read why a number of people from various countries blog. I found many of the posts illuminating, especially because many writers spoke of blogging with enthusiasm and passion. WHO’S TO BLAME? In this post, Babygirl chats about the use of mobile phone

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