Lyris Tech & MIT Media Lab

• February 12, 1998

Oakland, CA - 11 November 1998 - When 100 children from around the world gather in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 15, they will be meeting each other in most cases for the first time—but they will already be a community, thanks to technology from Oakland, California-based LYRIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

The Junior Summit '98 project, sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, Citibank, Swatch and Lego, brings children from around the world together both online and in person to work toward understanding and increased youth involvement in the world of technology and communications. The 100 child delegates to the summit will also finalize a Bill of Rights for children in cyberspace, and present it to world leaders in industry, government and education.

Since September 1, approximately 1,000 children from around the world have been communicating with each other via the Internet, using existing or donated computer systems and Lyris ListManager e-mail software from Lyris Technologies.

"This is a perfect example of the ability of e-mail discussion lists to serve as forums for all types of collaboration," said John Buckman, President of Lyris Technologies, Inc. "These children already understand each others' hopes, dreams and fears—and they've never even met face to face."

E-mail discussion lists such as those used by Junior Summit have been around since the earliest days of the Internet, but only recently have user-friendly and low-maintenance lists such as Lyris ListManager opened the door for even the most unsophisticated users.

"We're proud that our software was more than powerful enough to handle an ongoing conversation among a thousand users, while remaining simple enough for children in rural Africa and urban Asia to understand and use," added Buckman. "This is a tremendous example of the power of the Internet to bring people together who would have otherwise never communicated."