News: PBS Online helps audiences get on target with Y2K October 4, 1999. The following is the press release issued by PBS and Interactive FrameWorks: Alexandria, VA, October 4, 1999 -- With less than three months to go before the millennial date change, leading Y2K experts speculate that the public will respond to the potential of Y2K-related shortages and outages in one of two ways: 1) panic, and adopt an "every man for himself" attitude, or 2) complacency, and do nothing because they assume that the Y2K "crisis" will never materialize. A new Web site from PBS Online -- "Getting on Target With Y2K" ( www.pbs.org/y2kontarget/), provides resources and information to support a third alternative -- that people come together in homes, schools, neighborhoods and communities to begin a dialogue and develop "just in case" plans that provide local safety nets for potential social risks posed by the advent of the year 2000. The "Getting on Target With Y2K" site provides: prudent personal and neighborhood preparedness tips; youth activities; information on public television and radio Y2K programming; weekly opinion polls; and news and views about the phenomenon. The site also features the Year 2000 Living History Project, a comprehensive service-learning program for high school and upper middle school students that reframes the Y2K computer crisis as a positive growth and community-service opportunity for young people. This Y2K preparedness effort is designed to equip teenagers to inform their peers and family members about Y2K, to assist in community preparedness, and to monitor the safety needs of community-dwelling elders and disabled people in their neighborhoods on a daily basis, should any disruptions in services occur. The Year 2000 Living History Project was selected by the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion to be included as a resource for youth and teachers in the Y2K Youth Education Program Supplement that is being sent to newspapers this fall for distribution to every school in the country. "Giving teenagers this informed and proactive role to play is a way of reducing the likelihood that they will themselves suffer from stress even as they are helping to extend the safety net for the equally at-risk elderly and disabled populations", said Gordon Dveirin, Ed.D, developer of the concept and curriculum for the Year 2000 Living History Project. "Getting on Target With Y2K extends the mission of public television by reaching out to individuals and communities as they strive to answer critical questions and challenges in the coming months," said Paul Amos, President and CEO of SCETV. The Getting on Target With Y2K Web site was produced for PBS Online by Connecticut-based Interactive FrameWorks, Inc. (www.frame-works.com), in association with SCETV (www.scetv.org). IFIs principals, Andrie and Will Duggan, are recognized as leaders in the production and facilitation of integrated media projects. The Duggans are members of the Corporation for Public Broadcastings Digital Incubator work group. Since 1994, they have produced interactive public affairs and educational projects including World Flights You Can Soar educational program sponsored by Pratt & Whitney. PBS ONLINE (www.pbs.org), PBS's award-winning site on the World Wide Web, produces high-quality Web programming as it pioneers the convergence of television and the Internet. PBS ONLINE features more than 85,000 pages of content, as well as companion Web sites for nearly 400 PBS programs and specials. PBS ONLINE has won the prestigious Webby Award for best TV Web site in 1998 and 1999. Getting on Target With Y2K is funded by All

-- Jean Wasp (jean@sonic.net), October 10, 1999