Grandchild – Grandparent Informatics Competition

According to the Hungarian Information Strategy “without establishing trust towards Internet it is impossible to advance in the direction of Information Society.” It is a strategic goal that everybody should be able to gain the necessary information. According to recent survey the difference in the ability to use the Internet between the young and old generation is 70%.

The Hungarian Inforum¹ organised a Grandchild – Grandparent Informatics Competition
07-12-2003

Grandchildren under 12 and grandparents above 60 in pairs could enter the competition. The organisers took care for interesting questions, tasks for both generations. The basic idea was to ensure positive experience and encourage the older generation.

This family pair work was a great success. The youngest participant was 4.5, the oldest one was 78 years old, there were some 70 couples altogether. The young operated the system; the old provided the non-Internet-based knowledge. The grandchildren were examples of advanced use and acted as tutors for their grandparents.

Some of the 64 questions were easy to answer (counties and county capitals, people with Noble prize, etc) but in other cases they needed the Internet (train timetable, theatre program etc.) The exercises were interactive online tasks, and the children and the old generation had to find their ways in the jungle of information in the Internet.

The next similar competition takes place on 3 Oct 2004.