OMG, do u know like really famous people? Girl chat, or IM "Instant Messaging" is the shorthand for girls communicating through computers and frankly, a little tough to adjust to at first — particularly if you're over the age of 20 and in an industry where you have to be fanatical about grammar. Melanie Wertz, Technology Manager for Entertainment Weekly magazine, and her boss, Anne Jackley, Technology Director for both Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated magazines both got a taste of "tween" chat recently when they participated in an online chat on the Zoey's Room ( www.zoeysroom.com ) an interactive website for girls.
As a moderator for the chat, it was fun to watch. Here are these two ultra-professional women under enormous pressure to kick out a weekly magazine typing back and forth with 13-year-old Maine girls, whose own pressures revolved around soccer schedules. It's not often that these two worlds get a glimpse of each other, but in about an hour, Melanie and Anne, who were writing from New York City, got a glimpse of rural Maine and in return, told the girls about the huge cruise ships Sports Illustrated rents for the Olympics. "Wow, that's kewl," one girl wrote. "Wish I could go on a cruise."
Worlds colliding — that's the goal of Zoey's Room each month when we introduce online chats with "Fab Females" — role models in the areas of math, science and technology to middle-school girls who belong to Zoey's Room's after-school program.
Along with more "kewl" Fab Females, the Zoey's Room after-school clubs will start up for its second year running in more than 24 schools around Maine this fall. Once in a club, a girl can have access to specially built chat rooms and message boards, and chat with Zoey herself in "Ladies Lounge," a safe place where girls can sound off on issues that affect them. Beyond the chats (admittedly, the girls' favorite part), they'll work as a team on the Tec-Trek, an online curriculum which teaches them how to unleash their creative sides by using the Internet, building personal web sites and using digital media and images to make home movies and imaginative presentations. Another awesome perk: just by being an active member of Zoey's Room, each girl has a good chance of winning free digital cameras and other cool tech gadgets donated by big companies each month.
To learn more about Zoey's Room, take a Tour of the Zoey's Room program at www.zoeysroom.comor contact Erin Reilly at 207-594-1842. As they say on the chat lines, TTYL - "Talk To You Later."