With the increased availability and affordability of personal computers, many US households now have home-based Internet access. Over 57 million users in this country now have access to over 320 million web pages (Internet Index, 1998). Many of these households are younger and more affluent than national means, and many have children. Montgomery (1996) reports that one million children use the Internet. She argues that the Internet can be used for many positive intentions and outcomes. There are also dangers, including virtual shopping malls; manipulative forms of advertising; and other inappropriate types of material. Montgomery believes that while government and industry leaders discuss ways to sort out the many new issues that have emerged, children's interests have not been "central to the legislative debate" and troubled parents are on the outside waiting to see how things will settle.

This paper will explore parental attitudes and beliefs about the Internet and how it is impacting parents' lives. This paper also represents a literature review, which will precede a survey about these beliefs and attitudes in a later publication.

The National Parent & Teacher Association (1997) is interested in making sure that the Internet and its resources are available to all children. President Lois J. White is also concerned about protecting children from "pornography, hate, commercialism and the potential danger of chatting with people who want to harm them (NPTA website, 1997)." Specifically, White believes that the key to keeping children safe will be through parental information and training. The PTA sees the Internet as another way to "forge a link between home and school." At a summit held in December, 1997 in Washington, DC, the PTA along with child advocacy groups, industry executives, government leaders, teachers and librarians began to address the many issues that children's access to the internet has raised. The Children's Partnership and the NPTA now have a parent's guide which is available on-line for interested parents (NPTA, 1998).

Also in support of education are a number of locally funded and controlled parental education groups. One such group is run by the Baltimore Public Library System in conjunction with the PTA Council of Baltimore County. Called PIE (Parent Internet Education), this group has a website, which includes an on-line survey for parents (Baltimore County Public Library System, 1998). PIE has created their own parent guide, conducts regularly scheduled workshops for parents about the internet; has a set of resource and training material available; and is helping to formulate a plan to increase the number of computers available in the school system. The amount of parental involvement is as expected for this program, which serves as a model for other communities.

Lawrence Magid, a newspaper columnist and leading voice in the area of how the Internet can impact children has written often about the danger of marketing (Magid, 1997). Magid believes those child-based industries such as toy vendors and certain food group makers are online in order to influence brand loyalty and even get children to become on-line purchasers. He argues that the internet-based connections can target a child specifically based upon demographic data, which the child him/herself will provide.

Magid (1997) is concerned that while TV is regulated by the FCC there is no Internet watchdog and much is allowed. Magid provides several interesting examples of how business interests can capture a child. Dr. Pepper, the soft drink, teamed up with NBC, the TV network, to create a "teen tip" WebPages. When logged on, teens are asked to submit a demographic profile, including a teen tip and their e-mail address in return for the chance to win a grand prize. Magid argues that the children were unaware that these data would be used to make consumer profiles and then later be used to solicit and market the same information providers by others. Without the consent of an adult, Magid argues that this represents a serious invasion of privacy.

Related to worries about children's privacy, the magazine FamilyPC has proposed an Internet bill of rights for children (ZDNet, 1998). The publisher has made this an active issue, inviting readers to comment and edit an original draft proposal. At this time, FamilyPC has invited Vice President Al Gore to incorporate their version of a protective set of rules as he attempts to settle some of these internet-related matters. The proposed bill of rights contains 10 statements and covers issues such as: maintaining parental control and authority over children's usage; a call for ratings of sites; filtering software available from every ISP; monitoring children's chat rooms; and specific restrictions pertaining to advertising and e-mail communication to children (ZDNet, 1998).

Another important concern of parents is unwanted access to potentially dangerous and harmful material, including pornography, hate sites and drug culture sites. Kehoe (1998) has attempted to form an on-line community of people who can try to keep children safe without the need for a broad layer of censorship. His group, called Children Accessing Controversial Information (CACI) is attempting to "manage these difficult issues" before "parents and school administrators … choose to deny children access to networking in an attempt to protect them" (Kehoe, 1998). CACI is very concerned about censorship and efforts such as the Communications Decency Act, believing that broad censorship can be avoided.

A group calling themselves "Filtering Facts" (Burt, 1998) has also addressed the issue of protecting children. Their goal is to keep "Internet access in libraries safe for children and communities." Filtering Facts has a home page, which provides various sources of information about how libraries and schools are handling the censorship issue. Burt cites many newspaper articles, which highlight the resolutions that have been made. For example, he cites the fact that 73% of Ohio public libraries use the "tap on the shoulder" method to ensure that inappropriate materials are not displayed, and that 63% of Oregon's public libraries have positioned all of their monitors so that public display is ensured (Burt, 1998). The tap on the shoulder method is the term given to the action of librarians literally going up to web users and telling them when they are publicly viewing inappropriate materials.

Burt's site is the more conservative of the two, and it appears that the Filtering Facts group favors limited filtering and censorship tools as acceptable ways to keep inappropriate material away from children. Their website contains many other resources and links to child- and family-friendly sites. Such links include: advice on how to regulate your child's usage; reviews of websites; reviews of filtering and monitoring systems; and other "surfing tools."

Needless to say, the issue of Internet censorship will be hotly debated and many parents are awaiting the outcome.

There are many specific concerns in the area of accessibility to all sites and the need for acceptable usage of the Internet. Another of effort is the creation and application of acceptable use policies (AUPs). One such project being conducted on-line is that of the Internet School Networking Working Group (Manning & Perkins, 1998), which argues that AUPs exist whether they are formalized or not. The group then provide guidelines for identifying audiences, setting rules and security, and go on to discuss internet networks, or internetworking, between networks linked together into larger networks. For parents, these AUPs may be the closest thing they can get to a guarantee of their children's protection from inappropriate materials.

In the area of the Internet as an aid to education, there is disagreement about the usefulness of technology for improving individual performance. While most people believe that the mere introduction of such technology should lead to improvements, this is not the case. Schmitt & Slonaker (1996) have reported on early findings about the role of computers and the Internet in California schools. Educators do state that computers are the tools of tomorrow. In order to be effective in the future workforce, children must be taught to use computers today. The problem of course is that this is a costly tool, and there are still many alternative teaching tools, which can accomplish the educational goals, which need to be attained without resorting to high technology solutions.

Schmitt & Slonaker (1996) reported on California state test results, specifically comparing a control group of schools to a select group of 25 technology-enhanced schools. The schools which had a major infusion of money to purchase computer equipment did not fare significantly better than children taught with less technological assistance. The exception to this overall pattern of results was found among low-income students, who did profit from exposure to the increased.

Finally, Schmitt & Slonaker (1996) list several reasons why it has been difficult to accurately measure the impact of increased technology in the classroom. These include: 1) a lack of a "critical mass" of computers in the schools; 2) inadequate teacher training in ways to incorporate these tools in the classroom; 3) having students prefer the high tech methods and then refusing to go back to older methods when they must; and 4) a lack of planning in the area of cost-effective planning regarding how technology will be added into the entire curricular mix.

Another area waiting to be exploited is individual teacher uses of the internet. One site, HomeworkNOW (Better Education Through Technology, 1998), is an on-line service, which allows for teachers and schools to have their own class WebPages where homework assignments and study guides may be posted daily. This application has numerous possibilities, including the use of interactive assignments, making it possible for teachers to assign work, which is completed at home and returned electronically to the teacher, already scored and entered into an "e-gradebook." Applications such as these are the type envisioned by many parents when they think about where the internet is going.

Bremer & Rauch (1998) have written of several unique and positive ways parents can use the internet to improve children's mental health. They believe that the internet can actually allow for the practice of controlled, safe social interactions on-line. Such practice can then be translated into better social skills. In addition, a number of interactive and other resources can serve to enhance self-esteem and provide many important additional resources for becoming a healthier individual. Bremer & Rauch also see uses in education that can enhance performance and assist in completing school assignments, which will lead to a more adjusted child. Finally, they believe the internet can serve as a source of medical and mental health information, and as support networks via chatroom configurations.

A FamilyPC magazine survey (Dec, 1997) reported results of a survey of 750 families, all of who were prescreened and certified users of computers at home. Among the key findings were that: the average number of hours spent per week online was 14; families had the internet for curiosity, entertainment and education; and that 73% of parents reported monitoring their children's usage. Other findings were that 68% of families had set rules for internet usage and 65% of parents did not want government to regulate internet content. The interested reader may review the website (www.zdnet.com/familypc ) for more survey findings.

In this survey, adults expressed concern about privacy and personal exploitation, and some of the "services" provided by the Internet. The results:

• Top concerns listed by adults:

• Types of inappropriate behavior adults have experienced

According to a survey by the Children's Partnership (1998), schools are struggling with providing access to all students, especially those of lower income. Some of their findings:

Households with computers by annual income level:

Having reviewed the literature, and in consultation with a number of families, the author concludes it is possible to list a number of belief systems about the Internet to which parents currently subscribe. The survey now underway will bring forth more answers to the questions raised here. It is clear that many parents have high hopes for the Internet in their children's lives. It is equally true that they have many concerns and questions about the liabilities of this tool. The author proposes that parents subscribe to the following assumptions about the Internet:

• The Internet is a home-based grand encyclopedia; an information treasure to help with school, home and work projects.

• The internet is a technology tool with possible good and bad outcomes; a new way to communicate, to shop, to do business, and to be creative.

• The internet is a "super tech TV" electronic babysitter and source of entertainment.

• The internet is a source of temptation and an entryway to inappropriate or dangerous connections - gambling, pornography, hate groups, and drug culture material.

• The internet is an unknown - a super technology with many possibilities not yet imagined and with many parents uneducated about its use and misuse.

A survey is now being conducted by the author to explore these and other issues, and results will be reported in a future paper.

Baltimore County Public Library System (1998) "Parent Internet Education (PIE) Homepage and survey."

www.homeworknow.com.

Bremer, J. & Rauch, P.K. (1998) "Children and computers: risks and benefits." Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(5), 559-560.

Burt, D. (1998) "Filtering facts." www.filteringfacts.org/index.htm.

The Children's Partnership (1998) www.childrenspartnership.org.

Kehoe, B. (1998) "Children accessing controversial information."

Manning, B. & Perkins, D. (1998) "Acceptable use policy definition."

gopher://riceinfo.rice.edu:1170/00/More/Acceptable/bmanning.

Montgomery, K.C. (1996) "Children in the digital age." American Prospect, 27, 69-74.

National PTA, (December 2, 1997) "National PTA president calls for internet safety and access for all children." http://www.pta.orgHome page of the National Parents & Teachers Association.

Schmitt, C.H. & Slonaker, L. (1996) "Computers in school: do students improve?" San Jose (CA) Mercury News.

ZDNet (Dec, 1997) "FamilyPC magazine survey results." www.zdnet.com/familypc.

ZDNet (1998) "FamilyPC's Internet bill of rights." www.zdnet.com/familypc/safety.