Press Release Cyber Surfari

Thousands of Web Surfers Visit Learning About Leonardo in Search for Internet Treasure

Bronx, NY October 13, 1998 - Learning About Leonardo holds a clue that will help unlock a treasure chest containing more than $100,000 in cash and prizes for participants of Lycos CyberSurfari '98, the Internet's largest treasure hunt. Running from Oct. 20 to Nov. 20, the month-long online contest made possible for the fourth year by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) is designed to help students, teachers and families learn how to benefit from surfing the Web. Learning About Leonardo serves as one of 100 outposts - the sites participants must search to reveal clues. Outposts are selected to represent a broad spectrum of leading educational, cultural and entertainment sites.

"Learning About Leonardo is proud to serve as an outpost for Lycos CyberSurfari '98," said Steve Feld, Head Coach of the Learning About Leonardo project, "The contest reflects our commitment to increasing the number of students and adults accessing the Internet and making their online experience as rich as possible. We are confident that many of the thousands of treasure seekers who visit our site for the first time during the contest will return to enjoy our content for years to come."

As schools across the nation ramp up with technology, educators are teaching students how to utilize the Internet by incorporating CyberSurfari into their Fall curriculum. In 1997, more than 4,500 school teams competed with family teams and individuals from 97 countries - a sixteen-fold increase over 1995. Over half the teachers who organized school teams indicated that CyberSurfari had been designated as part of their educational curriculum as opposed to an extra-curricular activity. This signaled a major breakthrough for the event and is a result of the popularity of the contest with students and the educational value of a structured Web activity.

"CyberSurfari has become one of SPA's greatest achievements in promoting the integration of technology and schools," said Ken Wasch, SPA president. "The contest focuses on navigating the wealth of information available on the World Wide Web in a team or individual format that's just plain fun. Many classes hold a pizza party to kick off the competition and students are eager to find clues both at school and with their parents' help at home. We consider Lycos CyberSurfari '98 a perfect vehicle to introduce students to the Internet, and we're proud that educators agree."

Visit Learning About Leonardo at
/13681

Further information on CyberSurfari '98 is accessible at http://www.spa.org/cybersurfari.

Sample "outpost" clues are accessible at
http://www.spa.org/cybersurfari/practiceclues.htm.

The CyberSurfari '98 graphic may be pulled from http://www.spa.org/cybersurfari/cyberads/cyberads.htm.

Learning About Leonardo is an award winning international, resource rich ThinkQuest collaboration between high school students from John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, with their partners from a high school in Borlange Sweden.

Students compare the theories of Dr. Lillian Schwartz with those of Rina de' Firenze, author of Mystery of the Mona Lisa, through scientific inquiry. The site also features original music composed by Leonardo, an interactive quiz, a dozen Leonardo da Vinci diversions, multilingual musical post cards and a guestbook that has been signed each day for over a year.

SPA is the principal trade association of the software industry, representing the leading publishers as well as start-up firms in the business, home office, consumer, entertainment and education markets. SPA supports companies that develop and publish software applications and tools for use on the desktop, client-server networks and the Internet. SPA's 1,200 member companies account for 85 percent of U.S. revenue for packaged and online software. Additional information on SPA and its activities on behalf of the software industry can be found at http://www.spa.org.

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