Featured at the InterCommunication Center in Tokyo

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Kristina Junger

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Animated Programs’ ToonTalk 2 to be Featured at the InterCommunication Center in Tokyo

ToonTalk 2 creator Ken Kahn will be a guest speaker at a special symposium on technology and the arts this summer

SAN CARLOS, CA. – June 13, 2002—Animated Programs’ ToonTalk 2, the award-winning guide to computer programming, and creator Ken Kahn will be part of the Art.Bit Collection exhibit and symposium at the InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Tokyo, Japan, June 21-August 11, 2002. Dr. Kahn has been chosen to display ToonTalk 2 at the exhibit and to participate in a Visual Programming Environment symposium by Art.Bit Collection guest curator Kouichirou Eto. The Art.Bit Collection exhibit is designed to introduce innovative software into the art field and Mr. Eto is a researcher at the International Media Research Foundation.

The Art.Bit Collection exhibits art works in the field of digital software, promoting the possibility of software as a medium, tool, material and environment for the arts. ToonTalk 2 teaches the basics of programming, including constructing, debugging and running programs, in a joyful interactive world. It makes programming easy for children of all ages to understand by animating familiar objects such as birds, robots, trucks and bicycle pumps rather than presenting traditional textual exercises.

There are three ways users learn the basics in ToonTalk 2. They can solve a series of interactive puzzle games in an engaging and enjoyable environment that gradually teaches programming construction and techniques. They can also enter the “free play” zone, an open-ended, rich environment of exploration and discovery, or view narrated demonstrations, which show how to build and debug programs.

“It is a great honor for ToonTalk 2 to be chosen for exhibition at the Art.Bit Collection and for myself to participate in their symposium on Visual Programming Environment,” says Ken Kahn, President and Founder of Animated Programs. He adds, “I am a believer in the ability of software to contribute to the arts in a very beneficial fashion. This is particularly true of ToonTalk 2 because of its unique combination of fun and learning.” Dr. Kahn will oversee a special one-day ToonTalk 2 workshop for kids a week after the symposium.

ToonTalk 2 teaches critical thinking skills such as problem decomposition, component composition, abstraction, puzzle solving, experimentation and logic. It is fully Internet-enabled and tightly integrated with the browser. Users can program their creations and then share them with friends and family.

ToonTalk 2 is currently available for Windows at $24.95 and can be ordered online at www.toontalk.com or by calling 800-317-9830. Versions are also available in Japanese, UK English, Swedish, European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.

TOONTALK 2 FACTS AT A GLANCE

--Teaches children computer programming in a fun and supportive environment.

--Parents and students can learn computer programming basics.

--Educational skills include puzzle solving, logic problems and critical thinking.

--Three levels of play including narrated demonstrations.

--Easy-to-use and understand.

--Terrific price point at $24.95.

--Children can create their own games and programs and share with friends.

--Internet enabled and browser integrated.

ABOUT ANIMATED PROGRAMS: Animated Programs was founded in 1992 and is based in San Carlos, California. Its mission is to make computer programming “child’s play.” The ToonTalk brand of products has been researched under consulting contracts for the University of London, the Swedish Institute of Computer Science and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Founder and President Ken Kahn is an MIT computer science Ph.D. and an expert in designing computer programming languages.

ABOUT THE INTERCOMMUNICATION CENTER: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] is an innovative cultural facility in Tokyo Opera City Tower in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, established on April 19, 1997, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of telephone service in Japan (1990). ICC wishes to encourage the dialogue between technology and the arts with a core theme of "communication," thereby building an affluent society for the future. Through such dialogue, it also aims to become a network that links artists and scientists worldwide, as well as a center for information exchange.