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Skilled webmaster at 12, CEO at 30?
Though he already has a resumé longer than most college graduates, David is not all work and no play. By Jennifer Holvoet SCR*TEC No matter how much has already been done by someone else, there's still something else to be done.--David |
recently visited a school in Topeka, Kansas, and showed the students
Trackstar. One of the students wanted
to make a Track about his favorite books. We got to talking, and I asked
him what his favorite books were. He replied that his "most favorite"
books were the Redwall books. I was not very familiar with them, but I had heard other kids at a school where I taught talk about them. I was interested in finding out more, so I did a search for Redwall on the Internet. One of the sites that came up was the Official Brian Jacques page. Brian Jacques is the author of the Redwall books. I couldn't help but notice the picture of Brian and his youthful webmaster, David. Yes, David is a young man, in fact, he's just turned 13. I took the link to find out more about David, and found some pictures which show that he and Brian have a great sense of humor. I knew right then that we had to interview him to find out how he got this job and how he became acquainted with an author so many students revere. David lives in Canada, but luckily the international aspect of e-mail made it easy to contact him quickly. |
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When did you first become acquainted with the Redwall books
and why do you like them? The first time I heard of the Redwall books was at my older brother's twelfth birthday. He's 15 now. My brother's friend, Brian, gave him two books, Redwall by Brian Jacques and The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, which are now two of my favorite books. Brian's mom is a school teacher, and she strongly recommended these books. Which one is your favorite book and who is your favorite character? My favorite book in the Redwall series is Martin the Warrior. As a Redwall character, I think I would be content as Cocklebur, an apprentice chef, because I enjoy a life where I can take my time and be creative. |
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How did you get the idea to be Brian Jacques's webmaster? How
did you first get in touch with him and what did you say? On my first Web site, I had made a book review page, including Redwall and The Book of Three. It didn't take much time before a kid from Oregon, close to the same age as me (and by the same first name), invited me to join The Redwall Readers Club, started by a guy named Gabriel, in California. They had about 10 members at the time. They wanted a Web page for the club, and I volunteered to try out my new-found skill. A friend told me that Brian Jacques would be touring in Calgary, and I phoned the bookstore Mr. Jacques would be visiting and got in touch with his publicist. On June 19, 1996, I managed to book an interview with Brian Jacques himself. By the end of that day, I had an interview on tape, and the Unofficial Brian Jacques Homepage became the Official Brian Jacques Homepage. I don't have any plans to make a Web page for any other authors in the near future, but it could happen. I thought about creating a Lloyd Alexander Web page, too, but I'm kept pretty busy with Brian Jacques. Surprisingly, not very many of my friends know who Brian Jacques is, but there are over 500 very dedicated fans in the club right now. |
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How long have you been able to make Web pages? Why did you
decide to learn to do this? When I first got on the Internet almost two years ago, I just started to explore the Web. After about a month, I wanted to make my own homepage. My dad bought Web Page Construction Kit to make a Web site for his business. While my dad was reading the manual, I became impatient, and just pressed all the buttons to see what happened. It didn't take that long for me to make my first personal Web page. It was just some info about me, and some links to chat forums. My first Web page I think was made in September or October 1995. I didn't have any plans at all for what I would do with my Web page. I learned HTML from a book, other Web pages, but primarily talking to people on chat forums that already had homepages. In our family, we have our own computer, and for a time, we even had two. I used to use HTML Assistant Pro Lite to make my homepages. Now, I use whatever text editor is closest to hand, whether it's notepad or my FTP software's editor. |
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Do you think other kids could do what you are doing for other
famous people? What does it take to do it successfully? I think anyone with access to a computer could make a page like mine. It takes a lot of work, dedication, and, most of all, patience. A person to keep you on your toes is also helpful. My dad helps me out quite a bit, and gets me going again when I lose my patience. |
 David relaxing at home. |
When you are not being a webmaster, what do you do and what do
you find interesting? Do you have some career or college
hopes/plans/dreams? Other than a webmaster, I play the guitar. I enjoy baseball, football, biking, and, in the winter, snowboarding. I had a job for Wolff New Media on Netkids, which is an Internet directory. For a while, I was also a paid tutor for ELL students. I was a beta tester for a Sierra game, and briefly for a BBS game. I think music and computers are the most interesting. No matter how much has already been done by someone else, there's still something else to be done. For my future, I wish to be a musician, or a computer techie, maybe rendering 3D graphics. But being realistic, I think I'll probably end up writing novels or reviewing something for a newspaper. I like writing, and I can write a lot about a small topic, but my friends just think I babble too much when I'm writing. |
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So what's your advice to kids who want to learn something that
they are not learning in school about technology? Most of all, if you just go to the library and get books, they can teach you how to do everything. You don't need to pay for lessons. You don't need to go buy a big program or anything. Most of the time you just need to get a book from the library. Are you speaking of online libraries or are you speaking of going down to the public library and getting books? Just the public library anywhere; library down on the corner. If you have Internet access, you can usually learn everything there too. |
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What's the best piece of advice you'd give another kid who wants
to be a webmaster? I would say be very patient and don't get too annoyed at people who don't read your site all the way through. Patience is probably the most important thing. And why do you say patience? What is it that you need patience about? Well, a lot of people, quite honestly, they ask dumb questions that are already answered on the page. Or, I just get fed up with having too much work to do. |
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If you were talking to a teacher and the school didn't have much
technology and they asked you, "Well, what kind of technology
should we teach kids?" what would you tell them? I would say that the kids should be taught how to use computers, just a little bit. You know, how to use a word processor and spreadsheet. All the basic stuff like that. And maybe make a homepage, even. And how to use the Internet, probably. |
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