Barbara J. Feldman

Founder of Surfnetkids

• Born: June 3, 1953
• Place of Birth: Bethel Park, Pennsylvania

Primary Company/Organization: Surfnetkids

Introduction

Barbara J. Feldman is the owner and founder of Surfnetkids.com, Inc., an online publishing company that creates educational content for parents, teachers, families, and children. Feldman created Surfnetkids in 1996 as an archive for her nationally syndicated weekly newspaper advice column Surfing the Net with Kids. Feldman has more than sixty websites, including FreeKidsColoring.com and JokesByKids.com. She is an expert in building audiences for advertising-supported content sites and promoting them for educational uses on the Internet. A former computer consultant and programmer, she is also a newsletter publisher, shareware author, and self-proclaimed “websurfer surpreme.” She blogs at barbara.feldman.com.

Early Life

Barbara J. Feldman was born June 3, 1953, in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. She became interested in computers while in her teens and pursued that interest in college. In 1976, she graduated cum laude from the University of California at Irvine with a bachelor's degree in information and computer science. In the mid-1990s, Feldman, a mother of two, became aware of the web browser Mosaic. She realized that the browser would allow the Internet to become a limitless educational resource. That realization led to her syndicated newspaper column, Surfing the Net with Kids. In this column, Feldman addresses a different topic each week and offers the best educational sites for children on that topic. She launched her first website in 1996 to share the results of her exploration of the educational possibilities of the web.

Life's Work

Feldman has worked as a computer consultant, computer programmer, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), computer sales representative, newsletter publisher, shareware author, and “mommy blogger.” A self-described computer nerd, she worked as a programmer for Varian Data Machines and Sperry-Univac and as an independent consultant for small businesses in need of database applications.

Feldman's expertise is in educational uses of the Internet and monetizing online content, but her background in business consultation also allowed her to create websites that offer information for those interested in the technical, marketing, or business side of publishing.

In 1996, Feldman had been writing her successful weekly newspaper column Surfing the Net with Kids for one year. Her aim was to help parents and educators navigate the many circuitous channels of the then-burgeoning Internet. The column's popularity, along with Feldman's background in information technology, led her to launch her first website, Surfnetkids.com, in 1992. Though Feldman's digital footprint grew to more than fifty-five websites by 2019, Surfnetkids.com remains her flagship site. Her umbrella site, Feldman Publishing, also serves as a distribution point for her e-books. The sites attract more than 1.4 million visitors per month.

Surfnetkids is an educational content-based website that includes website reviews, educational games, newsletters, widgets, and other tools and information geared toward children and parents. It is divided into nine sections: Calendar, Games, Free, Fun, Parents, Shopping, Teachers, Top Ten, and Topics. Several sections—such as the free kids' games and the website reviews newsletter—are free. The site's Printables Club is a membership-only service that offers downloadable educational material that promotes technological integration in the classroom. There is also a link to child-friendly videos.

Other online educational reading and writing materials available through Feldman's websites include the Chapter-a-Day project, in which book segments are e-mailed as newsletters to increase readership of a book; by the end of two weeks, a reader will have read the first few chapters and will then be prompted to purchase the entire book. There is also a page that teaches children how to write and publish their own book reviews and suggestions for online virtual “field trips.”

Feldman's sites also include forums that discuss issues of online safety such as whether certain websites are suitable for children and ways to regulate Internet usage by children and students. Feldman enforces one steadfast rule for parents of budding Internet users: Do not allow a computer with Internet access to be located in a room where doors can be closed, such as children's bedrooms. She also recommends that parents periodically check their children's browser histories. Feldman encourages her readers to suggest topics for her to address, provide feedback, and ask questions.

Feldman has written a booklet about the Internet for parents, which she provides royalty-free to website subscribers for reprinting and distribution. She is an advocate for getting more girls interested in math and science, and she maintains a popular blog at barbarafeldman.com. It offers an “Internet Tip of the Week,” such as highlighting websites that are useful for educational searches and guidelines on how to manage passwords and automate document processing. She has made a living writing online since the creation of Surfnetkids.

Personal Life

Feldman's husband, Howard, a nationally recognized expert on alarm systems and president of Pioneer Security Services, a commercial and residential security company headquartered in San Diego. They live in Solana Beach, California, with an assortment of pets. They have two grown children; Feldman has blogged about her experiences growing accustomed to an empty nest and helping her mother cope with dementia.

Bibliography

Descy, Don E. “Keeping Kids Safe Online.” TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning 50.5 (2006): 3–4. Print.

Dodge, Autumn M., Nahid Husain, and Nell K. Duke. “Connected Kids? K-2 Children's Use and Understanding of the Internet.” Language Arts 89.2 (2011): 86–98. Print.

“Info on Internet.” Editor and Publisher 129.39 (1996): 34. Print.

Ybarra, Michelle L., et al. “Associations Between Blocking, Monitoring and Filtering Software on the Home Computer and Youth-Reported Unwanted Exposure to Sexual Material Online.” Child Abuse and Neglect 33.12 (2009): 857–69. Print.