TORONTO - Canadians who can remember the world before the Internet know a time when history was learned with textbooks, pens and paper instead of computer screens, keyboards and the World Wide Web.

And even as modern technology deployed on two continents serves to resurrect the memory of 68,000 Canadian soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War, the ancient art of letter writing is for some proving to be just as effective.

Since Tuesday, the names of Canada's First World War dead have been flickering on the sides of buildings in cities across Canada, as well as in London, England, in a nightly dusk-till-dawn tribute in the runup to Remembrance Day, Nov. 11.

The project to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the war, called "Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil," uses a high-tech light display in public spaces to help ensure the Canadian consciousness remembers their sacrifices. "It is using computer technology in a very innovative way that reaches out to I think actually all facets of society today -- certainly to youth," said Jim Wright, Canada's high commissioner to the U.K.

"There is an educational component to what we are all trying to do here: to make sure people never forget."

But while the light show marks the occasion of remembrance in an amazing way, the good old-fashioned method of putting pen to paper can make an impact on young people that pixels can't match, said Jeremy Diamond, managing director the Dominion Institute.

In an attempt to get young people thinking about the Great War, the institute -- committed to fostering "an appreciation of the Canadian story" -- staged a contest for teens aged 14-18, who were asked to write letters as if penned during the conflict.

"In a weird way, technology plays such a central role in young people's lives that when you actually ask them to sit down and write something ... that's kind of cool to them," Diamond said from his office in Toronto.

"Fifteen-year-old kids don't write letters anymore. So it's almost like we've kind of flipped it on its head a little bit."

The letters are being judged by a jury that includes Paul Gross, the writer, director and star of the epic First World War film "Passchendaele," and John Babcock, Canada's only living veteran of the "war to end all wars." One of the prizes is a trip to Belgium to tour the battlefields of Passchendaele.

Diamond said he was expecting a few dozen letters from budding history buffs. But when teachers across the country made it part of a class assignment, the institute was bombarded with more than 3,000 submissions. Teachers told their students to put themselves in the shoes of the soldiers who 90 years ago faced the prospect of going to war.

"That hits home pretty quickly with students, to think these faded, old photographs and names in a book were actually real, young people like themselves," Diamond said.

While there were a few torrid accounts of warfare, Diamond said he was impressed with the ability of the contestants to not only write from a different time in history, but from the perspectives of different genders, races and places.

One student wrote from the perspective of a Japanese girl in B.C. whose brother was fighting for Canada in Europe, he recalled. The winner is to be announced on Remembrance Day. Sometimes, it doesn't take technology or even a contest to kindle young interest -- all it takes is curiosity.

At Oakville Trafalgar High School west of Toronto, war is often in the thoughts of students who pass daily by the school's cenotaph, which displays the names of 34 soldiers, all of them former students, who died in the Second World War.

The students started researching the names to find out more about the men, and found two names with incomplete histories, said social science teacher Pam Calvert. Out of frustration and curiosity, one of the teachers at the school contacted the History Channel's "Ancestors in the Attic."

The show's researchers took two students to Europe to find out more. "They walked them through the path of these two mystery soldiers and found out what happened to them," Calvert said.

"They brought these boys back and they then told their families that are still alive here in Canada what in fact happened."

As a result, she said, history came alive when the students realized they alone would be telling a story that hadn't been told before.

"I've never seen students so engaged in the process of research and understanding and a feeling of connection with these soldiers."

Karl Tombak, 16, was one of the students who made the trip, and subsequently travelled to Montreal to relate the details of his discovery to the soldier's adult son, who was born after his father went to war.

Tombak had always been interested in history and battles, but he said his voyage of discovery has made him appreciate the sacrifices of veterans both past and present. "It did change my perspective on the war in Afghanistan," he said.

"It made me think of it on an individual level." Once he's finished high school, Tombak said he plans on studying at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., and then joining the Canadian Air Force.

The episode of "Ancestors in the Attic" documenting the project, "Cenotaph," airs on the History Channel Nov. 15.