1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?
Telephone Telephones enabled the team members to communicate effectively.We used the telephone to contact people and organisations to ask related questions. We called each other up and discussed our project with one another.
Camera - (SONY and Panasonic digital and video cameras) Video Cameras and digital cameras from the school help us in presenting more information and interactivity for surfers of our website. When doing our research and interviews, we took photographs of people and places.
Computer Software Many tools were used while completing our project. Various information tools which are being used such as the digital camera, the video camera,scanner and softwares such as Adobe Photoshop 5.5, Microsoft Word,Notepad and Macromedia Flash 5.
Microsoft Frontpage was our primary web-publishing software as all of us were trained in using this software in school. Basic word processing programs, Notepad and Microsoft Word, were used to type all our text and saved in HTML format. We also used Macromedia Dreamweaver to do some advanced coding.
We used the Adobe PhotoShop 5.0 to design our own graphics (e.g., navigation bar, buttons, logo, banner,etc.)
These information tools and technologies helped us a lot on out project. Most of them were very advanced and easy to use.
We employed Macromedia Flash 5 for creating interactive flash movies and productions where people could enjoy the high-end animation effects that enhances our website.
Chat programs like Hotmail MSN Messenger helped us greatly as it allowed the team members to conference at the same time. Using these programs, we could communicate and discuss in the comfort of our homes and yet get important things done.
Libraries We made frequent trips to our own school library as well as the National Library and other Communitiy Libraries to do research. We borrowed relevant books on local attractions in the Reference section of the National Library.
2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.
The ambassador is the one who conveys the message to the public about the project and we have done so by communicating with the management of the places in person. We need to establish contact with them and we managed to gain their support.
In our quest to contact eminent personalities within the local attraction community, we successfully realised our goal to collate and present a collective yet unique picture of the vibrant tourism scene in Singapore. The range and depth of colours of our local attraction is, metaphorically speaking, amazing - for a small country with a population numbering just over 4 million.
We obtained the permissions for collaboration from several public relations officers of the local tourism industry and allow their all-important knowledge to be displayed on our humble site.
We took many photographs of local attractions from many angles. When we approached the officials or person-in-charge for help, they were very polite and obliging when they knew that we were doing a project on local attractions.
Moreover, in doing this project, we were acting as ambassadors in trying to express the significance of local attractions, an introduction of the places and how they signify Singapore's progress and its development. By going online, we were creating publicity for the project by casting awareness to online surfers.
Our step to present the local attraction scene is a significant development for our small but thriving tourism industry and we think we have contributed in our own way by helping to spread awareness of the local tourism industry to locals and people from overseas. In this way we are considered ambassadors.
3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?
We have chosen to cover a more dynamic, more unique section of our tourism industry. Snow city and Botanic Gardens are some of the most well known attractions, which are also suitable places for children to learn new facts. Hopefully, through our site, people would visit the places and benefit from it as they can learn and share their experiences with others. Actually, local attractions are 'money makers' for Singaporeans. Singapore became a prosperous country not only due to investment. Local attractions do a part in helping our economy.
By putting up the website on the Internet, people can know about local attractions. People from nations could come in and know more about these interesting places. We believe that some attention has been brought to the local tourism industry within our country through our efforts.
4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
We sought the advice of our teacher in-charge Ms Chan Huey Jing, who provided us with valuable suggestions and ways to carry out our research. She played an important role in assisting us in editing the text and gave us many pertinent points as to how we should go about doing the website. Moreover, she did not give us any pressure and this enabled us to maximise our full potential.
When we visited the local attractions, the officer provided us with abundant information. Some even gave us a mini tour around the facilities available in the attractions. Most of our help came from the members of our tourism industry, who were certainly busy people but were generous with their contributions to our humble efforts. Through them we obtained their long years of experiences, without which our representations of our attractions would be much more shallow and superficial.
Friends and classmates gave us moral support, motivating us to continue working, despite the exhaustion we felt, especially during the last leg of the competition. They kept encouraging us, volunteering much information to help us. Classmates and friends also critiqued our work during the process, providing us with pointers to further improve on our work.
5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
We found animals and insects such as squirrels and butterflies in Botanical Gardens. We chased the squirrel around the Botanical Gardens to take photographs but it was too fast and outsmarted us.
We had our lunch during our visit to Botanical Gardens and feasted on cheap and tasty food which was commonly not seen in local attractions as the food was more expensive.
During our visit to Snow City, we experienced cold temperature for the first time. For the first time, we saw snow with our own eyes! We also gained access to the Snow Lodge which was a function room and we were surprised at the facilities - jukeboxes, barbecue pits, bar and many others.
We are very honoured and proud to have created this project to convey a sense of "Care And Unite". We felt lucky to be in Singapore to enjoy such interesting attractions.
We learnt time management, overcoming difficulties, research skills, teamwork and collaboration and handling relationships and conflicts at the end of the project.
|