The Tech Group

September 21, 2009

B Period Government

Bike Path Project: Tech Group

Team Roles:

Mike - Blog editor, in charge of email, email contacts, Google Docs

Max - Google Earth, Google Maps

Dominique - Photographer (provides photos for blog), in charge of email, email contacts, Google Docs

Pamela - Blog Editor

Bernadette - Reporter, Blog Posts Editor

This past couple of weeks, the work on the Build the Bike Path project began. The tech group has already decided who will be in charge of what. We want to let you, the readers, know this information so you know who you need to talk to, if you choose to contact us. *The blog editors will be in charge of the blog layout and will post entries (written by themselves or by other students in the class). The people in charge of the email will manage the contacts (their email addresses) as well. By using Google Earth or Google Maps, the location of the bike path can be illustrated (Max has already found a way to do this). The photographer provides pictures and video for the blog. Google Docs will be shared among the people in the tech group for the blog entries.

Our Ideas:

The tech team plans to run the blog in both Polish and English; however help from the Polish speakers will be needed to translate entries. By doing this, the local community can also understand the information about our bike path plans.

Mr. Kwan suggested the idea of having video on our blog. Podcasts (with a choice of just audio, still images, full video) can be posted on the blog. Dominique was thinking about taking a video of someone riding their bike to school. The video can include the traffic in the highways that is a big problem, since the small dirt path is so close to the school. The other groups in the Comparative Government class can provide video (interviews or audio files) to the tech team so they can be uploaded to the blog.

Pamela thought that a virtual, 3D image of the bike path location can also be made by taking panoramic photographs and using software for “photo knitting.” The tech team still needs to do research on this idea and assign the role to a person. We will hopefully have this image or images up soon.

Statistics such as data from online surveys that we have made (like surveymonkey.com) may be included in our blog. The survey may ask questions to teachers, students, or staff who attend/work at the school, and may be open to the general public. The survey will be spread around by email to parents, PTO, or posting an inquiry on the ASW school website if possible. By taking the survey, you help the project greatly by contributing to our contact list if you choose to.

Max suggested that pictures from other bike paths (like the ones in Wilanow or Powsin)should be taken so the better looking bike paths can be compared to the bike path we are planning on improving.

Lastly, the tech team was hoping to have the blog advertised on the school website to attract more people. Once a survey is set up, it may also be on the school website so students and parents can access the survey. Parents who visit the ASW school website even outside Poland can also look into our project and help us.

Next week, the blog will hopefully have an entry about the bike path plans.