Team
IstvanMechwart András High School, Debrecen, Hungary
TamasMechwart András High School, Debrecen, Hungary
AttilaMechwart András High School, Debrecen, Hungary
NandorMechwart András High School, Debrecen, Hungary
AttilaMechwart András High School, Debrecen, Hungary
Age Range
19 & under
Coaches
Aron Robert SzaboMechwart AGISZ, Hungary
Zsolt NagyMechwart András High School, Debrecen, Hungary
Category
Computers & the Internet > The Internet
Audience
All ages
Language
English, Hungarian
Site Features
Online Activity / Game
Quiz
Photo Gallery
Video / Sound
Team Collaboration
How it all started…
The purpose of our site:
We created this site with an educational intent, to give everybody an insight about how the world communicates, how all this came to be, through what does it happen, why can it be interesting for anybody and how integral it is in our everyday life. By exploring all the possibilities, supporting them with examples and common issues, we present all that networks, or in this case, a particular world wide network could give us, with all its advantages and disadvantages.
The beginnings:
Our team was formed in January of 2009, starting with unknown intentions. Although the team members have different minds, backgrounds, something is common. We wanted to create a site for the ThinkQuest competition that is compelling, impressive and at the same time, documentary. After a while, we got to the planning phase. While we did a big brainstorming, we shared all of our ideas, and came to an agreement that we could greatly write about networks. Onwards from this point, teamwork and collaboration forged us together.
We knew what we were getting into, hours and loads of work spent on with it, however we knew it was worth it. In the end, a great team was born.
Think, think, think!
We really emphasized on preparation and planning, from the smallest details to problems covering the whole site. For a few days, we spent time with clear, objective thinking trying to pick our ideas apart. During that, our coach advised us to be careful, and warned us not to plan something that’s impossible to complete. We had less than 3 months to complete the site after enrolling, so we found time very valuable. We never had the chance to make mistakes or diverge from the schedule.
The first problem occurred after we chose the subject: How and in what way should we communicate information, so that it would be important and at the same time sufficiently accurate, to be thorough and deep. It wasn’t easy to find the perfect balance between being professional and understandable. After we did a draft about the covered subjects, the guideline was found. Our Coach Assistant project manager made the time schedule, divided the chunks of tasks into small, concise objects and we could start the making the website gracefully.
There can be 'Teamwork' only, Not 'I':
Collaboration and cooperation was crucial to making a good website, and while it is evident, it wasn't as smooth as we believed it would be. At start, the coders and the content writes didn't talk about how anything should be.
Team Diversity
About the teammates:
We didn't know what we were getting into. We didn't know what it will be like to achieve goals together, the teamwork and collaboration was something new to us. The teammates had to solve many problems, make compromises and many times, adapt to the situation.
Nándor: The provincial photographer rascal.
Nándi's world is photography, and while he has the same interests as the other members of the team, he encountered some problems and difficulties during shooting. Mostly the location's bleakness was at fault, but with the help of team mates, he overcame these. Other than that, he helped with the content writing, and with the creation of the website’s design.
Tamás: The Techgeek.
He did all the Javascript and CSS coding. It was hard for him to adapt to the creative viewpoints. Over the course of the competition, he turned into a sort of jack of all trades, making the site work. The page turning magic on the site is done by his AJAX code.
Atis (Attila): One of our content writers.
His scope of duties involved gathering information, choosing the points of interest, and a bit of content writing. Even though he volunteered, his strong point is that he is a practical person, making it hard for him to make content with proper grammar.
Attila: Made the Flash content of the site.
He had virtually no usable knowledge of Flash at start, but for the sake of the site, he immersed himself in it and learned how to do Flash animations and Action Script. He also gave his voice to some of the flash videos.
István: Main translator and standby content writer.
He was doing the translations from the beginning, thus he had to wait for the content. While not translating, he checked previously finished content and fixed the possible errors and mistakes, ensuring linguistic correctness in both languages. It was hard for him to switch from jargon to normal wording.
Áron: As an assistant coach, it was his duty to encourage us, to help the teammates resolve their problems. He also took on the role of managing the project, created the time schedule for us and coordinated collaboration. We saw him more being online in Romania than in real-life.
Tod: The team's cute, platypus-like alien mascot – The alien duckling. He visited our site with intent of helping everyone learn.
