Project Narrative

Information About Our Site

1. Link to our CyberFair98 Entry
   
   
2. Date of Project:
   Start: 10th February 1998
   End: 20th March 1998
   
   
3. School: River Valley High School
   City: Singapore
   
   
4. Teachers and students:
   
   
   • Miss Lim Lee Mui
   • Feng Huiliang, Mika
   • Jiang Ying
   • Lee Jiahui
   • Ng Lai Fun, Joyce
   • Sim Zhiliang, Tristan
   • Zeng Jiahui
   
   
5. How many students worked on this project: 6
   Their ages were: 14-16
   
   
6. Project Contact Email:
   Miss Lim Lee Mui - limlm@moe.edu.sg or
   Lee Jia Hui - yewsim@singnet.com.sg

Project Overview

1. We entered our Web site in CyberFair Category:
   
   
   Category 4, Local Specialities
   
   

   Description of "Our Community"
   
   

   Singapore with its small land area of 648 square kilometre accommodates numerous ethnic groups comprising mainly of the Chinese, the Malays and the Indians. Located at the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia, it has a population of over 3 million which forms our community.
   
   

   Summary of Our Project
   
   

   The food of Singapore is unique in its very own special way. It seems so diversified due to its wide variety and yet is united by one common bond -- Singaporean's passion for food. Our project is purely on the food in Singapore. It introduces the various types of food the different ethnic groups (such as the Chinese, the Nonyas, the Malays, the Indians) have to offer, highlighting the characteristics of each type of food. There are hands on recipes and mouth watering pictures for your eyes to feast upon.
   
   

   Our Internet Access
   
   

   We used our schools's Local Area Network (LAN) to surf the Internet for information. We used our own Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to upload our webpages. The connection speed used was 28.8kbps.
   
   

   Problems We Had to Overcome
   
   

   In the process of doing this project, we came across many stumbling blocks.
   
   

   We had great difficulty sorting through the vast information we collected and deciding what we wanted. Our text turned out to be rather lengthy which was not a good sign as it was difficult to sustain a reader's interest. On the other hand, short texts usually have less substance and are usually very vague. We attempted to solve this tiresome problem by adding enthralling details to capture the reader's attention.
   
   

   Communication between both group members, between teachers and students, posed to be an obstacle as well. We often misinterpreted what the other party was saying and this led to a couple of misunderstandings. This problem was resolved by holding meetings in which all doubts were clarified out and details were worked out. Minutes were recorded and given to every member in the group as proof to what had been said.
   
   

   We faced a couple of technical problems such as the computer refusing to boot up and the conversion of one different version to the other. These were fixed with the much appreciated help from the teachers.
   
   

   Our Project Sound Bite
   
   

   This is definitely a beneficial and eye opening project which let us have first-hand experience of the passion Singaporeans have on food thus widening our knowledge on Singapore's culture. Furthermore, being in the era that emphasises on Information Technology, this has given us exposure to an incredible new medium of communication which allows us to express ourselves and their ideas using pictures, animations, sounds and text.

Project Elements

This section explains how your project addressed the project elements found in the CyberFair Assignment to Schools

1. How did your activities and research for this International school CyberFair98 project support your required coursework and curriculum requirements?
   
   
   The research and activities of this CyberFair project had enabled us to "learn beyond our classrooms". Used to being spoon-fed, we were forced to work independently, to think for ourselves in the course of doing this project. This ties in with National Education (NE) programme in which one of its goals is to instil thinking skills in students.
   
   
   Also, my school, just as many schools in Singapore, is actively promoting the use of IT (Information Technology) in the school curriculum. A large amount of the school's fund has gone to the purchase of several computers and educational software. The use of the Internet, the information super highway, is widely encouraged, proven by the boundless effort the school has put in in ensuring that everybody has an internet account.
   
   
   As computer club members, all of us were given this golden opportunity to attend webpage designing courses. The designing of this webpage has granted us a chance to apply what we have learnt. Learning HTML is like learning a foreign language, you need to "speak" more in order to soar to greater heights. Knowledge when applied stays in our memory bank longer. Don't you agree?
   
   

   What Information tools and technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?
   
   

   • Pentium Computers (for the organisation of the project)
   • Internet browsers (to view our webpages)
   • Microsoft Word (to check for spelling errors)
   • Notepad (to do HTML coding)
   • Adobe Photoshop 4 (to edit photographs)
   • Paint Shop Pro 4 (to compress graphics)
   • Scanner (to scan pictures)
   • Digital and analog cameras (to capture unforgetable memories)
   • Electronic mail (for more efficient transferring of messages)
   • Telephones (for a more direct way of contacting people)
   • CD-ROMs (for inspiration)
   • Library books, mothers' recipe books, newspaper, magazine and textbooks (for infomation)
   
   

   Without all the above hardwares and softwares, we would not have been able to produce colourful webpages with fast loading time.
   
   

   In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person?
   
   

   We went around the sunny island of Singapore surveying approximately 500 people in order to examine more in depth the eating habits of Singaporeans. Some people gave us a gruff reply, some politely declined, pointing to their watches to indicate that they were busy, BUT most of them spared a few minutes of their precious time answering our questions, providing us with invaluable suggestions. Some even chatted with us for some time after the questions! Also, permission was to be asked when we took photographs of various stalls.
   
   

   Besides surveying in person, we also surveyed through the internet by using e-mail. I must admit that it is a much efficient way of surveying but it takes the joy out of meeting people.
   
   

   Through the above, we let more people know about our project. Some even asked us for the address to the website, promising to visit it. We were exhilarated to hear that.
   
   

   Furthermore, through the setting up of this website, we share the eating "culture" in Singapore with people of other countries and in turn learn more about the countries be it their local specialities, local attractions, local music and art forms. Through sharing, we become more united.
   
   

   What has been the impact of your project on your community?
   
   

   The project has sparked our interest simply because we love eating and we are extremely proud to acknowledge the fact that people from all around the world will be viewing our website. Upon embarking on this project, we sought the help and advice from the public and also some computer experts. Not only did this assist us greatly, we also established long-lasting relationships with the people in our community when we interacted with them.
   
   

   Basically, our project provides a great opportunity for locals to grasp the significance of the wide variety of food in Singapore. Some even told us that they drooled the moment the webpage was loaded. Hence we believe that by having such a web site, we are helping the local community to develop a stronger sense of belonging towards Singapore and treasure the saying 'There's no place like home'.
   
   

   How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
   
   

   A relatively large number of the members from our community helped us through answering the survey. Besides answering our questions, they also gave precious suggestions, a very good example being that we should add a section on queer food found in Singapore which arouses interest.
   
   

   Some of our friends ,upon hearing our involvement in this project, offered to help us by bringing us around to places to eat good food where we were not so familiar with. This is especially commendable as most of them are tied down by their schoolwork and their respective ECAs and yet they VOLUNTEERED to help us. Being humble people, they declined any mention of their names. Friends who we knew through chat channels, helped by visiting our website and giving us their comments so that we could further improve on it.
   
   

   There is a whole page of acknowledgements at the last page of this website.
   
   

   Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises
   
   

   We have reaped boundless benefits from this project. Besides learning more about the cultures of the various ethnic groups, management of time, HTML(Hyper Text Mark-up Language) coding, we also learnt other aspects as well which we feel are much more important. A very good example being the importance of co-operation and teamwork between group members. We learnt more about our team members. Sad to say, though all of us are in the same ECA(Extra Curricular Activities), we know each other by name only. Whenever we met, we did not have much to say except for a casual "Hello" or "How do you do?" With this project, whenever we met, there was always so much news to exchange, so many ideas to be discussed, that we did not know where to start from.
   
   

   Life is like a box of chocolates. It is filled with surprises. We discovered a lot of things which really surprised us. We discovered the cheerful side of teachers – the strict teacher-in-charge whom we were all so afraid of actually had an amiable side. She provided us with invaluable suggestions and helped us along the way despite her tight schedule.
   
   

   We also discovered to our horror that there were many old markets still found in Singapore. The initial impression Singapore often gives is of a modern city that has very little interest in, or patience with, its past. A leisure walk through some old markets proved otherwise. These markets share the same skyline with skyscrapers that signifies late 20th century's economic progress, thus showing the coexistence of the past and present right here in our homeland.