School: international team
    international team, international team, international team

4 students, ages 19, 17, 19, 18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 1, 2006. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2006

Classes and Teachers: Jaevion Nelsom - Coach, Stidents - Angelicum, Tarek, Tomita, Samuel

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://

1. Description of Our Team

Our International team was composed because we believed that our chosen topic MDGs is a global concern, thus when making a website for young people about it, it's just have to be made by people from different walks of life to give an unbias view and a website which is of International quality. Jaevion Nelson, 19, Jamaica: Coach. Jaevion is an active youth leader in Jamaica and is very used in administrating group of people with certains goals, he used this skill to overlook our team effort. Jaevion also provided a venue for us to communicate which is the forum. Student Members: Angelicum, 19, Philippines. Angelicum specializes in proctoring and directing online, being a UN Online Volunteer, he first and foremost got the idea of this project and hence channel his ability on online management to our team. His role rotates on both technical and content aspect of the project. Tarek, 17, Egypt. Can be considered a proffessional webdesigner at such a young age, he started webdesigning and developing by the age of 14. Tomita, 19, Romania. Tomita has an impressive skill in writing considering that english is not his first langguage, not that he wants it, Researching is his task for this project and we can say he's really good at it! Samuel, 18, Nigeria. Samuel is specializing in Biotechnolgy which is an environmental concern, but being from Nigeria also makes him keen to press issues involving poverty, hunger and the likes. His role is both on writing and research.

2. Summary of Our Project

YOUNG MDG is a project initiative of our team that aims to spread the information of The United Nations Millennium Development Goals to young people. The MDGs was written in 2000, efforts has been made by governments, NGOs and the likes but up to now, VERY FEW people under the age of 18 knows anything about the MDGs! And to think, The UN states that young people are the key-contributors in achieving these goals, but how would they be able to contribute if they don't know what the MDGs are in the first place? That is why we build this website. First, we believe that the Internet's users are more or less 60% young people and we think that this medium can be our tool to let them read about the MDGs, also because we want to reach all corners of the world. Second, we want to layout with them a reference that is NOT boring, we hate thick books without pictures, we hate website with white background and black font! That's why we tried to put a little interactivity on the website and of course put a lot of colors on it! In that way, users who sees the website for the first time will be encourage to read through and actually learn while having fun. We will sight an example: Instead of giving them heavy texts explaining the scientific factor and mathematical statistics of deforestation, we put on our website a “tree calculator” where they can put the number of time they ride transportations everyday and how far, and in return the system puts how many trees should they plant to replace the carbn dioxide they have emmitted throughout the years, and all of it on a colorful and enjoyable tree calculator instead of boring texts!.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

We are not sure of this field since we are an International Team and not a classroom group. In any way, all of us uses DSL connections, all of us except from Samuel from Nigeria and our coach has DSL connections in school too.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Some of the problems we faced are the following: Communication and timeline; Being on an international team meakes it very difficult to communicate with each other on the first phase of our collaboration. We used to set-up a time to meet online via Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger to communicate live. But this always means that one or two of us should stay awake at wee hours of the night! Making school the next day a little distress. Solutin; We agreed to then just set-up an online forum so that members can just talk there anytime of the day, saving all our messages in an archived form! Making it alot easier for us. We also put a timeline graph on our forum so that we have an idea what time is it where and when to expect replies from our post. Langguage Barriers; When we are sometimes talking live, our english accents are all different! There is no direct solutions but our team agreed to be frank in saying wether someone mispronounced a word or two, so that it will be said corectly the next time. And in time we realize we so well understand each other. File Transfers; It has been very difficult for us at first the transferring of files. We used to find scattered sources of free webhosting and some of those who host our files gone down. Solution? We then search for a good Protocol and downloaded an FTP (File Transferring Protocol) software. After that, all our uploaded files are fastly uploaded from our desktop to the webserver. Editing of Articles; At first we download .doc word formats on the server which made us all have to downaload the document and edit and upload it again. VERY stressful. We then just decided to edit it via FORUM post.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

YOUNG MDG as a project aimed for young people was made in a way that they will be interested, in making it we have to research since some members are also new on this topic, making this project also a learning tool for us and sharing what we are learning in real time. Our team boosts alot of knowledge about a global issue and in return are inspecting to inspire other young people to collaborate with their friends abroad towards a common goal that promotes peace and democracy to share their little voices in this crusade to achieve the MDGs through international collaboration, volunteerism and information and communications technology.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

Content Standards: We are address a standard of web-based non-static way of curriculum. Our website has some functionalities that are not just readable but as well as clickable, executable and in return give results and/or answer. Sample mediums seen on the website and its equivalent sterotypical-book system of learning: Website: Search Engine VS Book: Glossary. Search engine is more optimized and comprehensive. Team members learned new skills in the project. Webdesigner learnes how to install and script a search engine capability without much of suffering the design of the layout. Writers and Researchers learned how to interpret statistics and serious-sounding resrouces into article that are made for children and easy to understand. Technologically, everyone gained knowlegde on online forum administration, use of Voice-over Internet Protocol and everyone acquired the whole concept of Online Volunteering. The group practices a concept of –execute-you-specialization-- in a manner of channelling what are specialties are as a contribution to the project. In addition, discover newly-found interest that may as well become their specialty in the future enhancing not just their skills but interest to develop new ideas and projects like this in the future. Internet and our web-based MDG reference is more likely a better if not the best way it can be layed out to children. It is only through this we're able to instill interactivity and color. Compared to the classroom idea, only possiblity of making young people interested in this is through colorful publication and the likes, which is in contrary not environmentally friendly, is not cause effective.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

Internet Connection and Personal Computer are used for obvious and basic reasons of communication and digital acquisition of the works tasked to us. This are considered the most valuable and irreplaceable tools considering we are an International team.

Online Forum Database used for the forum management and communication where we brainstorm ideas, upload articles to be edited and finalize outputs. Helping us archive past messages without any effort at all as it was automatic. Instant Messengers like Yahoo and MSN used for real-time meeting via chat. Helped us communicate live when sometimes neede, for example in submitting this narratove, we all need to be online to finalize write-ups and submissions. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) used for real-time meeting via conversation. Just like an ordinary phoecall but free! Same reasons as above but this obviously is more essential in some situations. PDA. Dell Axim x50 used by the Coach, Tarek and Angelicum. Helped us document appropriate resources when it comes unexpectedly through typing like on a keyboard, writing like on a notebook and even voice recording all done digitally and automatically converted into .doc or .wmv/.wav files. File Travsferring Protocol (FTP). SmartFTP free opensource helped all of us upload files from our computer to the webserver 50% faster than control panel webased uploading. More secured and accurate. Very dependable. Short Messaging System (SMS) used sometimes when urgent matter comes. For exmaple one of us needs something from the other, then we will notify them through SMSing and we both come online and talk. In cases that we don't have value load on our cellphone and tight budget, we then just “misscall” each other as a signal to come online. Misscalling through cellphone doesn't cause anything! Where do we get them from? Forum, Messengers, VoiP, FTP are all for free via legal online downloading databases. SMS is our personal gadget, teenagers today have them almost always. PDAs were donated by a Foundation.

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

The team, more than this competition has a sincere aim of spreading these information of MDGs. Angelicum for example as a UN Volunteer has been promoting this project on conferences and engagements that he is attending. It is also worth mentioning that Angelicum is active in his country roaming the archipelego in teaching children how they can contribute to the MDGs. Same with Jaevion who always sights this project and lugging the web URL whenever he speaks on community gathering. The two has been interviewed MANY time by broadsheet newspapers, local and International news on TV and radio, wherein they are introducing to the viewers, listeners and readers the MDGs and the web URL. In case of the rest of members, they have been featured numerous times on their school paper and their local broadsheets as well. Angelicum when he visited Jamaica, attended a conference on ICT and he shared there how they used Technology to do this international collaboration aiming for the promotion of MDGs. From there they (Jaevion and Angelicum) were interviewed by local Jamaican and International press both print and non-print and was given the chance to interact with Students from around Jamaica as well. Samuel also went to Jamaica and there he talked about his specialty on biotechnology and the environment.

Another good anecdote is the second gathering of Young MDG members Jaevion, Angelicum, and Tarek in San Francisco who attended a week of culminating events where they also get to talk to the American and Filipino Press and promote the MDGs and our project young MDG. Contacts we have gained are tremendous, people from UN agencies, from the field of ICT and the likes. All we can do in encouraging them to use the website is to first share our team story, which has already been effective and tested! Many of them wanted to be a part of our team in the future!

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

The impact that our prject has made so fr is something we can consider good. For example, our team members have presented our project on schools, universities, communities and gathering of diplomats and company staffs, after people from their party asked for us to present it to them. Perhaps they have heard of our project and story and they wanted their group to hear from it and maybe learn some lessons. Jaevion for example was invited by his proffessor to present the project idea to his students, Angelicum was invited by a software company in The Philippines to share to the company staffs and workers as part of thei annual workshop how the Young MDG project was realized using Information Technology. For further envissioning, we are hoping this project to have more impact thus making it have a broader grasp of audience. Through our webpage, many children have given us feedback that they want to be in the team and be like the country representative and stuff, we see this as omething humbling knowing that they wanted to be a part because they think it is one of the things they could do to contribute to MDGs, which made us very satisfied that our GOAL was at part achieved! To educate them and inspire them, and finally make them a part of these crusade. Not only from children we get feedbacks, we also have feedbacks from educators and adults saying that they have lkearned a lot and that the website, even if it was made to cater children, is defenietely FOR ADULTS ALSO. Some teachers told us that they will use the puzzles and lesson plan samples we provided on the website, again, another fact that we are now starting to achieve our real purpose!

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

We have a “resources” link on our webpage for focal resource persons.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Optional