1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?
We used multiple technological devices and tool for making our Cyber fair project which included : • Web development • Web designing software • Video and Image editing softwares • video and digital still cameras • digitizers and scanners • tape recorders • Internet video or other teleconferencing • type computer software • libraries • books, newspapers • museums • oral interviews These tools helped us put together the Cyber fair project. Our breath-taking website used all the tools above for the execution of our operations and beauty. We were taught to use the Web developing and designing in our school. Rest skills were gathered and learned by our team from various sources and places. Our most valuable technologies used were Video, Digital and image editing software skills as it helped us lighten up our website. Our most valuable tools were Photo and video cameras, also other devices used for illustrations and digital drawings
2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.
We tried to depict and convey the true culture and beauty of our prestigious state of West Bengal, by acting as the ambassador of the true artisans behind it and as a spokesperson by spreading their thoughts, ideas, stories, and reality of life to everyone. Our team members went around getting to know about different vendors and personals who had been in the field of their profession for a long time. Interviewing people from the local street vendors to the Owner of a very prominent sweet shop in our city, we tried to cover all the spectrums of the society. While interviewing a florist we got to know his story of selling those beautiful flowers since about twenty years and about the process of bringing the flowers from the fields to the market for purchase Interviewing Smritirekha Bishnu a housemaker who has her mastery over Bengali food we realised how these traditional Bengali recipes had been passed on from many generations. Getting to know about those flavours she had grown up with and cherished was a beautiful moment.
3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?
By recognizing the true essence of the Bengali culture, we explored all its threads of Fashion, Food, Its Horticulture and many other things, this brought to us the realization of a bond that we never realized we had with the various people and diverse essence of the culture, By collecting and publishing everything we have got to know and learn about the culture and its people, we believe it can enlighten people about its true beauty. The tasty mouthwatering Bengali food, the heartwarming and vibrant flowers , the smooth, silky red and white sarees can tell people how many things the Bengali cultures holds for them to explore. Through our project we able to help show the struggles of the local street vendors and what harsh times they had faced recently. Bringing them new audience and customer was a heartwarming deed that we are proud of. We also found and promoted the places with the true traditional items and services of Bengal which were slowly perishing. Bringing to notice, the people who still thrive with the old and traditional cultures was the true motive of our project. Our website has contributed in helping people across our community to learn about the true traditions of Bengal that have been kept alive by these locals and what they are. By meeting new people through our project we made many new working relations with many street vendors, local shops and other important people of our community. The local gardeners, vendors, chefs have been a part of our lives since a long time but we never had a chance to interact and socialize with them. Through this project we brought the appreciation they deserve, for keeping the beauty of our community. Our respective teachers are among the people who have seen our website. The feedback received has been positive of our Website being informative, eye catching and also one that bring true stories and thoughts of those people to the viewer.
4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
Our teachers, Ma'am Sourina Bose and Sir Niladri Motilal provided us with the technical guidance we needed and were willing to answer all of our questions on how to go about the project. Food Group- Despite being busy serving clients during rush hour, the hospitable staff of Taruniketan, particularly the waiter, were ready to answer all of our inquiries about the meal being served and the ingredients utilised. Having worked at the restaurant for years, he was well-versed in the food being served and was able to provide us with detailed information about each dish. The shop employees at Jugal’s and Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick were extremely helpful too and not only indulged our questions about the sweets but also briefed us about their shop’s history. Riddhima Koley, a member of our team interviewed her grandmother who told us a lot about some homemade Bengali food items and explained the procedure for making them and the ingredients utilised. Apart from that she also gave us a few anecdotes about her childhood and how the food her mother cooked would bring the whole family together.
Fashion Group- A class XI student of South Point High School, Prapti Banerji, shared with us her valuable advice on the sarees of West Bengal. Being a local Bengali and someone whose been in the saree business for some time now, she shared with us a few pictures of different sarees and told us about some of the lesser-known types of sarees.
A member of our team, Samriddha Nandi, collected pictures from her family, and we utilised them to illustrate our section on the fashion of Bengal. Flowers Group- A member of the flowers group interviewed a flower vendor she found near her house. After a few flower vendors had disagreed to talk to her, she was glad to see that he was eager to indulge her questions. He gave her information about the various kinds of flowers he sells and she got to know a lot about the world of flowers and see how majestic flowers are.
Art Group- …
5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
An interesting discovery was when Muskan Goel / a member of our team got herself a plant from the flower vendor whom our team had interviewed and realised her love for plants and gardening. She loved to see the plant grow and the new flowers emerge, and soon she bought herself some more plants to decorate her balcony with.
Coming to the lessons we learnt, teamwork would be the most important lesson and the foremost thing that we experienced. There was a significant number of students who had to work together to produce this website and even though, initially, we faced some difficulties allocating and dividing the workload, in the end, we all realised the importance of working together and cooperating with all the team members.
Another big lesson and surprise were not only learning about the culture of our state and city but also experiencing it. Due to this project, we learnt a bit more about our family members, who are knowledgeable about our society and provided us with valuable guidance. It was a surprise finding out that our city has so much cultural history that we were never aware of and it was an enlightening experience to know about it. The members of the art group learnt about the richness of Bengal’s art and at the same time about the plight of the artisans whose sales have dropped significantly in this modern world where very few share the love for traditional art forms.
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