Websites aren't made by nobody. Here you'll learn more about us as a team as well as some specific aspects of our cooperation to forming this website you are reading. This may help you better understand how this website was put together and just to get to know the authors a little better.
This team was borne out of an AIM conversation between two of the members. Both were very interested in working toghether on this project. Each decided to recruit friends to collaborate for such a project. Once the team was formed with members with different strengths, the team consisted of three members in California and the other three in New Jersey and attended three different schools.
Communication was done through email and AOL Instant Messenger, with some video conferences as well. The time difference was an interesting aspect that none of the previous Thinkquest Competitors experienced in the past. Sometimes email became a slow method, but ultimately served indispensable to the project. To make communication more organized, we setup a forum on our test server to discuss issues and share research, however this soon reverted back to emails as email was the fastest way to transfer files and research documents. Seeing email as the best form of communication most members began to check their emails more frequently in order to stay updated and productive in the project.
Our first task was to select the topic. We narrowed the list down to Weapons of Mass Destruction, Psychology, and Global Warming. After much deliberation, we elected to use Weapons of Mass Destruction for its importance in today's world and its multinational-reaching effects. We were also very interested in the history of these weapons and in our history classes we learned about World War II and the Cold War which were impacted heavily by nuclear weapons. We soon adopted the site name "Code Red: Weapons of Mass Destruction" to relate with the issue and give it an interesting title.
» View: Team Members
Our next step was to make a site map and divide up the responsibilities. Click here to view a brief description of each team member's responsibilities. As a team, we overcame challenges such as Dali's abrupt and unexpected relocation to another school. We supported one another through constructive criticism in emails and instant messages. We bonded together in an extraordinary fashion even though we have never met the rest of the team in person, and each one of us acquired a new understanding of the extraordinary power of weapons of mass destruction.
During the next phase of the project, team members specialized with their responsibilities. Peter conducted research while Rich and Harrison designed the HTML site and Dali designed the flash site. Ray worked on his graphical animations while Sam coded quizzes and games. Team members kept the rest of the team posted through primarily email. Constructive criticism and comments were abundant as we shared our work with each other. When HTML and Flash design were finished, Rich, Harrison, and Dali commenced their own research on topics of interest. Throughout the entire process, Mr. Corriveau provided many useful suggestions, but did not directly supervise the project. This was a student-driven team.
128 HTML pages, 178 pictures, and 5461 links later (or somewhere around there), we arrived at Code Red: Your Resource to Be Aware.
Our team created multiple drafts of the HTML site, Flash site, and sitemap. Click below to view the progression of work.
» View: First Draft of HTML Website — Second Draft of the HTML Website
» View: First Draft of the Flash Site
» View: First Draft of the Sitemap — Second Draft of the Sitemap
For the last week, the team spent its time refining and editing existing pages. A host of typos and grammatical errors were caught prior to public release.
The team utilized our 3000 miles of separation and three different schools to include a variety of political viewpoints. We conducted interviews of people from a variety of backgrounds to gain a multifaceted perspective, including a political lobbyist, a scientist, an author, and a first-responder. We put together case studies of countries around the globe. We also approached the Iranian proliferation issue from an Iranian perspective and found that perhaps Iran is being treated unfairly by the Western world. The scientific and technological facts are presented objectively as they are, but the political references are varied. Quotes from different Presidents and international leaders are included.
