Random Winners
Genomics Digital Lab (GDL) is an animated software tool which is designed to help users understand plants and their significance. In an interactive laboratory, users are able to alter the environment around a dying plant, zooming in and out of the major plant cell organelles, and using what they learn to figure out how to make the dying plant survive and thrive. The software is divided into three modules representing the mitochondria, chloroplasts and nucleus, whilst reinforcing the "Genomic" concept that organelles are inter-dependent. The Genomics Digital Lab learning environment uses visually stunning games and puzzles to engage learners and encourage a deeper understanding of biological processes, promoting higher-order thinking skills in a fun and entertaining format. The software comes complete with accompanying teaching material, geared towards the curricula of high-school grades 7 to 12. For more information visit the websites http://www.vivetechnologies.com/gdl/home.html and http://www.exploreGDL.com.
"Street Dance School - the Center" has become a hit among Bulgarian fans of hip-hop culture. Functioning to promote a school of street dance, this interactive website aims to persuade even the worst couch potatoes to get into the groove. Not only does the site make users want to get moving, SDS the Center is also attractive from a technological perspective. Video, image and text content are combined, animated and allow for user interaction. Each time the user logs in, the contents can be viewed in a different manner, whilst clarity and functionality of design are maintained. The project requires no significant resources, making it accessible to the masses. Visitors to the site can listen the music used for training, leave comments, view recordings of performances, read biographies of the choreographers and, having been convinced, subscribe to actual dance classes themselves. For more information visit the website http://www.csdance.net/en.
The karma currency foundation was set-up to revitalize the philanthropic landscape in Australia. Karma currency is Australia's first online gift voucher website for charitable donations, offering non-profit agencies - big and small - the chance to use the site as a new fundraising channel, with 100% of all donations going to their charity. The site explains this new concept in an easy and straightforward manner to users, providing an intuitive user experience for a diverse target audience, in the hope of converting browsers into purchasers. Charities that sign-up for the first time are reviewed and approved by karma and, once accepted, are able to complete their profiles and upload products for customers to purchase. With new charities signing up and content changing daily, the workflow and approval process demands that karma have complete control over all content on the site. A Content Management System platform has therefore been developed to give karma staff complete autonomy in managing the site, with the tools to manage charity partners, content workflow, financial reporting and the generation of reports for the Australia Taxation Office. For more information visit the website www.karmacurrency.com.au.
Rigorous censorship is an issue with which the population of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) are well-acquainted. In a country where most official journalists support the government in order to receive protection, working as an independent journalist is far from easy. Thanks to Internet blogging, however, the founder of Congoblog.net found a platform for freedom of speech where he could publish his articles without fearing the censorship that ordinary newspapers are subject to. Congoblog proved to be a huge hit amongst the republic’s population, and soon was transformed into a platform enabling other Congolese citizens to themselves freely. Eight young citizens were trained by the founder on blogging techniques, and were provided with a camera – previously unthinkable in the former dictatorship, whereby anyone caught taking an unlicensed photo was promptly arrested and thrown into jail. Step by step, with the support of the journalism school of Lille, these young bloggers are being encouraged to take the lead on the website, in the hope that the project will motivate them to train others in the technique of blogging. For more information visit the website http://www.congoblog.net.
Integrated Court System comprises three main systems; a Community and Advocates Portal, a Case Management System, and a Court Recording and Transcription System. CAP and CMS are fully web-based applications that are centrally hosted at Sarawak Information Systems, an industrial standard data centre. CAP serves as an information technology channel of communication and operations among the public community, which includes the clients, their advocates, and the judiciary. CMS functions to facilitate judiciary processes within the court, in particular the management of court cases. CRT is a specialized system for the real-time recording and transcribing of courtroom events. As a package, the Integrated Court System promotes productivity and efficiency for judiciary processes that benefit three main groups of people; namely the judiciary or court officials, the advocates, and the public community who are parties (plaintiff and defendants) in trial cases. The project has been successfully implemented in two eastern states in Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. For more information visit the website http://www.highcourt.sabah.sarawak.gov.my.
With its new SanierungsCheck software, Austrian building society ‘Bausparkasse’ is providing its customers with an easy first step to improving energy efficiency in their homes. Users of the website can get a first impression of the necessary improvements to be made to their properties in just a few minutes – all from the comfort of their own homes. This unique software guides users through the many solutions available for exploiting the maximum energy-saving potential of their properties in a simple and straightforward manner. It identifies the necessary improvements, calculates a building cost estimate based on the data entered, evaluates the subsidies available in the respective federal province and calculates potential mortgage options. The software is divided into several modules to achieve optimum results that meet specific user requirements. These modules can be used on their own or in combination, according to individual needs and interests. Sanierungscheck.at features a modern and self-explanatory design to facilitate access and provide all the necessary information at a glance. For more information visit the website http://www.sanierungscheck.at.
Videolectures.Net provides free and open internet access to high quality videos of lectures presented by distinguished scholars and scientists at prominent academic events in the field of Science. The portal aims to promote science, facilitate the exchange of ideas and foster knowledge sharing by providing high quality didactic content, not only for the scientific community, but also for a more general public. All lectures, accompanying documents, information and links are systematically selected and are classified during the editorial process according to user comments. For more information visit the website http://videolectures.net.Videolectures.Net provides free and open internet access to high quality videos of lectures presented by distinguished scholars and scientists at prominent academic events in the field of Science. The portal aims to promote science, facilitate the exchange of ideas and foster knowledge sharing by providing high quality didactic content, not only for the scientific community, but also for a more general public. All lectures, accompanying documents, information and links are systematically selected and are classified during the editorial process according to user comments. For more information visit the website http://videolectures.net.
Newstin is an innovative technology that incorporates a new approach to content organization. Comprising over 100 million documents and 5 billion metadata items, it is the largest news database in the world with up to 250,000 articles processed daily. Newtin?s mission is to help corporate and government clients optimize intelligence efficiency and improve performance management by providing fully automated news and data categorization solutions in all the major world languages. Newstin technology is a unique system that features multi-language and cross-language document categorization. It is a powerful engine which harnesses a variety of cutting-edge technologies and implements linguistic processing with semantic analysis and multi-tier content categorization. With 2 million users globally, Newstin patented technology has the potential to become a core platform for organizing any form of unstructured textual data. For more information visit the website http://www.newstin.com.
“Human and Nature” is an ICT-based integrated course of natural sciences for 12-14 year-old Lithuanian pupils. Based on thorough pedagogical research and results of pilot projects, natural science meets modern information technology in a fully comprehensive online environment. Virtual learning and teaching content is attractively packaged in the form of over 1700 learning objectives, which are presented via site-demonstrations, laboratories, and quizzes. An online encyclopedia and thesaurus complements course content. Coordinated by SPC, a department of the Lithuanian Ministry of education, the project has been integrated into the curriculum of schools throughout the country. A team of educational experts colloborated during the process to produce literature on methodological recommendations for practice and changes to the natural sciences curriculum, alongside developing a comprehensive user manual. Following the project’s success, proposals are now being drafted for similar courses in Lithuanian language, and natural sciences for 15-16 year-olds. For more information visit the website http://mkp.emokykla.lt/gamta5-6.
Royal Court Affairs is an electronic evaluation system, which works by receiving, evaluating and short-listing job applications via SMS technology and a mediator programme. Applicants can apply for Royal Court of Affairs vacancies by sending an SMS with their MoMP (Ministry of Manpower) registration code (a database containing citizens’ CV details) and their chosen job code. A mediator system matches the applicant details from the MoMP with the job requirements from the RCA recruitment office. If the match is successful, the candidate is short-listed. Should the candidate fail to satisfy any of the requirements, the application is rejected and an SMS is sent with valid rejection grounds. Once the candidate satisfies all the requirements, he receives an SMS with a registration number and congratulatory message. The whole process is incredibly fast and efficient, normally taking 5-10 seconds from receipt of the SMS to response. For more information visit the website http://www.rca.gov.om.
