It has obvious relevance to physical & human geographers ( field work, local school/town surveys?). It would have value to historians (Monmouth Rebellion, Blake, WW II defences; Roman Britain, Wessex & Arthur; Victorian rail & canal building?); economics, business studies (leisure industry, local businesses?) or tourism & leisure teachers (survey of B&Bs? Consumer report on Somerwest World?). Creative work could involve English & Art departments. Mathematicians could find & supply data (eg demographic, meteorological?) and give hints on presentation & analysis. PSE links; information on religion & churches in the area. . . . Mostly KS3, 4 & above since the Somerset Intranet is doing some similar stuff at primary level, I believe.
To some extent it will (I hope) pick up & extend areas like the existing & excellent Parrett Trail web site. (If they agree!) I particularly would value it as a collection of work from a lot of other Schools, & public & private bodies like Nature Conservancy, Wetlands Trust, etc. Many of these could instead contribute simply by allowing us to put a link to their own areas.
I hope to it would have value to 'compare & contrast' with similar work in very different parts of the country- or world- in communications projects & possibly conferencing.
There are other excellent existing projects on the 'net already- one on Lulworth Cove, another on the River Ribble- but most have concentrated on the physical & human geography, and none on Somerset.
The project will stand or fall on the number of pupils, teachers & organisations we can get involved, which is why we are testing the market' in this way.
Any project would NOT be commercialised, with CD's produced at-cost and obviously links to other people's resource material costing nothing. I WOULD hope for sponsorship- after all, if for instance we publicize Hestercombe as a place to visit, Philip White might give a small contribution to our costs!
I hope that some material would be things like worksheets keyed to National Curriculum or A Level, & exemplar project work. It would save teachers re-inventing the wheel; give a showcase for good work already available within individual schools; and encourage further development of pooled resources.
The CD could be distributed quite cheaply- if done in bulk- and be made available to pupils & parents who would like to see their children's contribution. We hope to have the support of the Somerset Education Authorities & co-ordinate our work with what they are putting on the Somerset Schools Intranet. We also will apply for funding from national agencies & individuals, and there is scope for advertising revenue. Think of the possibilities of distributing to hotels, B&Bs, tourist information offices, etc!
Each school, department, class or individual teacher, parent or pupil can contribute material. We could support schools in several ways, by marking up their text & pictures to a standard html interface; blowing CDs; conducting workshops on using digicams & assembling material; sharing expenses like the cost of Ordnance survey data.
Our credentials as initiators of such a project include a very long history of creating websites and the production of three very successful CDs so far.
We also have experience of using various relevant GIS systems that might contribute- eg 3-D topographic modelling, or national Census data uses. You might like our help, for example, to produce 360 degree panoramas like those shown here for your school, village, nature reserve, etc. . . .
