Community Challenge #3: Where There's Smoke....
Aug 01, 2013
I recently received permission from a representative for the US Fire Safety website to use a section of their website for our next challenge. For the next challenge we will be recreating the Fire Safety for Kids section. This isn't to replace what they have, but to use for this challenge. This can also be used as a portfolio piece.
It has three different topics and a few activities. You don't have recreate every topic and activity, one topic and one activity is enough. You can work solo or in teams and can use any tools at your disposal to produce the work.
The topics are fairly short, but if you want to add some more information, there won't be any penalties for going beyond five slides. Just keep in mind that the audience are children so you can have a bit of fun too.
The deadline for this is Oct 1st. This should be plenty of time to produce some excellent examples.
Other than having a nice portfolio piece for you to show, there's also an added incentive (and shameless plug). I'll be offering prizes to top 3 entries (as voted on by the community). I'll be offering discounts to a new online store , visual-e-learning, that I will be opening soon that will offer, design elements, (buttons etc), backgrounds, animations, and (drumroll please) new illustrated characters that can be integrated into Storyline like the built-in characters.
1st Place: 15% off*
2nd Place: 10% off*
3rd Place: 5% off*
*discount applies to products, not services
12 Replies
Great idea! ......... and I look forward to the Grand Opening.
PJ
Nice one, Jerson (and thanks to US Firesafety!) - missed the last one, so hoping to get in on this one
One more month for this challenge.
I like this challenge and look forward to what people to do. This should be fun.
I will add that the one thing I have always appreciated about the community is the helpfulness of others and lack of eLearning vendors peddling their services. It's really not the place to do that. I find that linking a community challenge to services you offer violates the spirit of why people come to a community like this to learn. Why not use your own site to create the challenge?
@ Sara
I'm sorry you feel that way. I do this on a volunteer basis. I think of ideas for the challenges, do some research to find ways to improve this process, and sort and post the entries when they come in. I do this because I think it's fun and I like to give back to this community. I believe this challenge has some great potential. But if you look at the entries from the first challenge to the second, there was a large decrease in numbers. The main reason I added the rewards was to add some extra incentives for individuals to put in an entry and add a little bit more to the competition. In the future I would like to add some rewards from different vendors if any offer. If others believe as you, that the rewards diminish the spirit of the community, then I'll take them off from this event and future events.
Jerson,
Much as I would like to do the challenge, I do not have much spare time to do so, possibly a reason why the career freelancers are not really around this time. I suspect the holiday season got in the way.
I have been on other Boards with other competitions like this, and it is the case that "monthly" competitions etc. on boards quickly tend to reduce in interest, as they become "samey". Perhaps Quarterly would be a better idea?
Bruce
Hey Bruce,
I have noticed a lot less activity on the boards recently from the regulars. I feared this one would be more complicated than the previous two challenges so I increased the deadline to two months (original post) instead of one like the first two. I'm actually fairly busy myself and can't find time to create an entry for this contest too.
So if we go quarterly, should we have a 3 month deadline or stick to one month?
I think the challenge is a great idea, although I may not have time myself to participate - I hope it's a success and that you carry on because I'd like to try it at some point! If you move to quarterly, I would suggest still having a one-month deadline. If people are doing it, they will start straight away. If they don't, it'll remain something they're going to "do tomorrow".
I would add that, although I agree with Sara that it's nice that the Forum is non-commercial, I don't think Jerson's very gentle "plug" violates that spirit.
I would like to try this one. I want to see if I can get that colouring book exercise to work in SL. I really like these challenges because they give me an excuse to test ideas before attempting them on client projects.
Normally I don't like to see people promoting their products or services on this site but I agree with Ann about Jerson's plug. If you have been following some of the other threads on this site you will see that he has been really generous about sharing his process for creating these characters and making them work within the storyline character set.
I think Jerson is very generous by taking the time and energy to be the organiser and curator here.
I would agree with Bruce quarterly would work best here, you need to think carefully how to promote this and maintain interest.
This is a great idea that IMHO Jerson should be applauded for
+1 for all Phil's points.
I love the challenges and even though I'm fully committed to client work, it still inspires me to think of ideas, even if they never make it beyond the a-ha moment or a scrap paper drawing. Plus it's great to see how others interpret and tackle the challenges.
Happy September everyone!
Holly
I am in full agreement on having these challenges on an Articulate site. I love seeing other people's entries and the winning examples. And the fact that this inspires us to do creative work (no holes barred) that can be used in our portfolio is a real added bonus. Someone remarked that perhaps this is not the right site. Well maybe it could be in a Forums/building better courses/challenge discussions rather than in the main discussion thread. As long as it is on this site. One thing that Articulate should be proud of is its Community and the gathering of professional designer/developers. Just try to find something comparable for other products. Its one of the things that sold me on Storyline.
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.