Project ideas for Growing up in Regional Victoria

Hi, this is Karen from RMIT - it is good to see the WEBLOG is already being used for talking amongst yourselves. In terms of your project ideas- when you get to the point of being ready to post something then post it as a comment on this posting. It need not be too detailed - around say 100-150 words. Let us know what you would like to research - possibly presented as a research question you'd like to answer or an issue you'd like to explore and how you would like to do your reserach work - identify a method or research tool or tools that you would like to use as part fo the project, for example guided tours, photography, video interviews etc... Once we have this information we will then be able to give you some advice on resources and some tricks of the trade!! You can continue to post thoughts on any of the forums on this WEBLOG and if you want to start a new posting around a particular topic (remember your resear ch project might incorporate the use of the WEBLOG) just let me know and I will put one up for you. Nice to meet you all over the past few days - and keep in touch.

The image below is from Josh K who drew a picture of his farm in Condah a part of his survey.

Comments

[AdaM McMAHoN]

Hey Karen,
Adam here. Me, scratch and jimmy munro have decided we r gonna research and put together a little somfink on local skateparks, how crappy some r compard 2 others, and Y DOESNT CASTERTON HAVE A SK8PARK? We can definatley use photography, interviews, surveys and many other types of research.

Hope u enjoy (aswell as the rest of u!!!)

AdAm mCmAhOn!!!

[Emily]

hey kareen, i think this is a really good ideal.i think there should be a community shop in nareen, many people just go into casterton for milk or any other towns around

[lil]

HEY KAREN
ISSUES IN THIS DISTRICT.
THERE ARE WAY TO MANY SMOKERS, I MEAN THERE ALL UNDER AGE.THEY SMOKE AT SCHOOL,SKATE PARKS AND PUPLIC TOILETS.I HAVE A FRIEND WHOS MUM THINKS SHE SMOKES BUT SHE DOESNT.ALSO OUR PARENTS DONT TRUST US,WHERE NEARLY ADULTS MOST OF THE TIME THEY DO ALL OF THE WEIRD STUFF.

[jacob and will]

Hey Karen our idea is that we should get Dunkelds pasenger trains and stations going again like most people drive to melbourne and we recon just taking the trains will be alot easier and quicker.

[rays cool]

Hey Karin, my idea for a reserch project is that there is not enogh to do in Heywood because that is were i live. i dont go to the skatepark and the only the only other thing i can do is visit my friends and i can only do that so much. My fav thig to do is go for a swim and that is only open for a short time in summer so i would really like if we could get an all year round pool instead of just one that only goes for a short period of time. I could use photography and interviews to try and get an all year round pool.

From Raymond Deallar

[Adam Cameron]

Hey Karen,
i was thinking about doing that penshurst needs more sport facilities. i will be doing it on my own. i will use all the methods i will interveiw people in town and give a survey. because all the people in penshurst are getting fatter.
Thanks Karen.

[dane]

Hey karen
Hamilton needs a better cinema because the one we got now SUCKS because the seats are uncomfortable. the screen is to small i wanna see the hamilton cinema improved the way i will reasearch is that i'll take some photos ask some questions and do some mapping.

[karen malone]

Hi Zoe, Laura and Sara
Litter, pollution are all huge issues for people living in cities and towns around the world. It woudl be great to do you street based research and then also connect with the council to find out where the litter on streets goes (ie drains to the creek? to the river to the ocean????)

How about suggesting some ideas where young people might support an anti-litter campaign (like the stencilling on the drains projects) with the council... alos you might like to look at the other countries where litter has been identified also as an issue that young peple are concerned about - on small islands particularly because of the lack of space and places for landfill - the rubbish has to be shipped off and is very costly - one of the issues of tourism obviously the increase in the costs of litter..

The idea is great - would be good to extend it into a global perpsective - I can help with that! Well done
Cheers Karen

[karen malone]

Tom, Jarrad and the team,

Did you see Steven and his team are also looking at the skatepark... have a chat with them to see what they are doing and make usre you have something unique to add - dont do the same I suppose I am saying but work to add value to each of the groups projects. While Steven's group is focusing on the design - I think it is great that you guys do a close in look at what goes on at the park - different times of the day, different people, issues of safety, danger - this is a more social/cultural study - but theirs is a more design/physical study of the actual skateparks... (Hamilton and Coleraine)

Photographs, behaviour mapping, videoing - all would be great to visually show how the space is being used along with the interviews.

Cheers Karen

[karen malone]

Hi Lil
The issue of young people's health- particularly smoking, drugs and alcohol - I think it would be great to show that young people are smart and sensible and often make good choices... yes maybe they try stuff but that doesnt mean they smoke fulltime or they dont decide that it is crappy to smoke... Maybe you should do an anonymous survey asking young people about their smoking habits - why they tried it, if they liked, if they stopped - why they think parents dont trust them...

Why dont parents trust young people? Need to go to the source... maybe a study talking with parents about what they worry about in terms of the health and well being their young people?

Sounds good LIL

[karen malone]

Nicole and Madalene
The idea of exploring sport from a female perspective - what sports do the young women engage in? (maybe compared to the national average... or compared to overseas ) and the issues associated with sporting venues- how many are there? what condition are they in? what does this mean for women/females? for instance does it turn them off playing netball if the courts are in poor conditon?

Sounds great... remember to utilise council staff - recreation who might have numbers from the region on sports activities - ask associations like teh netwball association for the number of active players - and age groups etc...

You could do a regional map showing where the courts are in the region and some pictures of the different venues linked to the courts.

Maybe some video interviews with players at the sport venues about the condition of the courts?
Cheers karen

[karen malone]

Daniel, Jordan and group members-
The shops is interesting... would be good to do a large scale mapping and photographic display (use type of digital photogrid technology) of what shops there are and where in the streets of hamilton they reside.... then maybe some surveys with different people of different ages about what shops they use. Make a list of all the shops and get them to identify the shops they use in categories of daily, weekly, monthly

and then ask them to identify shops they woudl liek to have and again how often they woudl use them: daily, weekly monthly

You could then graph this information... around ages, shop favourites etc...
The council have probably done some of this mapping stuff before as well - or even the chamber of commerce.

Cheers karen

[karen malone]

Joel and group
Sounds good- the local council should havce some information on the zoning changes and plans for building in Coleraine... that could be used to give some background to yourt project. see also the comments I gave Daniel and his group - some of thes emight also work with your study- maybe then you could compare your results on Coleraine with Daniels group on Hamilton.

Cheers Karen

[karen malone]

Jess and team-
Fantastic - the internet stuff is very interesting and current. Remember to look into the Australian Bureau of Statistics information so you can make comparisions between your study and the Australian average.
Look on the intrenet for some reserach on internet use- there is heaps out there!
using time schedules to ask a group of people to document their computer use over a week would add some nice close in data to your research work.
Cheers Karen

[karen malone]

Emily
Doing some community reserach around whya shop or if a shop was built would it be used would make for an useful study. Maybe you could do some of teh background reserach work as i had suggested to daniel around their study on hamilton shops. You could ask local people in your area to keep diaries around how far they travel to do their shopping, how often they travel and why (you coudl do this as a map of teh area and mark in all the backwards and forwards people make to different locations!! it would be a a very visually interesting map!) ... then see whether a shop would change those patterns of behaviour.
Cheers karen

[karen malone]

Jacob and Will
I agree - the issue of public transport - is really important. Why did the train line stop? (some historical reserach with Vline and the council might be handy here) Why do you have to travel by bus to Ballarat? How many people use the bus/train service? (find out from Vline) - maybe a survey with residents about if the train service was put back on would they use it instead of their car?

What does this mean for young people and their capacity to travel to Melbourne?

This would be a great research project...
Great work Karen

[karen malone]

Raymond- Ok sounds like an interesting project - you need to do some research with the community to find out if others feel the same as you about there being nothing tot do... maybe go and investifgate some other towns who ahve poools and see how and if they are used and feasible and think about how a submission for funding poool might look like. You should contact Yarra ranges Council - as they have just had a pool built in Yarra Junction (a small town like Heywood) maybe you could find out how that project was funded.

Cheers Karen

[karen malone]

Adam
Sounds good - there are some ideas around investigating people's sporting activities in earlier postings- the suggestions you make sound great. remember to do some visuals as well - to make it interesting - what sporting facilities are there available? And how are they being used? Who by?

Great work Karen

[karen malone]

Dane
When did the cinema get built? Who uses it? besides movies is it used for other things? Remember to give some background on the cinema - and who was it who told me their grandfather/father use to run/own the old Hamilton cinema? Was that you?

Some history on the old cinema would be great to compare - size, chairs...

Some suggestiosnf ro change - well you do need to go to the source(people who use it) and find out who funds/supports the building management...

Cheers great work karen

[Jason]

G.U.I.R.V
Heywood District Secondary College
Name-
Jason Atchison, Scott McKinnon
Proposed title-
A History of Dartmoor
How we research it-
We will research it by videoing interesting places in Dartmoor
How we present it-
We are going to present it by a video camera interview

[Leigh Compton]

G.U.I.R.V
Heywood Secondary Collage

NAMES LEIGH Compton, Emma Gallacher, Steven Surrey

PROPOSED TITLE: Portland Buggy club

Our group is doing some interviews , history ,photos about the club We will present our project in a powerpoint

[Karen Malone]

Hey Jason and Scott
Sounds great - remember to include maps for those people who dont know where Dartmoor is! I am assuming this is your local area? Make sure you include your own stories as young people living in the area as well! Good luck Cheers Karen

[Karen Malone]

Hi Leigh, Emma and Steven
Portland Buggy Club??? Is this something to do with horse racing??? See I have no idea (city folk!!). Remember to include why this place is of interest to you and include maps of where Portland is and alittle on the town itself for those hwo have never come across it. A powerpoint would be great to use as a form of presentation. Remember to keep text to a minimum - some images a short digital videos on screen will make it really interesting. Cheers Karen

[AdAm McMaHoN]

Moly and jESS,
CaN I sEnD thaT foto Of U 2 @ FreeZa 2 Karen?

[rays cool]

i like gemma