May 8 2002
The contest was among the most successful run so far. Students were very
enthusiastic. There were more volunteers than ever. Twenty-one t-shirts were
distributed to student volunteers (those who worked for the duration of the
contest). A shirt was also presented to John Zappavigna, father of co-winner
Andrew Zappavigna, for his support of the contest over the years as each of his
children competed in the contest. This year's event was further enhanced by the
presence of Global BCTV's Mike McCardell who filmed a segment on the contest for
his popular evening spot. He spent an hour or two at the school, interviewing
students and observing the contest. The piece ran that evening, while the
contest was still underway.
The entire testing apparatus was set up the evening prior to the contest. This was the first time we did this. It made for a much less stressful contest day. However, it meant that much of the auditorium was unavailable for other school activities. Bridges were judged for workmanship and design beginning at 12:15 pm. This was not without its troubles. In future we will have to ensure that only physics students are present for this portion of the contest. However, the lunch hour is also an ideal time to capture interest from other students who clearly want to see these bridges that they have heard about from others.
Testing began around 1:30 pm. Again, this was not ideal as not everyone could be present. However, it ensured that we were well underway when BCTV arrived shortly after 3 pm. Next year we will probably return to the 3:30 pm testing start time. There is however some merit in having an afternoon start to which other classes could be invited.
Another notable aspect to this year's contest was the presence of an outside entrant. For the first time we permitted (mind you, we had never been asked previously) a competitor other than our students to submit an entry. Actually, this entrant was so enthusiastic that he sent along two entries, each wonderfully crafted. Phil Wyatt, a Chicago-area fireman, had competed in a contest like ours when he was a high school senior. Having come across our web site (www.balsabridge.com) he sought permission to enter the 2002 contest. His entries arrived well in advance of the contest, giving some of our students inspiration and motivation. Fireman Phil saw both bridges tested through our webcam feed. Glue failures unfortunately spelled disaster for them and neither design was truly tested to its limits. Portions of entry #1, a modified truss design, were retrieved by my colleague Irene Slater and are now mounted in partially re-assembled fashion on her classroom wall.
Testing was halted at 5:45 pm for a half-hour dinner break. The student volunteers were fed Burger King meals purchased from the contest operating funds.
Corporate and academic institution support of the contest continues to improve. Financial support was provided by APEGBC, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (a long-time supporter, thank you to Wayne Gibson), Simon Fraser University's School of Engineering Science (thank you to John Jones) and the Notre Dame Education Committee. Support in kind, through the donation of prize or promotional material came from local software firm Globalintercom (www.globalintercom.com) and from UBC's Engineering Physics co-op program (thank you Sandy Abley).
May 26 2002
Spent two hours uploading and formatting the first 90 or so photographs from
this year's contest. The photographs are being displayed in the same format as
last year's. There are about 300 photographs to process. Not all will be
displayed but the rejection rate is remarkably low in this first batch. The
student photographers have done a wonderful job. The print photographs have yet
to be processed. This year's winners are eager to have their photograph
prominently displayed on the site. It looks like the 1997 shot, displayed for
the past several years, will finally go to the archives.
Traffic to balsabridge.com has slowed in recent days. This is not unexpected with the winding down of the school year. No further upgrading of the previous site will be undertaken. Changes are only being made to the balsabridge.com site.
May 29 2002
Spent another hour uploading additional photographs. Very happy with the quality
of this year's photographs. Hopefully they will benefit students in future
contests.
Traffic to balsabridge.com is picking up again. Several sites have now upgraded their links to point to the new domain. Bridgepros.com seems to drive a lot of traffic this way.
June 1 2002
Finished uploading digital photographs. Nine full pages at 28 photos per page
plus a few more on page 10. Hoping to have a student or parent donate a copy of
the team photograph that was taken that night. The digital shot is too dark
(this was not unexpected as the Epson 880 flash is very poor beyond a couple of
metres). Any additional photos will be scanned and posted to pages 11 and 12.
June 5 2002
Modified link on www.ndrs.org/physicsonline
(the original Physics site) to point to balsabridge.com.
June 8 2002
Produced a results graph in Excel and then exported the graph as a gif.
Eventually modified the graph to incorporate a
three-year moving average. The final result is now available on the site.
Testing a drop-down menu that incorporates the most used site content.
June 9 2002
Produced additional graphs, including a five-year
plot containing results from the past five contests. This graph suggests
that the average mass supported over the past five years is just over 56 kg. The
median is a little lower, just under 46 kg. Met Mario Faccone, a winner of this
contest back in the mid 1980s, at church today. He indicated that he would
welcome the opportunity to compete in an alumni contest. In many ways it was his
competitive spirit that propelled this contest to the point where it became an
accepted fact of life at Notre Dame.
June 13 2002
Added an automatic forward tag to the old site. This may result in some dropped
traffic initially but hopefully more traffic over time. Balsabridge.com has not
yet been picked by any major search engines. I expect that to change within two
weeks. Six to eight weeks seems to be the average wait in the last year or so.
Revamped the front end a little by displaying the current winning entry and its
proud builders.
June 17 2002
Missed the annual awards evening at school for the first time in many years. It
has always been a big part of the contest to see students honored for their
successful bridge projects with plaques and the major trophy. Experimented with
a cross-fading slide show applet that is now running at the bottom of the main
page. I would subsequently like to use it to display winning entries and perhaps
to display important bridges here in the Vancouver area.
August 1 2002
Domain finally showing up in major search engines. Google and AltaVista have it
in the top five for "balsa bridge." Beginning a page devoted to
bridges of the Vancouver area.
August 6 2002
Added a bridge clipart
page. Content needs to be organized but thumbnails are in place. Expanded
the keywords listing for the main page.
August 8 2002
Converted all site pages to make use of a common style sheet. Some pages
need "repair" on a case-by-case basis but generally speaking the
conversion process has been straightforward. Set up a blank page that will
become the basis of a "Bridges of Vancouver" section of the site.
August 12 2002
Added content to the "Bridges of Vancouver" page. Began moving
picture content from 1999 and earlier from ndrs.org to the images folders on
balsabridge.com. Made fixes to the 1999 display page.
August 17 2002
Began scanning bridge slides from 1981 to add to the Bridges of Vancouver
page. Results were not that good with the slide adapter but with various
compromises acceptable images were generated.
August 25 2002
Added a questions/comments form to the site.
Added up/down arrows to the main page. Traffic has picked up considerably this
week.
January 17 2003
Modified the questions/comments form to stress the
need for users to enter an e-mail address. Many forms are posted without the
relevant e-mail address. Consequently, a reply cannot be send.
