Questions of general interest

1) Can a company take part in the same section of the contest with different entries by different web designers working for that company?

2) Can a participant submit more than one entry for the same section of the contest, e.g. a work developed individually and a work developed in a group?

3) Suppose we take part with a intro for section A of the contest and that we insert some sentences from the reference file of the guidelines . Since the site www.appenninomodenese.net is bilingual, do we have to write them in English or Italian?
Is it possible to insert a bilingual version both for an animation (section A) and for a game or highly interactive application (section B of the contest)?

4) Can I use the images of section b for section a and viceversa?

5) Will you give a certificate to participants?

Questions section A

1a) I would like to participate in section A of the contest. In the guidelines there is a lot of information. What should not be absolutely missed in the intro? What should the essence be?

2a) Section A of the contest, intro for www.appenninomodenese.net: is it necessary to consider the current graphics of the site?

3a) Section A of the contest: I would like to know if there are established dimensions for the intro or if it is left to the author's decision.

4a) Section A of the contest: has the home page of www.appenninomodenese.net to appear at the end of the intro?

5a) Why have you devised a section devoted to the Apennine?

6a) There are many photos in the guidelines but I do not want to insert them all in the intro of section A. I do not know the Modenese Apennine, how could I make a selection of the images according to their importance for the tourist?

7a) I'm not Italian, i do not know your territory, the reference text in the guidelines is very long, so it is hard for me to find slogans for my intro. Could you please give me some advice?

Questions section B

1b) Is it possible to create an entire web site in Flash for section B of the contest?

2b) Can I process the results of a game running for section B of the contest through asp or access files stored in a different server from the one hosting AniMoweb site (Modena Province server)?

3b) Is it also possible to use Flash MX and then make the movie visible with Flash Player 6 or does the final product have to be realized for the Flash Player 5 only?

Question

1a) I would like to participate in section A of the contest. In the guidelines there is a lot of information. What should not be absolutely missed in the intro? What should the essence be?

Answer

In the intro of Section A of the contest:
1) the writing www.appenninomodenese.net
2) some references to the images
3) eventually some references to the descriptive text, some “slogans” to make the main points emerge
should not be missed.
The guidelines are a restraint but also a help to get to know the Modenese Apennine better. The main goal of the intro should be to promote the tourist features of this territory and the site www.appenninomodenese.net

Question

2a) Section A of the contest, intro for www.appenninomodenese.net: is it necessary to consider the current graphics of the site?

Answer

No. The graphics of entries can be completely different from the current site and can offer suggestions for its future graphic rearrangement.

Question

3a) Section A of the contest: I would like to know if there are established dimensions for the intro or if it is left to the author's decision.

Answer

In terms of bytes a maximum dimension of 300 Kb is proposed (see regulation and general indications of Section A)
In terms of height and width in pixels of the flash movie you can set them as you like.

Question

4a) Section A of the contest: has the home page of www.appenninomodenese.net to appear at the end of the intro?

Answer

Decisions of the jury will not consider the fact that the intro end with the appearing of the home page of www.appenninomodenese.net. or not ; in the same way the presence of the buttons for skipping or connecting directly to the English or Italian version of the site will not be considered.
At the moment, we have not decided yet if that site should open with the winning intro or if this animation should be a clickable option from the home page (it would depend also on the type and quality of the winning intro). If we decide for the first hypothesis and the winning intro does not permit the automatic opening of the site, we will ask the first-prize winner to retouch the movie and to insert that option (if we take the second choice and the intro concludes with the opening of the home page, we will ask the winner to remove such option).

Question

1) Can a company take part in the same section of the contest with different entries by different web designers working for that company?

Answer

The sections for animoweb contest are 2.
The regulation establishes that every participant, a single author or a company, can submit one entry for each section.
The rule of accepting only one entry per section has been established to avoid the submission of numerous animations with minimal variations on the part of the same author or company, in short to avoid evaluating different versions of the same animation and the multiplication of similar products. However, it is advantageous for the contest to encourage the largest possible number of participants. Discouraging people who feel like working a lot for this contest is also unfair.
According to this view, the regulation does not allow one single company to submit 3 entries under its name; but, if 3 employees of this company submit 3 different entries under their own names and the company is mentioned only in their curricula (in which they declare that they work for that company) the regulation will not be violated. In this case the 3 authors will have to fill in 3 different application forms and their personal data will appear in the site.

Question

2) Can a participant submit more than one entry for the same section of the contest, e.g. a work developed individually and a work developed in a group?

Answer

The regulation establishes that every participant, a single author or a company, can submit one entry for each section.
However, in order to encourage the maximum number of people to take part and in order to reward those who want to try their hand at the contest, if a participant submits an individual work and a group work, both will be accepted.
As for the group work, the participant will have a minor role in comparison with the group or company. The information presented on the site will be about the group/company (however, the names of all collaborators will have to be inserted in the application form). The spaces about the name and surname in the application form will have to be filled in with a different name from that of the author collaborating with a group if he/she has already presented his/her work individually. Otherwise they will be left blank inserting only the name of the group or company.

Question

3) Suppose we take part with a intro for section A of the contest and that we insert some sentences from the reference file of the guidelines . Since the site www.appenninomodenese.net is bilingual, do we have to write them in English or Italian?
Is it possible to insert a bilingual version both for an animation (section A) and for a game or highly interactive application (section B of the contest)?

Answer

For each section of the contest, the animation or the movie can be presented either in English or in Italian.
If a partipant wishes, he/she can send 2 equivalent versions (both alike as far as animations are concerned), one in English, the other in Italian. This choice will not influence the jury decision. It is only additional work for the participant and it is not required by the contest regulation. Both versions will be published on the site Animoweb.
However, the authors of the winning movies for each section of the contest, after the declaration of winners, might be asked to provide a bilingual version, if they did not it before.
In any case, participants can contact Cristina Poppi for a help in the translation of their works from English into Italian or viceversa. .

Question

1b) Is it possible to create an entire web site in Flash for section B of the contest?

Answer

For section B of the contest, we "content with" a game or a highly interactive application. The creation of a (possibly registered) web site is additional work and will not be taken into consideration by the jury. However, it will be linked from the biographical notes about the author in the appropriate section of Animoweb site.
On the other hand, there could be a possible definition problem. If for "web site" participants intend what we call a "highly interactive application" or something similar, it is necessary to discuss the definition of highly interactive application. However, a highly interactive application could be similar to a web site in the navigation system. Let us provide some examples (in some the level is very high, a level that is not necessary for this contest) to show what we intend for highly interactive application:
www.secondstory.com/index.html?36unwrapped -> mummies launch web site
www.secondstory.com/collection/38pearlharbor/title.html -> -> Pearl harbor launch web site
www.tongsville.com/city/index.html -> -> navigation in a virtual city
www.museum-interactive.com -> museum visit
www.dubit.co.uk -> interactive ambience
www.taobot.com -> interactive ambience
www2.reggionet.it/iatre/flash.swf -> an example of online tourism with "internal navigation"
There are plenty of examples, but we have mentioned only some for brevity's.
As a consequence of that, if participants submit a swf file or a group of swf files (the total kbytes of which does not exceed the established limits) + eventually asp and mdb files, creating an interface with internal navigability, high interaction with the user and dealing with the assigned theme of section B, the contest requisites for participation (with a highly interactive application) will be respected.

Question

2b) Can I process the results of a game running for section B of the contest through asp or access files stored in a different server from the one hosting AniMoweb site (Modena Province server)?

Answer

Game results processing on our server
It is possible to process game results on our server only through asp and database access files.
The asp and mdb files should be sent to us. In this case, we would create a ODBC data origin on our server with a new system dsn. The database connection string in the asp file would then be of the type:
Dim Conn
Set Conn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
Conn.ConnectionString ="DSN=john_smith.dsn"
Conn.Open
Dim strSQL
strSQL="SELECT * FROM gameresults_john_smith"
Dim RS
Set RS = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.recordset")
RS.Open strSQL, Conn
If more asp files are created, we will ask for a description of what each of them is for. We will then check them for security sake.
Game results processing on your server
It is possible to process game results on a different server. In this case you will only send the flash file that will refer to asp or php (or other extensions) files hosted on your server.
The flash animations for Animoweb contest will be opened from a non resizable pop-up window without navigation bar. The size of this window will fit exactly the single animation or game (see example in section "Browse" of the site). The game results should be processed possibly through the same flash file that you will submit and in the same window. You will have to specify the height and width of the window.

Question

4) Can I use the images of section b for section a and viceversa?

Answer

In general, the answer to this question is no, but some photographs of section A are also in section B.
The morphology of Modena province territory is divided into a flat area (Po Plain in the north) and a mountain area (Modenese Apennine in the south). In fact, there is a foothill area as well between the two, but we have preferred to simplify the theme.
The problem regarding the question is that section B theme is tourism in the whole territory of Modena province (both Po Plain and mountain area), while section A theme is about tourism in only one part of the territory (mountains). Thus, a selection of photographs about the mountains - that is section A - is in section B as well, since the mountains are part of the whole territory of Modena province. Section A, on the other hand, does not contain images about the flat area.

Question

5a) Why have you devised a section devoted to the Apennine?

Answer

The reasons why a section of the contest (section A) is about the Apennine are:
1) the need to promote the site www.appenninomodenese.net and to redesign it;
2) Year 2002 is the year of mountains;
3) Statistic data about tourism reveal that only 25% of tourists in Modena province choose the Apennine area, in spite of the fact that the best sights are in the mountains. In the present day tourism in Modena province is aimed at business. In addition, tourists come to visit the monuments in the Po Plain area. Hence the need to promote the mountain area, rich in interesting sights and in opportunities for tourist activities.

Question

5) Will you give a certificate to participants?

Answer

Participants will not be given a certificate but :
1) each work with biographical notes about the author, a comment by the author, links to other works published on the web, link to possible personal site of the author and contact e-mail address will be inserted in the site www.animoweb.it .
2) When the contest is over a free cd-rom with the submitted works and the same data about the authors published on the contest site will be produced.
3) Prizes like publications, books and free subscriptions to Modena Province magazines will be given to non-winners.
We believe that participants will consider the publication of their works in Internet and in a cd-rom more important than a certificate. However, they can always mention their participation in the Animoweb contest with the Internet references in their curriculum vitae.

Question

6a) There are many photos in the guidelines but I do not want to insert them all in the intro of section A. I do not know the Modenese Apennine, how could I make a selection of the images according to their importance for the tourist?

Answer

6a) First of all it is important to read the reference text of the guidelines and make a personal opinion.
Tourism in the Modenese Apennine presents opportunities for all ages and likes, for young sportsmen, for families with children, for elderly people: different kind of activities can be carried out by different kind of tourists. Therefore, to establish classifications according to tourist importance is arbitrary. Who is interested in sports holidays might find of secondary importance to visit the Romanesque churches and the castles of the Modenese mountains. On the other hand, who is interested in local cuisine and monuments and does not like exercise might not find ski lifts, paragliding or the innumerable paths for trekking and mountain-biking essential.After this foreword , we will try anyway to make a rating of photos according to their tourist importance, adopting a criterion that takes into consideration the most visited places and the most frequent activities in the Modenese Apennine. However, the places evaluated with lower rates present interesting aspects as well, often unknown and worth discovering. The rating we have used goes from 1 (low frequency in visits) to 3 (high frequency in visits).
TOURIST HIGHLIGHTS
Rating 3 (higher visits rate):
PHOTO N.24 - Mount Cimone
PHOTO N.20 - Lake Ninfa
PHOTO N.21 - Lake Santo
PHOTO N.22 - Lake Baccio
PHOTO N.18 - Sestola castle
PHOTO N.19 - Nocturnal landscape of Sestola
PHOTO N.17 - The pass of Arcana Cross
PHOTO N.2 - Sassi di Roccamalatina park
Rating 2 (medium visits rate):
PHOTO N.16 - Doccione waterfall
PHOTO N.3 - Montese fortress
PHOTO N.6 - Montecuccolo castle
PHOTO N.9 - Montefiorino castle
PHOTO N.12 - Abbey church of Frassinoro
Rating 1 (lower visits rate):
The remaining photos of tourist highlights.
ACTIVITIES
Rating 3 (higher practice):
PHOTO N.25 - Skiers
PHOTO N.26 - Cross-country skiing
PHOTO N.28 - Cimone cable car
PHOTO N.29 - Ski-tows
PHOTO N.30 - Chairlift in the mountains
PHOTO N.34 - Climbing
PHOTO N.35 - Excursionists at the top of mount Giovo
Rating 2 (medium practice):
PHOTO N.31 - Mountain biking
PHOTO N.32 - Mountain bikers
PHOTO N.27 - Downhill skiing
PHOTO N.39 - At table: crescentine
PHOTO N.40 - Chestnut festival in Zocca
Rating 1 (lower pratice):
The remaining photos of activities.
Drawings and maps have not been evaluated by tourist importance because they are all important.In conclusion, it is interesting to note that 3 municipalities of the Modenese Apennine received the "orange flag" award assigned by Touring Club Italiano. This is the mark for tourist and environment quality for hinterland cities. It is attributed only to the territories that satisfy requirements regarding quality in tourism. The municipalities awarded are Sestola, Fanano and Fiumalbo.

Question

3b) Is it also possible to use Flash MX and then make the movie visible with Flash Player 6 or does the final product have to be realized for the Flash Player 5 only?

Answer

3b) There is no problem concerning the use of Flash MX : in the string for the publication of the movie that will be inserted in the pop up window for each work of the contest you will have to put the right parameters of the required Player.
The author will specify wich parameters to insert or modify (as width, height, ...) and the Flash Player version.

Question

7a) I'm not Italian, i do not know your territory, the reference text in the guidelines is very long, so it is hard for me to find slogans for my intro. Could you please give me some advice?

Answer

7a) It is possible to invent any slogan, the more original they are the better it is, but:
- Do not forget that the theme is "Tourism in the Modenese Apennines"
- Look at least at the main titles from the reference text of section A:
Romanesque architecture in the mountains
Castles in the Mountains
Itineraries of the Resistance
Enjoying and learning about the natural world
Natural parks and areas of special scientific interest
A landscape sculpted by the weather
Beautiful places for lovers of tranquillity
A vast choice of round circle walks
Amongst the marmots on Monte Cimone
Monte Cimone: the region's largest skiing centre
Alternative Apennine: Horse-riding, mountain-biking and para-gliding
Mountain's gastronomy
- The site to promote is www.appenninomodenese.net so it is important to end the animation with this writing or to animate it in some way during the intro. The site www.appenninomodenese.net is the portal for tourism in the Modenese Apennines
- Last of all consider that the main characteristic of the tourism in the Modenese Apennines is the fact that there are opportunities for all ages and likes (for young sportsmen, for families with children, for elderly people), different kinds of activities for all seasons can be carried out by different kinds of tourists.