Competition Theme

Climate change

• Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time.
• Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth.
• Usually refers to changes in modern climate. i.e warming of the planet.

Factors contributing to Climate Change

• CO2 or Carbon
• Volcanism (The process of conveying material from the crust and mantle of the Earth to its surface.)
• Glaciers
• Industrial Emissions

Current Solutions

• Danish firm Novozymes is the world's leading producer of enzymes, biological catalysts that can help all manner of industrial processes run more efficiently. By helping to reduce the need for energy and water, enzymes can be a cost-effective means to reduce industrial CO2 emissions.
• In two Tokyo train stations, steps are under way to generate electricity from the floors of the ticket gates and staircases. If successful, passengers could help provide the train stations with 1,400 kilowatts per second each day.
• In Abu Dhabi, construction has begun on the world's first carbon-neutral city. The plan is for Masdar City to become the Silicon Valley of clean-tech, and to create the foundation for a post-oil Middle East.
• In April 2008, Brøchner Hotels became the first hotel chain in the world to become carbon-neutral. By buying and retiring CO2 quotas equivalent to its energy consumption, the Danish chain helps combat climate change while creating an "enormous goodwill" from costumers and employees alike.
• Climate change and increases in oil prices have resulted in ever-increasing need for innovative energy solutions. The Chinese solar power company Suntech has succeeded in carving out a significant portion of the global market using solar energy.
• In the face of depletion of oil resources and transportation being one of the biggest contributors to the climate change problem, American-Israeli company Better Place has found a sustainable – and profitable – solution: Electric cars that are powered by renewable energy.

Is it really necessary?

• Turn Down
• Switch Off
• Renew
• Walk

About the Competition

Introduction

Following the success of our previous ActionScript Awards, Republic Polytechnic is organising the fifth competition beginning in March 2010. Entitled – ActionScript™.Awards.V, the competition requires participants to create an interactive application based on some given criteria with Adobe Flash ActionScript™.

An exhibition cum award ceremony will be held after the competition to present prizes to the winners as well as to showcase the best works in the field. Relevant industries will also showcase their efforts in synergizing new media with issues pertaining to the theme.

More information can be found at the new website http://asa.sit.rp.sg.
The old link http://www.actionscriptawards.org is diverted to the new website as indicated above.

Adobe Flash™ ActionScript

ActionScript is a programming language that is used in Adobe Flash™. It can be used to create rich Internet applications and complex interactivity and mathematical animations. However, many people are unaware of its capabilities and are still treating Flash™ as a traditional tool for animation.

Flash™ is also widely embraced by web professionals and is currently the de-facto application for web animation in the industry. Coupled with its ability to integrate streaming video, audio, databases and mobile devices as well as its tremendous reach of 97% of Internet-enabled desktops worldwide, Flash™ content is extremely pervasive.

Target Audience

ActionScript™.Awards.V is part of the National Infocomm Committee’s initiatives this year. It is a national competition and is open to the public as well as secondary schools students.

Benefits of the Competition

Organising such a competition will generate the following benefits:

• Participants in the process of creating their submissions will acquire IT skills and knowledge that they can apply in future
• Create a local community of ActionScript users and experts for sharing of ideas and technical support
• Generate stronger links with industry partners
• Enhance public awareness of the theme
• To promote the creation of digital content
• To promote positive scripting methodologies
• To increase public awareness for RP and industry partners
• To encourage the use of New Media in reaching out to the general public

Rules & Regulations

General Requirements

• Contestants are to create their entries with Adobe Flash™ 8 and above.
• We are pleased to announce that the theme for this year will be –
  ‘Climate Change: Is it really necessary?’.
• Much has to do with the weather, which is not surprising when you consider the impact it has on our mood, on how we dress and on what we eat. 'Climate' however is not the same as the weather. It is the average pattern of weather for a particular region over a long period of time.
• The climate has and will always vary for natural reasons. Natural causes of this include fractional changes in solar radiation, volcanic eruptions that can shroud the Earth in dust which reflects the heat from the sun back into space, and natural fluctuations in the climate system itself.
• However, natural causes can explain only a small part of this warming. The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that it is due to rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by human activities.
• Secondary School Category
• Participants are required to create an interactive flash application with the provided theme.
• The entry must be submitted by a team of 3 people.
• Open Category
• Participants are required to create an interactive flash application that brings out the provided theme.
• Each Participant is allowed to submit 1 entry.

Technical Requirements

• Dimensions – The dimensions for the submission must be set to 640 x 480 pixels.
• ActionScript – The submission must include some form of ActionScript.
• You may choose to link your ActionScript via an external text file (.as).
• However, the text file must be provided with the submission of your work and should not be linked via a URL or IP address.
• Graphics – Bitmapped images should be optimized as much as possible. Vector graphics should be used extensively to allow the movie to scale in size without the loss in quality.
• Preloader – Preloaders are necessary if your SWF movie file size is 500kb and above.
• Compulsory screens:
• Main Menu Page – The main menu page should allow navigation to the following few options:
• Run the Application
• Credits Page
• Options (if applicable)
• Help/Instructions – Explains the mechanics of your submission with proper diagrams or descriptions. This should help new users to view your work / play the game.
• Credits – You must include the official template in your submission. The credits page must be accessible from the main menu of your submission. Please fill in the required information such as:
• Title
• Name of participants
• School (if applicable)
• 1 contact email
• File size – The submission including FLA source files, SWF files, audio, picture and video files should not exceed 20 megabytes. Submissions exceeding this size limit may be penalized. All submissions must be saved onto CD-ROM/DVD-ROM and submitted to Republic Polytechnic before 25^th June, 2010.
• Language – English must be used as the instructional language.
• Self-contained – The application must be self contained, and should not require external referencing of materials using internet or other networking means.

Registration for Competition

• Participants in the Secondary School and Open category can go to http://asa.sit.rp.sg to register online or send an email to asa@rp.sg
• Participants in the Secondary School category must get the support of the school.
• All participants will be notified via email from asa@rp.sg once the application is successful. Participants who do not register will not be allowed to submit entries for the competition.
• Registration will close on 1^st June 2010.

Submission of Design Documentation

• Participants are required to submit a document containing (and not limited to) the following information. The objective is to document the creative and development process of the submission.
• Secondary School Category
• Introduction
• Research
• Aims and objectives
• Proposed concepts/ideas
• Evaluation of concepts
• Sitemap and storyboards
• Navigational menus
• Prototype designs
• Problems encountered during production
• Open Category
• Introduction
• Proposed concepts/ideas
• Evaluation of concepts
• Prototype designs
• Relevant crediting for the work
• The completed design document must be submitted on both a hardcopy and softcopy on the submission CD-ROM.

Submission of Entries

• Participants are to submit the following. Incomplete submissions will be heavily penalized.
• Print out of the official submission form available to all participants
  Please note that you are now NOT required to submit the official submission form
• 6 hardcopies of the design documentation
• 6 copies of the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM containing submission, all relevant source files and a softcopy of the design documentation.
• Entries must reach Republic Polytechnic at the following address before 30^th July 2010. Any submissions received after this period will not be accepted.
  
  ActionScriptTM.Awards.V
  Republic Polytechnic
  School of Information and Communications Technology
  Republic Polytechnic Center
  9 Woodlands Ave 9
  Singapore 738964
• The entry must contain all source files {.fla, .swf, .as, .html, .xml, etc} necessary to display your work. If there are special instructions for your work, please include them in a ‘readme.txt’ file placed at the uppermost directory. Please zip up your files before submitting your entry.
• Note that we currently do not accept any Flash™ Communication Server entries.
• Submissions must be entirely original and must not breech any third party patents, copyright or intellectual property in any way. Entries which are deemed as unoriginal by the organizers of ActionScript™.Awards will be disqualified immediately.
• Submissions in the Open category must be accompanied by a legal Flash™ serial number. Open category submissions using a trial version of Flash™ will not be accepted.
• Submissions in the Secondary School category can either accompany a legal Flash™ serial number obtained from the participants’ schools or submit a work using a trial version of Flash™.
• By submitting your entry you grant the organisers of ActionScript™.Awards the irrevocable, royalty free, worldwide rights to make publicly available the submitted content as they see fit.
• This competition is open to residents in Singapore only. Overseas applications will not be accepted.
• The organizers of ActionScript™.Awards reserve the right to change these rules without prior notice.
• The judges' decisions with regard to the winning entries are final and will not be debated.

Competition Categories

There will be three categories to cater to the various skill levels of the participants:

• Secondary School category – This category is for secondary schools only. The students must form a team of 3 persons to enter the competition.
• Open category – Members from the public and industry professionals.

Timeline

Judging is in progress now, results will be published soon, STAY TUNED!

Judging Criteria

• There will be 2 components in the judging process
  • Design documentation – 30%
  • Flash submission – 70%
• The design document will be judged based on the following in no particular order:
• Clarity [10%] – This includes the quality of communication as well as the description of the development process
• Depth of research [20%] – The level of research conducted and its application to the development of the submission
• Flash submissions will be judged based on the following:
• Creativity [10%] – This includes the concept of the submission and if applicable, the appropriate use of imagery, video and sound
• Communication [15%] – How well the submission communicates the theme to its audience and it’s effectiveness
• Technical Ability [20%] – The quality of code, the level of ActionScript knowledge and the clarity of comments
• Fun Factor [15%] – The level of user engagement of the submission. A submission which draws the user w more will score better.
• Originality [10%] – The uniqueness of the submission as well as it’s relevance to the theme of the competition.

Prizes

All winners will receive a Certificate for their respective achievements.

• Secondary School category:
  
  Each member of the 3 person team will receive
• Gold – To Be Confirmed
• Silver – To Be Confirmed
• Bronze – To Be Confirmed
• Merit – To Be Confirmed
• Open category:
• Gold – To Be Confirmed
• Silver – To Be Confirmed
• Bronze – To Be Confirmed
• Merit – To Be Confirmed