School: Avcilar Doga Koleji
    Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey

2 students, ages 12 worked together to complete this Doors to Diplomacy project on March 16, 2012. They have participated in Doors to Diplomacy in the following year(s): 2012

Classes and Teachers: Tatiana Burchuk, Oguz, Emre

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.dogakoleji.com

1. Description of Our Team

Our team consists of two students and one coach teacher. Our names are Emre and Oguz. We are 12 years old. We decided to be challenged by creating a website as it's really exciting to find out how good you are at these things. We realize how important internet and computers are nowadays that's why we decided not just enrich our knowledge about these issues but also to provide our visitors with useful and interesting information.We are both skilled in web designing. Each of us fulfilled the variety of different jobs. Oguz acted as a manager. He created a plan and determined the strategy of working on this project. He thoroughly thought over how often we need to meet in person or through technology, how much time we need to distribute for every activity. Emre worked on designing a webpage, the layout of every category. He searched for information and work it up. We both contributed a lot into this project. The coach teachers role was to encourage us to go on when we faced some hardships and not to give up. And of course to review and assess the work that was done.

2. Summary of Our Project

The topic of our project is ' Undiscovered World of Computers'. We know that people are more and more dependent on computers and services they can provide. It's really unexplored world as we began to exploit it not so long ago. A global network, for example, connects millions of computers. More than 100 countries are linked into exchanges of data, news and opinions. And we plunge into it, it arises a big interest, it entertains us and provides with a lot of important and necessary things. But this world is also full of tricks and we are not aware how dangerous they might be. So we would like to discover this world all together.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:2-3

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Our only problem with the website is domain. We first we made our website from a free hosting company which gives free sub domain. But it was too limited and we moved the hosting and domain to www.forumesporta.com , which was Emre’s old website. We started to use it for free hosting and domain. As you see, it is ad-free.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Our project is essential in spreading the information about Web World as well as modern technology. The website we created can be useful for everyone because we are teaching people how to make programs and how to protect themselves against hackers, crackers, etc. We think it can open our eyes on the dangers on the Internet. People may continue to use it without knowing that there is a big possibility that they can be victims of criminal operations every moment that their computer is logged on. But at the same time we would like to show how enjoyable it is to surf the Internet. And how many opportunities people have nowadays.

6. How did your activities and research for this Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

The research we made plays an important role for our school. As we are encouraged to be engaged in different research activities. This helps us to develop critical thinking, to learn how to interact within the group, on what our cooperation should be based upon, attaining new habits of thought, action, which helps to improve yourself and reach goals.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your Doors to Diplomacy project?

We used the internet, computer software,telephones, books, newspapers,oral interviews. Sometimes it's hard to organize meeting, that's why we tried to reach each other through emails, phones, social networking sites. We used a lot of resources on the internet to find information for our project, but we still used traditional paper books. We tried to interview people from the local community experienced in the subject we are conducting research in. It was challenging, but enjoyable at the same time. We think all the resources were helpful.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your Doors to Diplomacy project both on-line and in person.

Our team acted as ambassadors on-line an in person. While making the research we asked a lot of students from our school if they use Internet, how often they browse it, what difficulties they faced. Also we decided to make a poll about it to learn opinions of people who is going to visit our site. We counseled students who had to cope with some problems in the Internet, and also taught them how to surprise their friends or play jokes with the help of Internet. There is a radio in Doga College and we are going to let the students and teachers from a lot of campuses about our project and its importance.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

We are sure that our project is going to make a difference. The webpage we created is full of useful information, interesting facts and pieces of advice about today's technology which is an unexplored field in science. This webpage is vital for beginners, for students like we are, who are trying to learn more and more about modern technology. This students also might make a difference for the world, they might discover this 'undiscovered world of computers' and make a great impact on society.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We want to say thanks to everyone who wasn't indifferent to the research we were conducting: our friends who tried to supply with everything they could find about this subject, to our parents who encouraged us, to people we interviewed the conversation with whom was really easy useful and entertaining and , of course, to our teacher who suggested us do this project and always supported us in everything we did.