Trust Tommy

Two quick videos from the Exhibition – the first is with Adrian Weckler (of the Sunday Business Post) and the second is with Donna McCabe and Science.ie.

Here is the report on my Young Scientist project, entitled Examining the Attitudes of Secondary School Students toward Blogging. Some background:

To do this project, a two page questionnaire was posted out to 13 schools from 5 counties (a copy of which is in the report book). I devised the questionnaire myself after looking at the AIMRO website and getting drafts critiqued by people in the field of blogging.

The first half of the questionnaire was taken up with finding out more about their internet habits, how often they used it and for what purpose they used it for, while the second page dealt with if/how they used blogs and whether they felt they were accurate, trustworthy or a worthwhile use of time.

In total, 11 schools from 4 counties replied, resulting in 1,781 completed questionnaires. Getting help from friends, I inputted the data from them into one big Numbers.app (the Mac version of Microsoft Excel) file. Then, using the sort tool, made up graphs and results.

My main conclusion was that although internet access was high (94% reported having it at home, 97% at school), and social networking usage was prolific (82% were a member of one social networking website; with Bebo being the most popular, followed by Facebook), blogging was not common, with only 34% reporting that they read blogs, and a mere 7% writing them.

In relation to their accuracy and trustworthiness, the majority of responses were negative. However, when I analyzed the answers to those questions by just those who said that they read blogs, the answers were quite positive, leading me to the conclusion that a lack of familiarity is the cause of their unpopularity.

The report is split into numerous PDFs, and is in a .zip folder. It can be downloaded by clicking on this link.

If you have problems opening the file, contact me by email — tommy@collison1.ie (remove the 1) — and I’ll send you it that way.

Sitting here in the hotel room, hoping I get this typed up in the little hour-long window of opportunity I have to use the internet (stupid voucher pass). The Young Scientist is officially finished, and my poster is lying, rolled-up, on my bed. I do love the Exhibition, despite how physically tiring it is and how your brain feels like fuzz because you’ve had to be switched on for so long. But hey, at least I have a day to recover before diving back into school.

It was fantastic to win third in my category. One of the main findings of my project was that despite high internet usage (94% had internet both at home and at school) and high social network usage (82% a member of at least 1 social network), only 34% read blogs and 7% wrote blogs. It’s nice to bring them to the forefront of people’s consciousness, even for a moment. It’d be awesome just to get more people just to even try writing one.

Those stats my the way are from my survey results, 1,781 respondents, from 11 schools over 5 counties. Read more in my project report book.

I think that now the Exhibition is over, I’ll release my project report book as a PDF online here so that people who want to take a look at my findings can do so. I’ll do that Monday, because if I do it now it’ll get buried by other posts and those who don’t read this blog on weekends.

For the rest of the evening I think I’ll do absolutely nothing strenuous. Once Dad gets back from the match (Leinster vs. some other team) we’ll grab some food and head to bed. It’s the first night since Tuesday that I’ve been able to go to bed without setting an alarm.

It will be beautiful.

See you tomorrow for MusicSunday!

I’m not going to lie to you. Having no internet at the hotel makes Tommy a very unhappy bunny. It also impedes this blog’s progress. Indeed, in what experts are calling ‘pretty fail’, I’m stuck doing the day 2 post on day 3, and we all know how big a deal that is.

Thursday meant that two more judgings took place. I was happy with both of them and was able to answer the questions put to me. The public also arrived which meant more interaction, which was cool. While I didn’t have any more people who out-and-out disliked blogs, I felt that not many could really connect with the project. Ah well. One, who had a degree in English, did say that she thought they were a great idea. Good stuff.

Last night, we took a much-anticipated trip to Eddie Rocket’s. It was the first time since being on chocolate and boy was it gonna be great. In the end, I did have the chocolate malt but, thanks to their abnormally large portion sizes, didn’t manage to leave room for dessert. Never fear, though, Kit Kat Dream, you shall be mine before the week is out.

Myself and mum also watched the new episode of House M.D., and thoroughly enjoyed it. Season 6 really is the best season ever, and I’m not even a TV nerd.

Today is going to be quite long, I think, but then again, I love being busy. Here’s hoping I’m not a zombie by the end of it.

..of the Young Scientist?

The one-page proposal?
Being accepted?
Doing the project?
Printing the project?
Arriving at the RDS?

If it’s printing it, then this post marks the beginning of the *breath* 2010 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition :)

See you up there :)

The wheels are turning. The questionnaires are converted into one big Excel file. The graphs are being made up and the Project Report Book is taking shape.

1,769 questionnaires came back from the different schools, which all had to be entered onto a computer. The mammoth task required help from a couple of friends who acted as data loggers, transferring the 2 page questionnaire into Y, N, 1, Y, 2, Y, U, 1. They were a massive help because I underestimated the amount of time it’d take to enter the data. At 1 minute per questionnaire, the work ahead of me when I looked at it after John & Patrick had gone home sure seemed mammoth.

But now the boring and laborious job is complete, with a large Excel file sitting in the “Young Scientist” folder on my desktop.

I think the information I uncover will be of huge interest, being honest. I surveyed up to 2,000 people, all different ages, genders and years, on their internet habits, which included major areas of interest including what social networking sites they were a part of, what they classed their main usage of the net as (music, keeping in touch with friends and research), and whether they had the internet at home.

I’m also researching statistical significance, to see how likely these results are chance, or an accurate representation of Ireland’s youth. When Patrick suggested I look into it, it all sounded like Greek to me but now that I’ve got my own results beside me, a practical usage as it were, it’s all taking shape, and even Patrick admits “the
feeling of being fairly lost in technical reading is something that never really goes away. you just have to get good at getting used to it, and then overcoming it.”

Remind me to doubt him less.

This day week (about this time, too), I’ll be in the car with Mom heading up to the RDS armed with an A3 poster and a barely-contained excitement. Whatever about the worry about whether I’ll get the project done in time, the 4 days you have actually presenting your project are epic fun. Last year was some of the best days of a year barely started!

Looking forward to seeing ya there! :)

As I suspected, some changes have been made to the questionnaire; and I start printing it out tonight.

Where I plan on making my study stand out is the sheer volume. If I can get 2,000 (an entirely reachable number) completed questionnaires on my doorstep to summerize – that’ll add weight to my results.

Which is where I’d appreciate your help: I’m looking for any and all secondary school teachers to come forward and contact me privately, to give out the one-page questionnaire to students in your school. We’ll post you the questionnaires and include a stamped, addressed envelope for you to return them.

If you’re interested, I can be contacted on (085) 109 4481 or emailed at tommy@collison(dot)ie

So, my Young Scientist project (“examining the attitudes of secondary school students toward blogging”) is chugging along nicely; I’m hoping to hand out the questionnaire to the first school tomorrow; which should really get the wheels turning. Here’s what it looks like at the moment, but knowing me I’ll probably make numerous small changes tonight and tomorrow morning. What do we think? Comments/criticisms/suggestions?

Hi, my name’s Tommy Collison, and I’m a second year in Castletroy College. I’m doing a Young Scientist project on “Examining the attitudes of secondary school students towards blogging”.

The word ‘blog’ is a contraction of the words ‘web log’. Blogs are often equated to being ‘online diaries’. They are websites (for example: www.TrustTommy.com) with a number of ‘posts’. These posts are organized much like your email inbox: organized by date, with the most recent post at the top and the others below it. Also, each post is in itself its own webpage (for exampe: www.TrustTommy.com/post1) where there is a space for comments, so people who read the post can fill out a form by entering their name and leaving their thoughts on what’s been written.

You can follow my project’s progress by visiting my own blog – http://TrustTommy.com, and view the database of secondary school bloggers we are collecting at http://IrishStudentBlogs.com

Firstly, what age are you? _____
Are you male or female? _____
What year are you in? _____

How often do you use the internet?
Not at all _____
Sometimes _____
Daily _____

Where would your main usage be?
At home _____
At school _____

What would your main usage be for?
Music _____
Keeping in touch with friends _____
Research/finding out interesting info _____

What social networking websites are you a member of currently?
Facebook _____
Myspace _____
Bebo _____
Twitter _____
Gaia Online _____

If you don’t use the internet, why don’t you?
Not available _____
No interest _____

Do you read blogs?
Yes _____
No _____

If yes, by whom?
Family member _____
Friend _____
Don’t know them personally _____

Do you write a blog?
Yes _____
No _____

Do you think blogs are useful?
Useful _____
Not useful _____
Unsure _____

What do you think are the advantages/disadvantages of blogs?
Advantages:

There are lines here but they distort the browser window

Disadvantages:

There are lines here but they distort the browser window

If you do write a blog, what’s your blog address?
Address: www.____________________

Would you consent to your blog being included in IrishStudentBlogs? This website brings all secondary school blogs together in one, easy-to-read place. The website’s address is http://IrishStudentBlogs.com
Yes, you may include it _____
No, I would not like it included _____

Unrelated: first post written in Google Chrome! Review coming soon to a Trust Tommy near you

Today, the Young Scientist teacher took me out of Spanish to tell me that my Young Scientist project, which is entitled Examining the attitudes of secondary school students toward blogging, was accepted, and I’ll be presenting it at the RDS from Tuesday the 12th to Saturday the 16th.

Of course, I’ll be blogging throughout the run-up to it as well as the exhibition itself. I’ll mark all posts on the subject with the Young Scientist category and blog important things like my stand number and judging times, so that if you were around Dublin and wanted to say hi, you’d know where to find me :)

Disclaimer :: Champagne provided is purely for celebratory purposes only

Here’s my one page proposal, if you’re interested:

Examining the attitude of secondary school students towards blogging

My name is Tommy Collison. I’m a second year student in Castletroy College in Limerick. I’ve been a personal blogger for the past 18 months and now wish to do a scientific study on the subject of blogging among secondary school students. In February of this year, my blog won the “Best Newcomer” award at the 2009 Irish Blog Awards.

The term ‘blog’ is a contraction of the words ‘web log’. Blogs are a type of website (e.g www.sampleblog.com) with regular entries of commentary, descriptions and/or pictures or videos. Blogs can be maintained by groups or individuals. Each post is also its own webpage (www.sampleblog.com/post-1) where people can leave comments on what has been written.

There are a number of different types of blogs; examples include technology blogs, news blogs, fashion blogs and personal blogs. Blogs are changing how people access information – previously, newspapers and magazines were the primary sources of written information, more and more blogs are replacing these – amongst young people in particular. For example, on January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River after being struck by birds. A nearby ferry was on hand to help survivors. One of the passengers on the ferry took a picture of the plane and uploaded it to popular micro-blogging website Twitter.com. This was before any traditional media had arrived on the scene and to date, the picture has been viewed almost half a million times.

Aims of the Project:

- to form a complete database of secondary school student bloggers.

- to investigate the attitude of secondary school students (both those who do blog and those who do not) towards blogging.

Methodology:

- To gather comprehensive information on secondary school student blogs.

- To design a questionnaire to examine the attitude of secondary school students towards blogging.

- To get secondary school students to complete the questionnaire

- To summarize the findings and report the results of the questionnaire.

- To draw conclusions and to compare with those found in previous research.

Work already completed:

- I have started bringing together all the secondary school student bloggers in one place. Getting help from a web designer, I set up a syndication website for secondary school bloggers. The list I am compiling is available here: http://trusttommy.com/secondary-school-blog-directory/ while the syndication website is available here: http://irishstudentblogs.com/. The first link is a mere static list, while the IrishStudentBlogs website is an interactive aggregator, which brings together the posts of secondary school student blogs from across Ireland and allows people to read them all on one website.

- I have obtained permission from 3 schools (including my own school), guaranteeing a minimum 300 pupils, who will be available to complete the project questionnaire.

- I have begun designing the questionnaire. I have experience with questionnaires as my Young Scientist project last year included one. (What are the issues faced by children with Cerebral Palsy in mainstream education?)

- I have been in contact with a post-graduate student who did her Master’s entitled “Blogs: A study into current uses and perceptions in Irish society.” In her research she did not include under-18 participants. In my discussion, I intend to look at her findings and see what correlates with mine.

Weird white fuzzy stuff at the bottom is, in fact a carpet

What you see before you is a TrustTommy logo that one of the teachers made for me in school, because he’s awesome. He’s been a reader for a while and showed me his idea for a 3D logo; that isn’t it above -gonna be able to light up the full one and all. The one pictured is a prototype – no less awesome though.

Gonna take the full one up to the Young Scientist with me if I get in. If there’s one piece of advice I give to people doing the Young Scientist, it’s make your stand stand out.

That’s my poster from last year. Whether it’s better than doing it on separate A4 sheets that you tack onto coloured background is a matter of opinion but what my type of poster has going for it is the fact that it’s different and also it’s way easier to transport and not lose pieces of.

In other news, Tommy is angry :(

I’ve mislaid my headphones, again. And these were a good pair and all. Damn and blast it anyway. They’re not in my school pants pocket or anywhere in the kitchen or car. I’ll double check in school that they’re not lying round there somewhere but I’m not optimistic.

Ah well, the logo’s awesome. Let’s focus on that