Click photo to enlarge
Creating New Zealand flags online at Wakari School on
Wednesday are (from left) Harper Rovi (6), Nick Laughton
(9), University of Otago website designer Associate Prof
Peter Whigham, Georgia Walsh (11), Maia Koen (6), Courtney
Duff (6), Paige Thomson (10) and website designer Dr Colin
Aldridge.
The search for a new New Zealand flag has taken a fresh
twist with University of Otago scientists creating a novel
internet site where school pupils and others can join in a
shared design effort.
The project was launched at Wakari Primary School this week
by Dunedin North MP and former science minister Pete Hodgson.
The internet site - called flags.otago.ac.nz - has been
created by researchers at the university information science
department, with input from primary-school children.
The site results from a project, led by Associate Prof Peter
Whigham and Dr Colin Aldridge, and enables people of all ages
to take part in a "collaborative online evolutionary design
process".
Previously suggested ideas to redesign the New Zealand flag
had included use of black, the silver fern, and the kiwi, and
the reuse of some elements of the present flag, Prof Whigham
noted in an interview.
In coming months, contributions made through the internet
site would help to highlight "design elements which people
generally feel are important" in a new flag, and could also
produce completely new design ideas, he said.
The researchers are hoping thousands of people will visit the
site to "evolve" their own flags, as well as contributing to
the evolution of other candidate national flag designs.
Candidate designs are determined by how many people vote for
a design.
Designed to be easy and fun for all ages, the interactive
site can also be used to teach parts of the primary-school
social science curriculum, as well as exploring concepts from
the social sciences, geography, technology and evolutionary
biology.
The group design work will continue until early next year,
when researchers will display the most popular designs via a
link to the site.
