New-flag search starts at school

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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 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.