FRC Blogged - Administrative manual is out
 

New update from FRANK on the FRC BLOG....

Re: FRC Blogged - Administrative manual is out
 

Somewhat surprising that the Digital Media award is championship only, and that the website award is discontinued altogether, leaving nothing in its place at regionals. I guess that is further motivation to make it to championship!

Re: FRC Blogged - Administrative manual is out
 

It's probably meaningless, but last years Administrative manual outlined practice matches and the filler line whereas this one doesn't.

It could be that changes were made to last years manual after kickoff as I am looking at the most recent version of the 2012 manual.

Anyone else notice anything different?

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It seems that the Autodesk awards, which have been redefined in recent years, are now completely gone. Pity.

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It's a real shame that the website award is gone from the local level. That was the driving force behind a lot of documentation and information that will be forever lost without it.

It doesn't make much sense either - a cheap plastic Trophy that motivated thousands is now gone because..... why?

Of course, many people will say 'Do it anyway.' The reality is, a lot of teams did it only because of the award, and right or wrong, it was a great motivator.

Re: FRC Blogged - Administrative manual is out
 

I'm fine with replacing the Website award with the Digital Media award (in fact, I think this a great move, and better reflects what my team and many others are doing). But making the Digital Media award Championship-only (at least for this year) and leaving nothing at the regional level makes absolutely no sense.

Re: FRC Blogged - Administrative manual is out
 

Check section "4.5.1 Practice Matches", and its subsections, "4.5.1.1 Practice Time Slots" and "4.5.1.2 The Filler Line"

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Good call, don't know how I missed that.

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So in all of FRC, only one single team (the winner of the Championship Digital Media Award) is going to be explicitly acknowledged for their work in the digital arts?

And teams that aren't going to Championships don't even have the opportunity to compete for it?

Dean complains annually about what a crummy job we've collectively done of documenting 20+ years of FRC, then they remove one of the only awards (Website) that rewards documentation?

Guess we better work on getting our ~30 media, web, and animation team members cracking on that Digital Media Award, since it's the only game in town...

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I can't find the part that limits the competition to just teams attending Worlds. I'm hoping they stick with the Website Award approach, regional winners [now everyone] were eligible even if they didn't attend Champs. It'd also be nice to have honorable mentions and maybe to keep around a "Website Excellence"-type certification.

I understand there's probably some complexity running regional-level awards that don't associate with the championship version (i.e. if they kept the website award at the regional level). Still, I hope they reconsider and, if not add something at the regional level, at least open it to non-Worlds teams and offer more recognition options.

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Or they can do it for the love of the game?

I'd like to believe there are plenty of things that are done by teams in FRC for their own sake, or for the betterment of the team without any award incentive. I'd like to believe that some things are their own incentive.

...or maybe I'm just naive, and almost everything is being done in pursuit of some shiny bauble?

-John

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I'd argue that it's not the trophy per say, but the emphasis and recognition provided by FIRST's actual creation of the award. I doubt that most teams are overly attracted to shiny objects (especially Daisy; they're out of room for them), but knowing that FIRST HQ and the community care about the work that would be put in is a very likely a big incentive. It's a way FIRST demonstrates which actions it considers important, and it's important guidance especially to teams working to develop their own such cultures.

The removal of the regional-level award could (I believe incorrectly) be precieved by those teams as a de-emphasis on the part of FIRST. For teams that haven't already developed a very serious culture of documentation, that perception could be somewhat attenuating. I think that's what folks here are worried about, at least.

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Before we criticize the digital media award(DMA) too much...

A) The manual explicitly states that the digital media award judging panel is "TBD", which means they are still planning out the award. They could change this in the (near) future.

B) My take on the DMA is that it is open to all teams regardless of weather they are attending champs or not.

6.8.2 Judging Criteria
This only says that the winner will be announced at the CMP, this(IMO) would mean that all teams that submit have an opportunity to win regardless of CMP status. This is similar to the Autodesk visualization award, where you did not need to win the regional to be eligible for the national award. The difference being of course that more teams were recognized for their efforts.

I agree with JVN in that this will not alter teams motivation for creating rich digital media.

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If true, this is very good news. I just wish the wording was clearer - after a quick perusal, I interpreted as only teams competing at CMP could participate.

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The only constant in FRC is change. Learning to adapt to change in competition is the best way to prepare for change in real life.

I'm disappointed that this award isn't better received. Here's why:

1.) When the website award was created, it was a big deal to HAVE a website.
As opposed to when the award started, web presence is the norm. Creating the structure is no longer special. Creating important content that transcends the noise is.

2.) Championship-only exposure means better judging. No, really.
From a volunteer coordinator perspective, it was a total pain in the butt to find qualified professionals. Web Evaluator Advisors hated chasing evaluators down to do the judging. Evaluators hated a longer and longer survey. Teams complained for years that the judging was not standardized. Why not call the whole thing off?

So let's mull around the idea of a CMP only award. Who would judge it? The judges? No, they have enough going on and it doesn't fit their schedule. Web Evaluators? No, because they don't exist anymore. A panel of amazing individuals who know their way around the internet? Now you're talking.

Side note: If I was HQ, I would open the award up to any team participating in FRC, not just the teams at CMP. I would hate to see a team make an amazing piece and not get awarded for it.

Other side note: If you're looking for people to join your panel, I volunteer as tribute.

3.) Social Media at its core is a NUMBERS game.
This is my biggest point: why are a group of ENGINEERS not jumping up and down about something that can now be quantified? My pundit guess is that this award goes to the team that can best show their reach into the world, not the team that spams the most.

At the heart of it, it's not just creating the content but explaining your results. And guess what? Explaining the results? Adds to your web cred. My top read post on my blog is still that #omgrobots thing. And that's over a year old.



Bring it on, FRC. I'm so excited to see what comes next.

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I'm both excited about what the award offers and disappointed in how it is being offered (this will be tempered slightly if in fact all teams can submit and just be judged at CMP). I guess we can't have it all - if there aren't enough volunteers available to judge a higher quality award like this, it can't be offered at every regional.

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I'm glad this award changed to better reflect how the students interact with social media and the web in general, our students are more excited that this is no longer focusing on build a website that "mostly only our team looks at" and has shifted toward "this is how the we reach out to our fellow students and other people across the net."

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but is there no regular season Animation/Design award?

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You are correct, the Autodesk awards are gone as of now. :(

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Jess- I agree with most of your points except this one. This issue I have is one that Jared eluded to: what do you do with all of the web/animation/design team members on your team? You shift their focus to the new media award.

So now if every team that submitted for a web award, design award or animation award in the past (I'm sure there will be some who don't submit at all anymore, but just making a point) now submit for the new media award- the judging panel at CMP may be left to sift through 500+(?) submissions. That will take a tremendous feat to accomplish, and unfortunately I think the tradeoff to accomplish such a task will be to have less, for lack of a better term, quality of judging per each submission.

Of course, if less teams submit, it becomes an easier problem to solve, however this seems like it could be quite a task.

I think the new award is a great step in the right direction, I think more teams would've liked to see it kicked off at the regional level however.

-Brando

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From an engaging volunteers perspective - I will miss aspects of the old website award. I understand that the judging was uneven and the task of judging was becoming more cumbersome. And I never could understand why this wasn't judged through a centralized portal, not regionally.

But judging the website award created an opportunity to have volunteers be involved who couldn't come to the regional and that time frame, but still wanted to "be a part" of the event. There was one year I recruited a group "DC Web Women" to be judges. And through that effort a whole bunch of new people got introduced to FRC.

But it looks like this new award will be an interesting one.

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Why not do away with all trophies and awards then?

Of course our web/media/animation team will continue to do what they do regardless of trophies. Just like our community outreach efforts haven't skipped a beat since winning the Championship Chairman's Award. All of the trophies in FIRST are just carrots dangled in front of you to trick your team into doing awesome things :)

That said, I remember winning my first award as a student in FRC. Running down to the judges in the arena to thunderous applause. It meant the WORLD to me. Even if I've long since moved past the emotional need to be handed a piece of plastic, I think it's important that today's students have the same opportunity...regardless of which subteam they are on.

Re: FRC Blogged - Administrative manual is out
 

Ah ha, yeah, it's certainly a concern. I don't know how FRC will handle that. Now, if I was writing the rules, I would steal from the best - in this case, those who built their business model around it. Influenster is a site that gamifies social influence and encourages reviews on free samples (this is squarely in the sample-size cottage industry that has popped up lately - see Birchbox)

The wider the user's audience, the more likely they are to receive free stuff. The more the users post reviews about the free samples, the more likely they are to get more free samples. It's an addictive cycle for the user, and very beneficial to advertisers who want internet buzz about a new product.

How does Influenster find the best users to send samples?
1.) You're required to list your social reach. That means listing all your sites: Facebook, twitter, youtube, etc. The more services, the higher your score.
2.) You're encouraged to share your audience size and your frequency. Most of these sites can give you stats about your reach. The more people who follow you, the bigger the reach.

Now, how does that translate to FRC? If FRC adopted a similar model as Influenster, which basically works off of a web form, the submission rate should fall somewhere in the 40% range. I'm being generous here: typically submission rates for website at a regional hovers at 50%, but awards which require more information upfront cause the rate to drop significantly. Since a web form is more intel than has been required from the award in the past, this number should fall in the middle. This brings us to 200 teams.

From there, I would weight based upon criteria. Categorize reach based upon outlet and size: high reach in FB, low in Youtube, etc. Then sort to find your top 50. I can see this being done even before the list gets to the panel.

The one grey area I can forsee is the viral anomaly: what if just one video takes off? No one saw many of the current popular memes coming. With good planning (I'm looking at you, 30 members of Daisy), the channels should see upticks in overall reach, but this may not be the case. This is where I think there should be a free-text area for the team to show off a gem to the judges which could place them in consideration.

But that's just how I would do it. How FRC will handle it is anyone's guess.

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I feel the message FIRST is unintentionally sending is that only Championship level teams should focus on their online presence. When you're a team strapped for cash and free members, you're going to do the things that can get you trophies before the things that don't. It's not even because teams want hunks of plastic - by being awarded at regionals the tasks that can win awards simply become more important.

I don't understand.

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I can attest to this. Although awards aren't completely necessary, I think that any time FIRST can recognize students for their effort is an opportunity to take. That said, I feel like something like website / media awards are very tough to judge objectively. I wouldn't even know where to start looking. Is the content important? What about the design? There are a lot of things to take into consideration, which if done properly can take a long time. I'm still not sure whether I am on board with this decision, but my hope is that we can recognize student's efforts in whatever way is the most valuable to them.

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Wouldn't you rather be recognized for your accomplishments and not just your effort?

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Absolutely. I would never advocate for 'giving everyone a ribbon'. I think the award should be merit based. But having only one award for all 2500 teams seems like its missing out on some really cool stuff that our community makes.

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What tells you that there's going to be only one award? There's very little about it in the manual yet, but what it does say is this:

Award celebrates teams that look beyond the team website, taking into account the numerous ways people search for and consume content.

I think the use of the plural "teams" hints that this might be something more than a single trophy being awarded to one team in all of FRC.


I also think that teams would want to do a good job in their "digital media" outreach in order to win and keep sponsors, and not just collect FIRST awards.

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I will be very happy if it is a 'multiple team' award. And I agree, sponsors are a big part of why we keep our media outreach going.

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For all the people clamoring that teams should continue efforts despite a lack of awards in that area, how many of you have animation/3DSMax groups? When was the last year you had one?

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Its a shame that the website or the new DMA is not going to be a regional level award.
I really cant see why teams at a regional level cant be acknowledged for their outstanding accomplishments among the peer group of teams at an event, other than a lack of website review volunteers being the major issue.

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Perhaps they could do the judging like they used to for the Animation award, which was peer judged at the competition by students and mentors (you could not vote for yourself), but industry judged at Championships. This would eliminate the need for dedicated and trained volunteers at the regional level, while still letting local teams get recognized by their peers for their work.

CMP judging would proceed as whatever plan they are currently working on, with all entries being eligible for the CMP level award(s) (I too would like to see multiple). They would be separate judging processes, regional winners are not the only eligible entries for the CMP award.

I think it's very important to recognize local teams that are excelling in certain areas. It's a powerful recruiting tool, it helps promote the team to their district, and it provides other teams in the area with inspiration and mentorship. If a team has questions about machining, design techniques, fundraising or outreach, their best resources are often other teams in their area that are doing well and winning awards in the area.

Local judging also helps teams to feel like they have a chance, and work harder at it because the "odds" are better. I realize that teams should (and many do) make good website and media just for the sake of promoting their team, but how many fewer teams will go through the submission process if they think they're chance is 10 out of 2500, vs 1 out of 25? Giving out 50+ awards at championship for digital media would dilute the reputation of the award, IMO, in the eyes of many team members and the public. It's much easier for the regional paper to run a story on how their local high school was selected as one of three or five or ten winners out of thousands for some award, than to say they shared the honor with several dozen other schools. And that, in turn, leads to better media outreach for the regional winners!

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We have had a small but dedicated group of students on our animation team for the vast majority of seasons we have been doing FRC. Even though we have never won an award for it, the process of creating an entry that followed the prescribed format and had to be delivered by a certain deadline was an inspiring and educational experience for all involved, and showing the entry at our annual team banquet is a beloved tradition.

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There are some obvious problems with the vacuum left by the loss of the Autodesk Awards which many FIRSTers have addressed here.

But nobody is pointing out the method in which we found out. FIRST has promised more transparency, yet such a major change is left to be found by deductive reasoning???
When you lose a complement of awards that have been a corner stone of your program for two decades, a simple manual release in DECEMBER is not the way you should find out.
I am sure there are coaches throughout FIRST that have been building up this contest for their students, as a goal for 2013. Now they have egg on their faces, just one month before Kick-off.

As Jared has mentioned, Team 341 has plenty of valuable CAD and Animation projects that our students can work on to fill this void. But the timing and method of notification is a poor choice and does not show an appreciation for the ground level mentors that are working with the kids on these projects every day.

The FIRST manual release is no way to announce such a major departure from the past.

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We've had a nominal animation group for several years, but without any experienced students or a knowledgeable mentor they haven't produced anything substantial. The team's animation award submissions ended when our sponsor in that area stopped supporting FIRST.

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One thing to remember is a lot of change is occurring at FIRST HQ and the people that were the recipients of our "openness" campaigns in the past may not be there anymore. I think there is a lot of staff in various places with a year or less experience. So we may need to repeat our constructive feedback to FIRST in regards to openness.

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Is Frank Merrick still there? I think he really got the transparency message.

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We have had an animation group for the past few years now, winning a regional submission two years ago and making top 20 last year. Very disappointed to see this award go if it is indeed gone

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Frank is still there although there are lots of details that happen outside his sphere of influence or slip past him. I'm betting the communication/timing on these awards would be an example.

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Yes, he's still there. At least, he was there yesterday when he posted the last FRC Blog!

And everyone, remember one thing... Just because there isn't an award for something doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. If you've been working and preparing to do something based on awards that no longer exist... still go out there and do it! It's still a valuable experience for your students. They'll still learn a lot doing it. You can still share the results with the community.

When it comes to websites and social media... Well, doesn't all that count towards Chairman's as well? Even 10 years ago, the best way to get the word out about what you're doing and have an impact in the community was to actually take your robot out into the community. Today, you can make a YouTube video that could "go viral" reach 1000 times as many people with your message. In today's world, I don't think you can be a real Chairman's team without having a significant web presence to help spread your message. That doesn't mean you can ignore everything else, though!

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Social media was definitely a big part of our Chairman's program last year. Our entire action plan revolved around expanding our team's reach in an effort to impact more people and teams; social media was an integral part of this strategy.

Jon is very right, going forward I have a hard time envisioning any future Championship Chairman's award winners without a significant social media presence. It's just too big of an avenue to be ignored.

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I agree with this completely.

Still bummed and kind of confused as to why the New Media Award is Championship only. :/

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The Creativity Award seems to be missing as well.

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That's why they have Judges Awards at the regional level. To recognize teams in areas where there is no set award.

As much as I agree with the value of teams getting awards, and the relative importance of them, every year at the end of many regionals and CMP you will see all the complaints about how long the award ceremonies took. So, where is the balance?

Many awards in many different areas => long award ceremonies
Shorter award ceremonies => less awards

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There is a simple solution to this problem. The same solution that FIRST employs on Einstein. In the playoffs of any event, you have 6+ minutes between each match. This is sufficient time to give out an award. We would need to figure out the logistics of where the judges stand, where the team comes down, etc., since there would be robots and personnel on at least part of the field. But there are plenty of smart people involved in FRC, and I'm confident we could find something that works.

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I really cant see the rationale for cutting awards because of "long" award ceremonies.
If teams (individuals) are bothered by this, they can just leave if they choose.
Recognizing student(s)/team achievements is something worth waiting for to recognize outstanding hard work that teams put in.
The only kind of complaining we ever hear, has nothing to do with the award presenting, but other facets of the ceremonies themselves.