13-01-2005 15:09

Jessica Boucher

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

This is a great idea. Good job!

Also....now, I've never had to fill one of these out before, but..."Percent of School (not just team) Students Receiving Free or Reduced Lunch"...is that new? That's an interesting statistic to be gathering on FIRST's part.

13-01-2005 18:42

RoboMom

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

not new at all.
The process of gathering all this information for teams is crucial for most grant proposals.
NCES keeps these stats, by school, in a database. I can't remember what this acronym stands for.

09-02-2005 22:02

Gary Dillard

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

Thanks for the template - it was very useful. One question though - for the yearbook pages it says 4 lines, versus 500 characters for each of the Executive Summary boxes; is there anyway to print out the input from the TIMS website to see what it will look like, or does anyone have the character count per printed line? We used this excel sheet before logging on and I thought the boxes represented the 4 lines, but they're not the same. Once we had typed it and saved it, I could tell it put in carriage returns at certain places, so I'm thinking that maybe we have more room to write.

10-02-2005 06:11

KathieK

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

We are struggling with the same issue. We have long sponsor names, for example, and have no idea what will be shortened since we can't see how the page will print out. Our team leader was supposed to be calling FIRST about it earlier in the week; I will post later after I speak with him.

10-02-2005 11:07

Gary Dillard

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

I just submitted a question to FIRST under section 1.14 (yearbook pages), ID 1576

Q: The TIMS yearbook page essay section mentions 4 lines limit per field; how many characters per line, or is there a way to view how the output will look?

10-02-2005 11:33

dhitchco

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

Gary,
thanks for submitting a "clarifying" question re: the actual length of the responses for the yearbook. I have NOT seen what the "finished" document looks like.

I did model my spreadsheet template off of the screen captures from the TIMS system.

So, they state "line count" and not discreet character count for the yearbook submission. My guess is that this is designed to fit on one page when formatted.

The Chairman's Award submission has definite rules about character count...

11-02-2005 13:16

Gary Dillard

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

ID: 1576 Section: 1.14 Status: Answered Date Answered: 2/11/2005
Q: The TIMS yearbook page essay section mentions 4 lines limit per field; how many characters per line, or is there a way to view how the output will look?

A: There is no way to view the output of the page. Please try to keep answers somewhat brief. If some answers are longer than 4 lines, make sure that others are shorter, so that the total text of all essay answers will balance out to fit the printed page used by the Judges.


ID: 1588 Section: 1.14 Status: Unanswered Date Posted: 2/11/2005
Q: #1576 you missed the point of the question. How do I know if my answer is longer than 4 lines if I don't know how many characters per line? Is it just the 4 line space in the box on the webpage? That seems REALLY brief.

11-02-2005 14:47

RoboMom

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

These are meant to be brief and fit on one page, easy to be flipped thru by judges. Do some creative abbreviations. Try to keep to 4 lines. If one box has 6 lines, make another 2. If you have a point you really want to emphasize, make sure it gets in your chairman's entry. or your interview.

11-02-2005 15:27

Gary Dillard

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

yeah, but.....

The template that dhitchco created fit on one page, and I can fit alot more info than I can on the website page at 40 characters per line, especially with everything wrapping around.

I created the writeup originally in excel in the template from this thread in the whitepapers (unofficial as it says) so it fit on the 4 lines. If I cut and paste my writeup into the yearbook page online it takes about 6 lines, sometimes more depending on the size of the last word. If I paste the same info into a word document, Times New Roman, font 12, 1 inch margins, it takes up only 2-1/2 lines.

If the yearbook page 40 character format is what we get, we'll make it fit. But I can say alot more in 400 characters (4 lines in Word) than 150 characters (4 lines online). I don't need to be told how to do it - "make it fit, be brief, etc." - I can figure that out myself. I want to be told the requirement - "4, XX character lines" so I can make my own determination as to what I want to fit in there.

11-02-2005 16:33

dhitchco

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

Hi Gary,
as the "designer" of the template for my team to use, I too, have been somewhat burned by the fact that the actual online TIMS yearbook "blanks" can't hold as much info as my template.....so, sorry if I mis-lead anyone.

I agree with the others that we're going to a) cut-down and rely on the other award entires and b) use some sort of common 2005-lingo for abbreviations. How about we start an "unofficial" 2005 acronym list:

a) TPG stands for "triple play game" not "toilet paper gathering"
b) TTA stands for "three-team alliance" not "terrible tetra attack"
c) RTSPA stands for "rookie team seeks professional advice"
You can come up with others.....

11-02-2005 20:05

KathieK

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

I agree that the "4 lines" is misleading in that the box to type the information into is very narrow. I'm thankful that the awards criteria is measured by characters.

14-02-2005 16:46

Gary Dillard

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

Still no answer on my followup question - I'm going to call tomorrow.

Did anyone see their Judges' yearbook page last year (the copy the judges got)? - looks like they had the same questions. Were the 4 lines full page width, or were they in smaller spaces, like half column, closer to the 40 characters on the webpage?

15-02-2005 09:46

Gary Dillard

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

Just got off the phone with FIRST - here's the scoop (they hope to have an answer posted this afternoon).

Her original response was based on their understanding that there is alot of information crammed onto the yearbook page, and that the 4, 40 character lines on the TIMS website is what actually gets printed. After some further discussions, she is meeting with the I.T. group this morning to try to find out what format actually gets printed out. She said alot of teams in the past have used bulleted lists rather than paragraphs so the 4 line limit was based on that.

Unless the official response makes some significant change to the allocation, our plan is to reduce our write up to 4, 40 character lines and then expand from there if we get some relief.

I hp we dnt nd to abrv 2 mch that wd sck

15-02-2005 12:40

Gary Dillard

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

Q: #1576 you missed the point of the question. How do I know if my answer is longer than 4 lines if I don't know how many characters per line? Is it just the 4 line space in the box on the webpage? That seems REALLY brief.

A: Yes, the spaces that you see available in the essay section of the Judges Info tab in your TIMS record are approximately the same size that will be seen when printed in the Yearbook page.

17-02-2005 23:06

KathieK

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

Wow, that seems VERY brief. I'm not sure we can say what we need to say there...

21-02-2005 00:42

Barry Bonzack

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

New question for the yearbook page regarding the robot picture. Does the picture have to be posted somewhere on the internet? I can't find a way to upload it like I did with the Chairman's application. Would a picture posted on Chiefdelphi work? If it's too large than what they ask for will it be sized down automatically, or should I do that myself and post it as well?

21-02-2005 06:02

KathieK

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

In The TIMS system, in the Judges Tab, under Miscellaneous section, underneath the box for your team budget is a box to enter a URL for your robot picture, which should be in the ratio of 240X180 pixels. It should show up in pink if you haven't yet submitted the information.

It appears that you must post your robot picture somewhere on the internet first. Perhaps you have one posted on your team website?

21-02-2005 21:11

Barry Bonzack

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

We don't have a website up yet, but I posted a pic of the robot 160 X 240 here. What do I have to get our teacher to copy and paste into the TIMS system?

21-02-2005 21:23

KathieK

Re: Template for working on 2005 Yearbook

If you right-mouse-click it, go to Properties, you get the URL for just the photo: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/pics/bin/110903659941.jpg

As I understand it, THAT is the URL that your teacher will need to type into the box in the TIMS system.