student(dot)praguecollege

..new student project

(dot) is a site made by students for students.

It is a social networking website for the College’s students and lecturers aiming to create a place for communication, discussion and presentation of work and activities around the College.
We wish to create a positive and motivating environment for members to share ideas, but also to present their work to the wider public.

At the same time (dot) is a window into the heart of Prague College and everyone is invited to take a peek.
We hope you enjoy browsing through the many types of work in design, digital media, IT and business created by our students and lecturers.

 

 

Take a peek here

Interview with creators of "DOT" - Tihana

Tihana Valent - Interactive Media graduate and DOT project coordinator

1.What is unique about this new web page? Why do you think students and lecturers will  use it?

Even though DOT is a social site, which may sound boring and unnecessary, as there are a lot of such sites people already use, this one differs a bit.

First of all, DOT is created for students and lecturers of Prague College, for the presentation of their work. It means in comparison to other social sites this one is quite small and compact, trying to bring together people who obviously have things in common but hadn't had the opportunity to communicate yet.

It is based on people's work and not their profiles. It doesn't have a messaging system and different "friends" options, so the aim is discussion focused around people's work which has been uploaded in order to create a motivating and educational discussion room.

Student (Dot) is the first website of its kind in the Czech Republic giving students the chance to promote themselves and their work The website serves as a social networking place where the opinions of students are met by their friends, colleagues and even lecturers and the public. It is a public website made for students, by students.

 2. So from the student's perspective, what do you think motivates them, enriches their studies?

The idea to create such a space came from just being a student at the college. I studied Interactive Media, but somehow found it quite difficult to find time or the right moment to see what other students were doing, especially people who were studying different subjects. I think being able to communicate, discuss, show your work and see other people's work is a great motivation and inspiration. It's also a chance to meet other people and find possibilities for cooperation and team work which is one of the biggest rewards during studying.
I was always so curious about what people were doing in graphic design, or who made that cool animation, or what exactly was going to come up after all that spraying on the walls in the cafeteria...but people are shy and so am I. And so now there is (DOT)!

3. Do you remember what brought the three of you (Vit, Dima and you- the DOT creators) together?

As Vit runs a company that works in web development, there was a clear decision about our cooperation. After the project was constructed, we organized a competition among all graphic design students to find a designer for the project. Dima (Dmytro Strapchev) had the most convincing ideas and we asked him to work with us.

 

Interview with creators of "DOT"- Vit

Vit Horky- BA (Hons) International Management graduate, responsible for technical background of DOT

1. Vit, can you briefly describe the new DOT page and its added value?

Student (Dot) is the first website of its kind in the Czech Republic which gives college students the chance to promote themselves and the work they have been doing during their studies.

2. What made you and your company INSPIRO interested in this particular project?

I was interested in participating in this unique internet project because I had a chance to use my skills and experience from Inspiro Solutions, an innovative internet marketing web design company I founded, and my knowledge gained during my studies at Prague College. I saw the development of the Student (DOT) website from both perspectives and that´s why I was able to see clearly what will motivate people to use it and why they will be happy to join the online student community.

3. Being from three different backgrounds, you, Tihana and Dima must have brought different insights to this project. How would you describe your cooperation?

It was a perfect example of a professional development team where creative IT specialists and web design architects were brought together to produce a project in an open and  informal atmosphere where "No“ means an answer based on individual expertise that will be respected and "Let´s do this“ means a signal to all of us to put our brains together and do something.

4. What brought you together initially?

That´s simple – our client. PragueCollege is our college and our client as well. Prague College brought us together as mates and its management gave us the opportunity to come up with a creative concept of the Student (DOT) website. I hope that other universities will start to see the potential of their own students for increasing the attraction of their courses. The concept of the Student (DOT) website should become an example of student websites benefiting both students and the alumni.

 

Interview with creators of "DOT"- Dima

Dmytro Strapchev- HND Graphic Design student, Design of DOT

1.What is unique about this new web page? Why do you think students and lecturers will  use it?

In general there's nothing new. The site combines the concepts of social networks and web forums. It allows users to post their work, see the work of other students and discuss them. But it is special, because this particular site is specially designed for students and lecturers of Prague College.

Another special thing is it having been designed by students of the same college. I think this makes it unique. From my point of view, it's always interesting to see what other students are doing for the same assignments that you were working on. As well as to hear comments and opinions on your work. Also it's interesting to see the work of students from other programs. For example I was really surprised by the Marketing students' project about the presentation of the Czech "tatarak" dish that was broadcasted on CNN.


2. Why do you think your design was chosen ahead of all the others in the competition?

 I was really happy that my design was chosen. I saw some beautiful and interesting designs from the other students who were participating on this. I think my design was chosen because of its simplicity and practicality, though it wasn't the most beautiful.

I saw seen this website as a potential user, which helped me a lot. And also I've spent some time previously searching for and trying various sites to post my work, so I already knew what worked better, and what doesn't. Though, it was quite difficult to understand how business students would use the site, and I think most of that part was thought through by Vit and his team.


3. Being from three different backgrounds, you, Tihana and Vit must have brought  different insights to this project. How would you describe your cooperation?


I wouldn't describe our cooperation as "smooth". Sometimes we had completely different views on some parts of the site. It was really interesting how ideas took shape during the meetings, depending on various aspects – web-usability, visual aesthetics, technical constraints, common sense. Everybody was open to ideas and change. Everybody shared their own experience from various fields. I think that was challenging, but finally when we were agreed on something, everybody seemed satisfied. I think I've learned a lot from this project.


4. Do you remember what brought you together?

Probably the idea of making something really special. Sincerity, in some sense.