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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Bytemarks
Wai'anae High a hot spot for new technology

By Burt Lum

When thinking of Wai'anae, I usually have visions of surfing, fishing and maybe some subsistence farming. Being from Pearl City, I considered Wai'anae country, much as the Honolulu high schoolers thought Pearl City was country. So I admit that I was quite surprised to find out that Wai'anae High is home to a sophisticated Web development project.

Norm Chock, computer teacher and Web evangelist, sent me an e-mail and a link to the Wai'anae Web site (www.waianae.k12.hi.us). I have spent years surfing the Web, reviewing Web sites, and it amazes me when I see work like this coming out of our high schools. A lot of thought and technology went into the development of this Searider site.

For starters, the webcast portion (http://webcast.waianae.k12.hi.us) is a multimedia showcase for videos taken in and around the campus. You will find videos of campus projects, historical documentaries and the occasional music video. Norm told me his desire was to weave three technologies into an educational experience for the students: the Web and computing, audio broadcasting and video production. If you have ever developed your own Web site, you can appreciate the work that went into bringing this one to life. Students are scripting video shoots, producing and editing, encoding and then programming the Web site, none of these being trivial tasks. The Web site alone uses programming tools such as Flash, active server pages, cascading style sheets and Windows media content.

In addition, the Wai'anae Coast Coalition has filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission for a low-power broadcast frequency for the Wai'anae High School campus radio station. Besides the delivery over the campus airwaves, content from the radio station will also stream over the Searider Web site. And if that isn't enough, Norm also conducts an e-Academy class that teaches students the foundation of computer hardware, maintenance and networking. All this coming from a school in "the country." Go Seariders! ;-)


Correction: The Wai'anae Coast Coalition has filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission for a low-power broadcast frequency for the Wai'anae High School campus radio station. A previous version of this column included incorrect information.

Burt Lum, cyber-citizen and self-anointed tour guide to the Internet frontier, is one click away at burt@brouhaha.net.