A team of information technology students have taken out the people’s award at the 2015 School of Information and Communication TechnologyIndustry Expo.
The election commitment tracker tool designed by Mihita Kankanamge, Mint Onta, Sam McCormick and Muhammad Ali for information and data specialists, Glentworth, caught the imagination of judges at Friday’s event.
Industry judges considered professionalism, presentation, technical quality and innovation before making their selection.
“It is a research tool that can be used to guide businesses and organisations through the uncertainty of an election period by focusing on election commitments,” Sam McCormick explained.
“It presents an assessment of the political landscape and what eventualities may come to pass depending on which party comes to power.
“This information allows businesses and organisations to continue to be productive rather that holding back as is often the case when an election is called.”
Griffith’s Red Zone proved the perfect venue for the ICT Industry Expo where a series of hi-tech projects developed with industry were showcased.
Among the initiatives was a suite of web safety games aimed at teaching primary school children about cyber safety and fraud.
The project is a standalone component of a Queensland Police Service program called Fiscal the Fraud Fighting Ferret. The tool uses computer games to sharpen awareness among children about the protection of computer files and avoiding viruses.
The 12-month School of ICT industry task brought together students of multimedia, software engineering and IT who worked closely with QPS.
“We got together with our clients at QPS about 10 times during the process. It was certainly a rewarding exercise and an experience that may lead to further opportunities in the future,” Kristian Kammerer said.
The other members of the student team were Alex Frank, Kim An and Sean Lim.
Across the crowded Red Zone room alongside, a giant touchscreen, Gary Scott was soon explaining how another team of IT students had built from the ground up an innovative information privacy tool also for Glentworth.
“We developed a series of questions to prompt organisations to ask themselves if they are doing what the legislation requires when it comes to protection of privacy and implementing policies for the collection of personal data,” he said.
By using the tool, organisations can find out where they are falling down and secure specific advice on how the situation can be rectified.
“This can vary depending on which jurisdiction your business is based in, even from state to state,” Gary said. The team also included Joseph Bannister (project manager), James Yeates (software developer), Peter Hylton (design) and Nicholas Smith (tester).
The fully completed project has been handed over to the clients.
Dr Leigh Ellen Potter, a lecturer at the School of Information and Communications Technology, said the judges were impressed with all projects and encouraged all students involved to be “incredibly proud of yourselves”.