CD promotes Coffs Harbour's Bunker Cartoon Gallery

Coffs Harbour’s Bunker Cartoon Gallery will be able to promote its annual cartoon competition around the world using a promotional CD created by students of Southern Cross University (SCU).

The cartoon gallery is one of a number of community groups and non-profit organisations to benefit from projects conducted by students in their final year of a Bachelor of Multimedia degree at the Coffs Harbour campus.

As part of their assessment the students have to put in tenders to produce a CD or a CD and website for a non-profit organisation. Successful projects have included the Coffs Harbour and District Historical Museum, the Police and Citizen’s Youth Club and a project on refugees that has been used by universities and schools.

SCU lecturer Ms Leone Woodcock said she was now looking for clients for next year’s students, who will complete their project by November 2004.

She said the clients gained a product at no cost, while students gained invaluable experience.

“The benefits are really great for the students. This is their first opportunity to do what someone wants and to manage an entire project. It’s real experience for when they go out into the industry. They learn a broader range of skills,” Ms Woodcock said.

“The whole idea is to have a project to show prospective employers so they can see the students’ work in action.”

The Bunker gallery project was completed by Kym Ryan, Pat Howard and Nathan Udayan, who said the experience in project management as well as the design work, was invaluable.

Mr Tim Allsopp, a member of the gallery’s management committee, said the students provided the gallery with an excellent promotional CD that would be used to promote the gallery both nationally and internationally as a unique facility.

“I found the students and staff great to work with and they took pains to understand the nature of our enterprise. The process of consultation and adaptation of the project was well handled by the students. The final product is something that we will be able to use for a variety of purposes including competition promotion,” Mr Allsopp said.

The Bachelor of Multimedia is a three-year course with majors in software development, interactive learning, e-commerce and marketing.

Ms Woodcock said students would be able to use the skills to analyse commercial needs and design and develop suitable computer applications utilising a range of multimedia resources.

“Emphasis is given to the importance of being user friendly as well as software development efficiency.”

Information on the course will be available at the Southern Cross University Coffs Harbour open day on Tuesday, August 12, from 4pm to 8pm in the Osprey Restaurant.

CAPTION: (left to right) Pat Howard, Kym Ryan and Nathan Udayan have a final look at the CD they have created to promote the Bunker Cartoon Gallery.

Media information: Sara Crowe or Kath Duncan, Media Liaison, Southern Cross University, Ph: 02 6620 3144, email: scrowe@scu.edu.au.