Growingweb Ltd.

Growingweb Ltd., Gortamullen, Kenmare, Co, Kerry

Tel. 064 41403 Fax. 064 41630 e-mail. info@growingweb.ie

FEASIBILITY STUDY

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SCHOOL CHILDRENS GARDENING WEB SITE

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The establishment of a children's gardening web site was first suggested by my own children attending National School. From time to time they would come home from school with notes from their teachers asking for advice on various plant related projects that they were carrying out in school.

From this we actively encouraged a couple of the local Schools to carry out more 'growing' projects with the growing of shamrock and pumpkins being the most popular.
Developing from this was the concept of providing the same service throughout the country for the benefit of all interested young growers, their teachers, parents or supervisors arose.
The original seed that was sown from a simple note from a teacher had now germinated into the 'raringtogrow' web site project.

FEASIBILITY STUDY

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CHILDRENS GARDENING WEB SITE

INTRODUCTION.

AIMS OF THE SITE.

COMPETITION.

BENEFITS..

DESIGN OF THE SITE.

COSTINGS.

FINANCING

PUBLICITY.

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

1. INTRODUCTION.

As mentioned on the front page, the idea of the site evolved from a request for growing information from one of our local National Schools. As, through the 'growingweb' we are involved in promoting Horticulture in Ireland we thought it would be a worth while venture to investigate the possibility of developing a web site for the young gardener/grower which as well as being educational, it would also indirectly promote the industry.

With the assistance of a Feasibility Grant from Bord Glas this study was undertaken. Contacts were made within the Horticulture Industry, IT Consultants, Internet sources, the Educational authorities and other Government agencies for comments and advice.
A 'test' site was also constructed to display our proposals and also to attract feedback from individual schools around the country.
On the basis of information gathered from these sources since April 2001 we are now in a position to present this report with our findings and recommendations.


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The following are the main aims of the site that the development should be based on.

• Encouraging young children to become involved in growing and gardening project.

• Providing the necessary back-up for Teachers, Parents or Supervisors with project guide lines and background information.

• Encouraging closer links between schools and the garden industry ( garden centres/nurseries/growers )

• Involving these growing projects in wider issues of the environment.

• Promoting the use of the Internet as a reference and educational source and means of communication
  
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3. COMPETITION

As with most ventures before setting out on any business development it is necessary to check out the 'competition', both for potential conflicts and for ideas.

By referring to the various search engines it was relatively easy to find out other established sites that already provide the same type of service as that we were proposing to offer.
Indeed there were plenty of international sites featuring children's gardening but none at all in this country and no specific site within the UK either, even though plans are under way to establish one there now.

A lot of the US sites were well established, carrying University research results of the benefits of involving children in garden projects and outlining numerous gardening tasks.

The best sites are undoubtedly www.kidsgardening.com which is run in conjunction with the US National Gardening Association and the Junior Master Gardener site, www.jmgkids.com. These two sites both cater for the North American continent and are packed with information, research, gardening projects, books and links.

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The main benefits that will be derived from this site will be, to...

• Make the children aware of the requirements for plant life, fostering a caring responsibility and understanding.

• Have an easily available source of information for the teachers interested in undertaking growing projects.

• Create a better understanding for the environment at an early age.

• Develop a closer link between families/consumers/gardeners and the retailer

• Introduce children to the concept of Horticultural Science.

• Generate a familiarity with the Internet
  

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5. DESIGN OF THE SITE.

In order to provide a 'model' or test site for the new development it was necessary to register the domain name 'raringtogrow' and set up the frame work of the site from which we could display the basic concept to gain feedback. From a fundamental set of design criteria for the test pages the following points have been developed for future development.

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• Simple straight forward design. Easy to follow and quick to download.

• A simple home page leading to the main framework

• A 'Frame' format to provide easy navigation.

• Individual projects laid out from a monthly schedule.

• Projects to have a set of instructions as well as more details available separately.

• Have a monthly News page for highlighting various current events. This will also create the impression that it is not a 'static' site and help is on hand if required.

• Links to research into the benefits of involving 'growing' projects as part of an educational syllabus.

• Links to other environmental sites wherever possible.

• A Feedback contact page as well as a Registration form.

• A Photo-album to display picture from participating schools

• Competitions to be arranged whenever possible to encourage involvement.

• A good stats programme to monitor traffic and hits.

   

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6. COSTING

The cost of developing such a site as this will involve two main areas.

Firstly, there is the initial cost of creating the site. This will involve the design, planning and implementation of the structure and the contents and layout of each individual project. Attached is a guide line costing to develop such a structure from an IT Consultant.

This quotation, from Kenmare Technologies, has been recently reviewed and the estimate for developing the site layout and the initial years hosting is € 6,699.00

On top of this there is the costing for the research and development of the individual projects for each month. For the purpose of this study, based on the approximate time it would take to create each project, this content would be valued at € 2160.00 ( 3 projects per month @ €60.00/ project )

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST YEAR 1 € 8,859

Secondly, there is the running costs that will be involved in regularly updating the site and responding to feedback. This would ultimately depend on the level of feedback and on the amount of updating to be done.



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Three main areas of sourcing funds were investigated for backing the web development.

The Horticultural Industry. From within the industry there is plenty of 'verbal' support and interest but no actual commitment to help fund such a project with the exception of 'Growingweb' and 'Grow-Ireland'. Publicity, however, will be possible through 'Links' pages on other garden related sites.
Support by means of providing a budget to cover prizes for various competitions has been offered by Gouldings Garden Care which will be a very useful input in encouraging school participation.

Dept. Of Education. The Department of Education considered the project to be ........'an exciting project', but were not in a position to help financially. However they recommended us to the National Centre for Technology in Education for inclusion on the scoilnet web site. Through this site we have a direct link from both the 'teachers' and 'parents' pages of their site. This link brings us directly in contact with the targeted audience, the Schools. (According to the 1999-2000 figures there are 3,172 Primary Schools in the country with 428,339 students.) Through the scoilnet we have also been promoted by their mailshots and will also feature in their new development, 'netdays'. Other Educational links, such as that with 'educationmatters' and the INTO/'in-touch' have also offered to promote the site.

State Agencies. There are a number of State or semi-State Agencies that can be approached for funding in respect to projects like this. At present 'raringtogrow' has applied for further funding from a number of these but as yet have not received approval.
Bord Glas....could be approached again for funding to cover the development of the site in the next round of Grant applications. (40% funding )
Forfas, through the STI Awareness Programme provide a budget for Sponsoring various projects that promote the sciences. Sponsorship requests are considered monthly. At present they have used their budget for this year but having seen our site, they have recommend we apply in January 2002. In the mean time they have added a link to our site from their science.ie home page.( 50 % funding )
The Heritage Council were contacted regarding the 'raingtogrow site', commenting.... 'indeed it sounds like a very worthwhile project' and recommended we apply for grant aid in their present round of grant applications finishing 07/12/01. This we have done and await the result of their deliberation in February 2002. ( 50% funding )
The Dept. Of the Environment through the Local Environment Protection Fund may also be able to help fund this development in their next round of Grants in spring 2002.
An Taisc, and the Green Schools Project were also approached but even though reflecting favourably on the site couldn't help due to lack of funding themselves.

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8. PROMOTION & PUBLICITY

A good deal of publicity will be necessary for the raringtogrow web site to become popular and successful.
This publicity should be aimed at the Educational system, targeting the teachers and also through the Horticultural Industry, especially the garden centres, DIY's and Florists/Plant-Stores and associated web sites to attract the parents. Promotion through printed publications may also be possible if there was sufficient financial backing to support it.
Web/Internet promotion through links and mailing lists is the most cost effective form of publicity for low budget promotions as you are directly hitting the targeted audience.

EDUCATIONAL LINKS

The most important media to advertise web sites is actually on other web sites. The targeted viewer, the teacher, can be attracted by means of links from other web sites that they frequently refer to.
Already the site is being promoted on the NCTE ( National College for Technology in Education) web site www.scoilnet.ie and their new development 'netdays'. They will also from time to time send out flyers regarding the site in their mail shots.
The INTO web site www.into.ie will also promote the web link and will contact all their members about the site development by mail shot.
Other educational related sites have also been contacted , including 'educationmatters', the IPPNC and the NPC.
The National Children's Day web site www.ncd.ie have also featured raringtogrow and are interested in some form of joint venture for their charity events for next year.

INDUSTRIAL LINKS.

Targeting the Industry, the gardener and the parent can be achieved through horticultural web sites. www.growingweb.ie and www.grow-ireland.ie already feature the developing site as well as many environmental sites that are already providing other environmental services for the schools.

PRINTED PUBLICATIONS

Printed publications being the most expensive form of publicity could also be targeted if there was enough finances to support it. Gardening magazines as well as educational publications could be used to publicise the development.
Flyers, Posters and newsletters could also be used as a more traditional method of directly hitting the potential viewer. Again would have to depend on availability of finance.


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From our studies and research there is strong support for this project both from within the Educational and the Horticultural sectors, but financing may still be a problem in its initial development , € 8,859 estimate plus its running costs.

There are numerous benefits that will arise from this site for the children, the schools and the industry.

Once the site is fully established it can provide a reference point for many years to come. As opposed to a printed document this site can be changed relatively simply to keep the content fully up to date and also to promote any other relevant events that might be taking place.

An Advertising Budget should be established to help launch the site.

With a service such that is proposed under the 'raringtogrow' project it may be possible to encourage the Dept of Education to include many of these projects as part of their Science syllabus for National Schools.

Needless to say it is recommended that a site to provide this form of growing information should be established as soon as possible to involve the interaction between children and plants. The viability of the site will depend on the financing received from the Government agencies initially but once the site has become well rooted and indeed coming into flower there should arise a greater genuine interest from within the industry to feed its growth..

Bearing this in mind after conducting this Feasibility study the 'growingweb' intends to pursue this venture, seeking funding from any means it can to complete the first stages of this project. Hopefully with increased publicity within the schools and an active participation from the children in the projects and on-line competitions there will follow support from industry necessary to fund its interactive requirements and to develop the concept to its full potential.


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