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Students help bring Armidale Markets online

June 16, 2004

rick Hatch.jpgUniversity of New England students are working with stall-holders at
Armidale’s monthly Markets in the Mall, helping them create a “virtual
market” on the Internet.
The UNE project, called “Armidale Markets Online”, has won support from the
markets’ organisers as well as from stall-holders, and already has a
presence (in draft form) on the Internet.
Twelve students from UNE’s New England Business School are collaborating on
the project, which they have entered in the national Students in Free
Enterprise (SIFE) competition for 2004.
In last year’s competition, a team from UNE was named “Most Outstanding Rookie Team” for developing a program (the “Graduate Aware Outreach Program”) that encourages less-threatening recruitment meetings between university students and potential employers.
“Our aim is to extend the stall-holders’ access to their customers (and,
therefore, potential sales) beyond the one-day-a-month of the Markets,” said
one of the UNE team members, Grant Johnston. “The Web site will allow people
to ‘go to the Markets’ whenever they like.”

The team leader, Emma Falkenmire, said she and others had been talking to
stall-holders at the Markets for almost a year, and had stimulated considerable interest. She said the project had received enthusiastic support from Armidale Dumaresq Council through its Armidale Visitor Information Centre. “The Manager of the Information Centre, Stuart Allardice, has been very helpful,” Emma said. “We’re exploring links between ‘Armidale Markets Online’ and the Council’s ‘Thrive in Armidale’ promotion program. “
“One of our team, Andrew Kapinga, has developed the Web site, which should
soon be fully functional,” she continued. “We’ve had to find out a lot about
information technology along the way. On June 27 we’ll be holding seminars
at UNE for the stall-holders, discussing the Web site itself (www.akraweb.com.au/markets ) and the marketing strategies it could support. We’ll hand the project over to them when they’re ready.”
Rick Hatch and Suzanne Forsyth Hatch, from Armidale’s Weemala Pottery, are
among the stall-holders who are taking advantage of the “Markets Online” Web
site. “The Web site communicates and promotes, on a continuous basis, the
high quality of art works, craft works and other products sold at Armidale’s
Markets in the Mall,” Mr Hatch said. “At the same time, it allows potential
customers to glimpse a little of the rich cultural life of Armidale.”
Emma Falkenmire and several other members of the team will travel to
Melbourne to present “Armidale Markets Online” at the national SIFE
competition on July 9-11. Other members of SIFE UNE will present a progress
report on the “Graduate Aware Outreach Program”. The mission of SIFE, which
was established in the United States in 1975, is to challenge university
students to make a difference to their communities through learning,
practising and teaching the principles of free enterprise. SIFE Australia
was established in 2000, and UNE entered the competition for the first time
in 2003.
Media contact: Grant Johnston, UNE SIFE member (e-mail:
gjohnst2@pobox.une.edu.au) or Jim Scanlan, UNE Public Relations (phone: 6773
3049). Contact Jim Scanlan for PHOTOGRAPHS.

Posted by Lydia Roberts at June 16, 2004 12:02 PM