*Lawn bowls reaches the Tomb Raider generation*
In this comprehensive IBM presentation - voice accompanied pictures, video clips and interesting cartoons - a new CD-ROM creates a real treasure hunt of gems of wisdom about a subtle, intriguing and challenging sport.
Forget all this talk about bowls being an old men's game. Lawn bowls has well and truly entered the new millennium with the release of a CD-ROM promoting the sport. Developed in South Australia by Constellation Software in co-operation with Kensington Marryatville Bowling Club, the CD called Winning Bowls is a gentle overview of a time honoured and fascinating sport. Winning Bowls highlights the spirit of the sport, coaching techniques and gives narrated visual demonstrations, making it a truly interactive experience.
This first in the world CD, describing a sport loved by so many people world wide, gives a fun focus to the learning of information technology, helping to bridge the gap between the newer technology and the older generation. The original idea came from Darryl Hemsley, a bowler at Kensington Marryatville Bowling Club in Adelaide, Australia.
Beginners and long-term bowlers alike will find there's something to be learned. The use of new technology will attract younger people to the sport, but Hemsley is also excited at the prospect of older people. It serves a dual purpose learning bowls, and at the same time they also become computer literate. He cites the case of a 91-year-old Canberra woman whose first fun play CD while learning about information technology was Winning Bowls. "Wakerie Library in South Australia found local bowlers fascinated by the effects and amount of useful information they could get about their sport. And some schools are using the CD to introduce kids to the simple ideas involved in bias lawn bowling prior to visiting the greens."
In technical terms, Winning Bowls is a Macromedia product set to work best on IBM computers at 680 x 480 resolution. Its presentation is extremely professional and the computer effects are first rate. This multi - media CD-ROM is a genuine teaching aid of computer skills to older citizens. Using the computer mouse, the user can control the duration of the game and make choices. It is set up in a sensible web site interface and explains the club activities and intrinsic mateship of Lawn Bowling, as well as providing useful coaching tips. Paths of interest can be followed to your heart's content, some four hours of interesting content. There are also direct e-mail and www links from the Winning Bowls CD to other bowls sites.