School: Kaohsiung Senior High School
    Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

8 students, ages 15-16 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 20, 2005. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2000,2002,2004

Classes and Teachers: Jackson Liu

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.kshs.kh.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

Tsaishan is located on the west side of the Kaohsiung City, extending five kilometers along the coastline in the south-north direction. Its width amounts to 2.5 kilometers, and the area achieves 1200 hectares, with the peak 362 meters above the sea level. This hill occupies one fifteenth of the total area of the city, and thus serves as a natural geographic blockade for the City. Geologically the hill is coral reef limestone rock. In addition to having combo traits of the hills and the woods, this area possesses plentiful historical legends. One may view the panorama of the City as well as that of the Taiwan Strait at its peak. And we can say the hill is the most natural and unique landmark in Kaohsiung.

2. Summary of Our Project

The cement industry, which has profound impact on the District of Kaohsiung, not only has brought the prosperity for its economy but at the same time has done some severe damage to its ecological environment. From the blue-greenish hillsides before being developed to some large patches of wasteland nowadays, it’s easy to tell that the lethality of the industry as is to the ecology. We shall work on this period of history, and from the lesson herein hope to evoke the sense of environmental protection by and large for the future to come.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:4-6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

We applied plenty of info-tech tools when visiting people and designing webpage.And they varied subject to the types of interviewees and the info categories. For instance, there were copies of references given to group members right before going out for a visit so as to ensure the inquiry would stay focused.We contacted the prospective interviewees in every possible way and held the on-line conference. We caught visual and audio information by all kinds of tools, and turned the obtained data into digital files, then processed with various types of software. Our instructors provide us lots of equipments, including various types of photographic tools. Some team members have their own handy computer software. There are plenty of computer output equipments as well as photocopy machines in the computer classroom at school. After many visits paid and assignments done, we all agree that cell phone is the most convenient communication tool, camcorder is the master tool at interviewing, and the computer with lots of software is, of course, the king of data processing!

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Since there are more members to join in along the way, the number of our team members seems to outnumber that of the other teams.This might divide our labor more meticulously so that each member could express himself with expertise.But when compared to the size of the other teams which is smaller, the chances for all teammates to work together towards the project were on rare occasions.Hence, the less cohesive was our team. Not until this winter vacation did the turning point come: all the members could spare more time on the project, especially when it came the time for important meetings or activities. It appeared commendable to see members sacrifice their holidays and come back to school to rephrase the words and modify the picture images . Because our project requires us to pay visits to many government organizations, the time to visit is then confined to if those officials are available. For the cause, we even took a leave of absence from school to visit them during their office hours. Since the New Year holidays were included in the winter vacation, there was no way we could utilize this period of time to make up for what has been previously ignored. We, as being students, couldn’t afford the fast and convenient vehicles as our transportation, the time-consuming buses were therefore the only means to take us where we wanted to go.Some teammates coming from as far as Pingtung had to spend much more time on transportation whenever there were group meetings or assigned works to do. So here’s our salute to them.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Despite time-consuming issue and tremendous amount of pressure, we firmly believed that we could break through the challenge and succeed. In spite of unbearable process, we finally solved all the problems at the end. We should salute to ourselves for what we had gone through. Thank you for your precious time reading our work and we wish to invite your attention to our natural environment.We hope that we jointly work for our living environment for a better tomorrow. Thank you all and hope to see you again.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

Social practice skills to learn-we chose what is actually happening in our real life. We inspected the data, recorded messages, and asked relevant questions.It differed from the way we learned things at school, where we were simply confined to eyes and hands coordination. We learned through practice step by step.And it’s only through self-experiencing, one can get the capability that works. Viewing things from different aspects-since there are many subjects such as economy,environmental protection, wildlife conservation coming with the issue with respect to the cement plants in Kaohsiung, it’s easy for each party to hold different grounds with regard to its own benefits.It is definitely no easy job to put their views into words in an objective manner.We also learned from this: it will be wiser to seek for more opinions when it comes to judging. Only then, it would enable you to get closer to the core of the fact. Factory zone and community as one-after inspecting the blueprint for the factory zone for the near future, there dawns the light on us --- hopefully this zone will someday become one with the local culture, the construction of the cement museum can be completed at an early date, and conservation of wildlife can be further ahead. Students will have one more resort to go visiting and residents here can have more space for their activities.To make Tsaishan become a part of life to the Kaohsiung citizens, we wish.The aforementioned are the elements for which we are qualified for Cyberfair.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

1. mobile phones: handy and good for JIT contact 2. local telephone: inconvenient, but irradiative and inexpensive. 3. network instant messenger: multi-user plus file transmission. 4. traditional camera: use less frequently and take time to be developed. 5. digital camera: easy to operate and multi-functional and can be transferred directly into computer for further processing. 6. camcorder: can record both the sounds and images without delay. 7. tape recorder: can be used to tape a long interview, but quality is lower. 8. flash disk: can be used to record, broadcast, store, and carry files, but its capacity is limited. 9. floppy disk: with the function of storage and portability, but much less capacity. 10. CD: with the function of storage and portability, capacity is OK.. 11. file transferring tools: transfers various types of data into the desired format. 12. computer software: including image and word processing, and so forth. 13. scanner: scan the materials and convert them into pixels for image processing. 14. printer: print out the files for interview needs. 15. photocopier: use when large quantities of paper materials required.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

We would have to interact with the right people to access to the enclosed info, if we wanted to probe deeper into the core of the subject.There were several ways we used to achieve this. The most convenient and fastest way was to make an appointment and go paying for a visit. During the interview, we then asked if additional materials were available or if there was any recommendation. As a matter of fact, they all did their best to meet our demands. For those governmental organizations which we couldn’t contact by phone, we sent our inquiries to their customer service via e-mail. So unfortunate was it that they were on the Agricultural New Year vacation. However, we felt very lucky to receive some important replies to resolve troublesome matters we previously had. We could thus present our delicate work to you at last.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Taiwan Cement Corporation’s land development project has been tabled for a long while. Consequently, the issue has gradually faded from the local citizens’ memory. They consider that the project had been sealed up and would never be unpacked again. As students with limited power, it is hard for us to have effective influence on this shelved project. Nevertheless, we still hope to inform visitors of our web page of this issue and to arouse the government and citizens’attention.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

advisors-Tiger Wu Jackson Liu Cheng-Ching Chu Shih-Ting Tang Shih- yin Lin Hui- Wen Yang Ming-yu Dominic Leigh Hsiang- Hsun Chen 1.providing information 2.suggestions on right interviewees 3.equipment preparation 4.leading 5.assisting in obtaining official leave of absence 6.provision of transport 7.paying for students’ meal expense 8.research project instruction 9.English translation instruction 10.webpage design instruction interviewees- 1.providing oral information 2.providing information in written form 3.suggestions on right interviewees

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We have encountered a great number of difficulties during the research, and two visits to the cement plant are the most typical experiences. At the first time, a senior staff member drove us up the mountains to conduct a field investigation. The winding road was very rugged and we suffered not only from carsickness but also from an acute pain in buttocks. However, from this experience, we achieved a perfect understanding of how limestone was transited to the ground and was manufactured into cement. At the second time, we tried to go to the cement plant by ourselves. However, we didn’t know that there was no bus to the cement plant until we arrived at the train station. Then, we even got lost during transfer! Keeping asking for directions and changing buses for several times, we finally reached the cement plant. What’s worse, when one of our team members climbed on a rock to take a photo, he stumbled over the strap of his camera and tumbled off the rock. Fortunately, he only grazed his buttocks slightly. As contacting organizations, we experienced a marked difference in people’s attitudes. Most the organizations were willing to offer their generous help when we inquired by telephone. Nevertheless, some also passed the buck by forwarding our letters from department to department. In the end, there was often no response to our letters. Probably our request should have been presented in a more urgent way.