School: Kaohsiung City Hsin Chuang Senior High School
    Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Taiwan

16 students, ages 16-18 year-old worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 12, 2007. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2002, 2003, 2004

Classes and Teachers: Liou Xyuejhu, Chan HuiHuang, Wang ChaoWen

E-Mail contact:

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

1. Description of Our Community

Ciaotou Township is a piece of perfect artwork integrating the history with the human culture. At the crossing of now and the past, though accompanied by conflicts in the development of economy, Ciaotou still gives out intoxicating fragrance. Its beauty not only lies not only in its external scenery, but also in its history and cultural style, which is especially amazing, brewed in its background. From the sugar refinery, the ancient houses, the stone tablets, the baroque architecture and the old sleeping loco, every scene has a special history and meaning. That's Chiaotou's beauty.

2. Summary of Our Project

Use no zooty technique and flowery language, for this is from a fresh but dense fragrance, which is the faith kept between human and the nature and the most beautiful silent art-Ciaotou Fragrance. Fruit Milk should start with the subjects of history and human culture to introduce you the Ciaotou you've never known before , turning all Ciaotou Township's beauty into the most beautiful lines. It's an opera of the history and the modern times. You can never describe better than experience it by yourselves. What you have enjoyed during the tour is not only the scenery but also the sweet encounter between history and culture.

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:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

That we were not familiar with each other may be the biggest obstacle during this contest! Even with classmates, how could we know other member's talents? The answer to everything depended on the time. Second, some members could not participate in due to the heavy schoolwork or family factors even the journey of shooting and interviews in ordinary weekends. This made the large team of us often shorthanded during the shooting tasks. Third, the acreage of Ciaotou Township is not small. At the very beginning, our range of research was restricted by vehicles, but fortunately, we finally completed the task with enthusiastic help from Shirong’s father.

Fourth, our interview journey was not smooth at the beginning. May be it was because of the lack of communication! While when we were just about to give up, we found that parents of our members were familiar with the interviewees, the surprising miracle came so soon that we could not even believe it. At last, “Time” turned to be our biggest enemy. May be you can’t imagine that places as simple as Ciaotou Township looked could possess so numerous and charming history and culture. It was so hard to gather and neaten related data. And, some data stored in Ciaotou Library could not be borrowed so that we have to recognize and admire the hard work of our Data Team.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

During the interviews and photo shooting, we deeply realized the damage that the economic development had done to Ciaotou. Thinking about the conflict between the past and the present is a course that the students have learned, which is also the most important thing than anything else.

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

During our visit to Jhongci Brook of Ciaotou Township, we found the great damage that the modern economy had done to the natural environment of Chiaotou. People's greed is just like a sharp bayonet, every thrust will leave a scar that can make people weep. The idea of “environment protection” had long been promoted in every geography class. The project's interview of Ciaotou had inspired and given us a new goal to make people in Taiwan (or even people all around the world) to concern more about the nature-exploitation problem.

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

In completing the project, we had changed the way we had conducted before. To create such a satisfying work, we adopted some different methods of art creation in other fields. In communicating the visual image, it's (the first draft) first made by KaiJhin (team leader) and ShihRong with just pens and papers, and then the selected image was scanned into the computer, adjusted by the Ulead PhotoImpact 8. We used Ulead PhotoImpact 8 to make the web page structure and the basic sample of the design as well. And, the Macromedia Dreamweaver MX was used to complete all the following designing of the web page.

During the process of visiting Ciaotou, we used pen recorder to record all the interview. And one of the team members, ChuanCheng, used DV to catch the most real situation. The DV was provided by the school, not his own, so he had spent much time practicing the shooting. The shooting job is not easy, for the shooter had to take care of the light and the sound. In addition, we also used digital cameras catching many precious pictures when visiting some of the famous scenic spots of Ciaotou.

Finally, after the interviewing, to make the film clips more real, the adequate editing and modification are needed. So, WanLing and ShueRu used Ulead VideoStudio 10 to complete the work.

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

Language had become an important element during many of our interviews. We had used Chinese common speech, Taiwan dialect and even English was applied when we were talking to a servant of the Huang's during the seeking for ancient house of the Huangs. The polite words for communication used there were strange to us, so language is the first course we've learned during the interaction with other people.

During the project, we had interviewed with the chief of the village and the township mayor. Their clear introduction and explanation of the history of Ciaotou help much in accomplishing the project. To our most surprise, one of the villagers, Mr. Lin, allowed us to visit the old Lin family houses. All the team members are impressed not only by the old family houses' structure, but also the warmth and kindness of Mr. Lin. We had used DV and pen recorder to collect the precious first-hand information. And the chief of the village, township mayor and Mr. Lin also promised us they would get online to check our webpage after the project done!

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

To begin with, the project aims to implement the “new tour concept” into the minds of everyone visiting our webpage. And, to make everyone accept this work, we think, the first is to redefine the concept of “tour” in everybody's mind, which is most important. Tour, in most people's view, is just snacks, sceneries and local amusement etc., which should be regarded as a special characteristic of tour in Taiwan but will soon be washed out by time.

Thus, when we were planning the page, we insisted on the concept of culture and history. Many people criticized us for not planning contents like local snacks of Ciaotou when making a webpage about tour. But actually the snack was just one of the factors that influenced the tour of a place and were the recourses most easily to be abandoned by time.

So, we think “tour' is mainly about the understanding of history and culture of one place, of its beauty and lifestyle. And Ciaotou's beauty and lifestyle are just what we want the viewers learne from our webpage.

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

Our team had received much help from the school and, particularly, parents of the team members. Their assistance of transportation became extraordinarily important when we were busy in between the school work and the webpage. As we commuting between the Kaohsiung city and Ciaotou, ShihRong's parents played the role as drivers and the local tour guide in Ciaotou, which saved us much time for doing research. Team members WenHua and WanRong's family also provided us with many important materials for the interviews, for they have long lived in Ciaotou. Since they were very familiar with the local culture and environment, the information we'd collected from them was correct yet detailed.

In addition, there were still many other villagers willing to help us despite the fact that we might not know each other very well. We owed special thanks to the village chief, the mayor of Ciaotou Township and the Culture and History Association. From their interviewing process, we seemed to have felt their passion and devotion to protect the Ciaotou culture. The response and viewpoints of each interviewee are the very important information. The webpage thus can become so informative. Thanks them for offering us those precious opinions.