Essential elements of the Special Topic Project

This study project enabled us to apply and put together what we have learnt from the courses to work out a study report. In this study, we exercised the communication and expression skills we learnt from the course of Chinese Language in the interviews and the writing skills in preparation of report and collation of data. Also we used the mathematical knowledge in statistical and percentage calculation, the knowledge of Nature and Living Science in practical operations, the knowledge of Art and Humanity in expression and drawing, the knowledge of Social Science about community relationships, local resources and comprehensive activities in our group cooperation, etc. Our school includes the course of Local Community Survey in its curriculum, requiring us to visit the community in person during the local community survey activity each semester, and these activities have laid a solid foundation for our study, which may in turn serve as the reference for such course in the future.

In this study, we have not only integrated the knowledge acquired in the courses to make it more practical for our daily life but also learnt such skills as liaison, interview, statistics, information collation, etc., and what is more, we are aware of the development of string noodle, a traditional wheaten food, as well as the rise and decline of our Mucha string noodle. We consider that this study furthers our understanding of this place, enables us to serve as the explicators to introduce this special product, facilitates the development of indigenous education in our school and even in this region and fosters deeper love in us for this land. We strolled through streets and lanes to gather the memories and data in private possession, and made full use of the Internet to collect various information. In the process, we found some luncheonettes serving delicious string noodles and a great deal of relevant information, and we were furnished with assistance and convenience in data collation and interviews.

Information technologies we applied:

• Recording pen – recording the interviews
• DV, digital camera – taking pictures of the interviews, photographing and recording the activities
• CD writer – collating data
• Internet facilities – e-mail, instant messaging system (IMS)
• Other hardware – computers, scanners, portable disks, printers
• Software
• Other information: library, books, field interviews, questionnaire interviews

The information was for the most part gathered and processed with such information facilities provided by the school as digital camera, video camera, CD writer, scanner and software, and we also used our own PCs and portable disks as well as our teachers’ recording pens and digital cameras, whereas the books were obtained from the accessible Taipei Library System. Amongst all, the recording pens, digital cameras and computers are the most frequently used devices.

The students who participated in this Special Topic Project were envoys of their respective communities, commissioned to introduce the indigenous features of this land. Please explain how your team played the role of "envoys" through the Internet, personal or group contacts?

In this Special Topic Project, we visited numerous places in the Mucha Region, and while we interviewed them, we felt at heart the warmth and care of inhabitants, and even more, the beauty of this land. We wrote down our feelings and experiences on our web pages, in the hope that the visitors of these web pages will join us in preserving the traditional industries of this land. In addition, we are willing to fill the role of explicators in our school and other places to share our study with others.

To complete this Special Topic Project, it is inevitable to contact and talk with local dwellers. Please talk about the methods you adopted to communicate with others, such as personal visit, correspondence, telephone or e-mail, etc. We wish to hear some interesting anecdotes, stories or contact results. For example, were there any visitors to the school or sponsors for the Project? Did the local dwellers feel touched because of your deeds? What did they tell you?

In this study, we interviewed many people and adopted a number of methods to contact them. For example, as for the handmade string noodle workshops, pastry shops, and other traditional business which hold ethics in great account, we first called them for appointments and then our teacher paid a visit to explain the reasons for our subsequent visits. We contacted the street magistrates and the district offices via telephone and e-mail; we contacted the factories of mechanical string noodles first through the street magistrates as go-betweens and then via telephone to explain our visits; as for the string noodle luncheonettes, we directly ordered some food and then told them the intension of our visits after finishing the food. Most of the local people were ready to give a hand and being affirmative, so the questionnaire interviews were for the most part fairly smooth. They all encouraged us to work hard to preserve the local features as it is very important, and hoped us can make a contribution to the indigenous culture.

What are the influence and impact of the Special Topic Project on your?

Reference and suggestions:

Our Special Topic Project is no doubt merely a small screw in the building of local indigenous research, but in the process of questionnaire interviews, we discovered that many people, who originally had no idea that string noodle is a special local product of Mucha, became interested in this special product and asked us many relevant questions because of our study. Especially after we acquired more knowledge about the string noodles, we exhibited confidence and a sense of accomplishment in making explanation, and thereby won applause and expectations from the people. We wish that more people would be aware of the Mucha string noodles through our web pages. In spite of all those websites and studies pertaining to string noodles, we still wish to demonstrate the importance of this study in terms of the exhibition and research of the indigenous culture from the perspectives of the development trail and status quo of the Mucha string noodles, and the suggestions of relevant activities we made in contacts with the administrative entities also gained unanimous affirmations.

Respect for intellectual property right and citation explanation;
The school offered instruction about the issue of intellectual property right this semester, and our teacher also taught us the proper way of citation, according to which we have practiced indication of the source of while preparing theme reports. In this Special Topic Project, all the data are collected through our interviews and we have listed all the information sources for the few data cited. As regards some specific data, photos and videos, we acquired authorization in person through e-mails, phone calls and official letters. Therefore, all the photos used on our web pages are copy left or taken from the galleries for which we have obtained the copyrights.

Discoveries, lessons and surprises:

In this study, we discovered that there are many byproduct of the advanced city development, such as the predicament of the surviving traditional industries, etc..However, to our delightful surprise, we also discovered that although people generally consider the urbanites comparatively aloof, the strangers we encountered in the interviews, no matter the respondents to the questionnaire or the interviewees, are all very friendly, amiable, and willing to help us, for which we are very grateful.