Project Information

1. Title: Hometown Beauty
2. URL:http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2015/gsh7881/index.htm 
   
3. Project Bibliography Page:
   http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2015/gsh7881/narrative.htm
   
4. Category: 8. Local Music and Art Forms
5. Number of Students who worked on the Project: 11
6. Age of Students who worked on this project: 16 - 17
7. Date that Project was Finished: 10/03/2015
8. List of Years we have participated in Cyber Fair: 2008, 2012
9. Classes and Teachers: Huey-Chuen Yang & Yu-Hui Yang
10. E-Mail contact: hcyang@mail.yhsh.tn.edu.tw
11. School: Ying-Hai High School
12. Our School’s Web Sites: http://www.yhsh.tn.edu.tw/
13. Backup site:【http://net2.yhsh.tn.edu.tw/~love/】　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Top

1. The category that I participate in:
   Category 8 : Local Music and Art Forms
   
   
2. What is our local community group?
   　　Shiang Yu Museum, located in Jiangjun District, Tainan city, one of the six towns of Salty Zone. The Salty Zone Culture is one of the most famous cultural community groups. Shiang Yu Museum has been playing the role as a spiritual home for many art workers. Its founder, Mr. Lin,Jin-Hwei, raises a lot of money and artworks from many artists, builds this building as a place to exhibit and hold artistic activities, especially for those artists coming from Salty Zone.
   　　Since the Japanese-occupied period, Salty Zone has been famous for his numerous talented persons: doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs, writers, and artists. These people use their talents and resources to depict their hometown and to show their love for this land. So that’s why Shiang Yu Museum is here.  It officially opened in November, 2007. Its main aim is, by holding inhabitations and workshops, to introduce the artistic and literary works of Salty Zone since the Japanese colonial periods.
   
   
   
3. The summary of our research program:
   　　By chance, we know Mr. Lin, Jin-hui, the founder of the Shiang Yu Museum, and his ambition to preserve and promote the Salty Zone Culture. The more we know this    old man, the more we are touched by his love and sense of duty for his hometown. He works hard and runs everywhere to raise money and gather a group of people who have the same vision as he. Now this museum stands in front of us, emitting the    love and duty for hometown. Mr. Lin’s hometown is my hometown as well. So I think it is also my duty to let the world know how beautiful our hometown is. These respected artists and writers use their brushes and pens to show their love for hometown. Hence, my teammates and I decide to follow their footsteps, in our way, to use our power and knowledge on Internet to tell the world about the stories and people and the beauty of our hometown.  
   
   
4. Our studio environment and Internet equipment:
   　　Our school computer classroom is our main studio. It is equipped with 100Mbps optical fiber cables and servers, so we can make our websites easier and faster. While at home, the teammate members and teachers use 2M/256K Chunghwa telecom ADSL service to search for some concerning materials and do the editing. Once a week, the members will gather in our studio to work together. If there are any problems, we will solve them together. With cooperation and teamwork, our efficiency enhances greatly at the same time.
   　　　　　
   
   
5. The difficulties and challenges we had faced and overcome:
   The skill obstacles:
   Owning to the lack of experience of website designing, we aren’t good at many skills. In many parts of art designing and software using, we faced many difficulties and challenges. Thanks to the instruction and help from Ms. Yang and the teammates, we can exercise our talents to the full and overcome the problems and finally finish our allocated work in time.
   
   Progress report:
   First, we do our personal assignment individually. But in fact, we often meet problems that we cannot solve personally. So that is the reason why our teammates are required to have a meeting once a week in our studio. In this meeting, we cast out our personal problems and try to find out any solutions under the directions of Ms. Yang and with the help of other teammates. A Chinese proverb says well: two heads are better than one. That’s true.
   
   Researching time:
   Once a week after school, our team meets in the school computer classroom. Sometimes, some members are unable to attend, because of examinations, the sports meet, club activities and some personal affairs. In order to finish our work in time, we have to learn how to make good of our leisure time and to strike the balance between our schoolwork and personal assignments. Luckily, when we are not together, with the aide of Facebook, Line and Internet, we still can discuss and share our problems and discuss the collected materials on line.
   
   Planning for interviews:
   　　In order to collect more information and materials, and better understand the persons and culture that we have studied. We went to Shiang Yu Museum and visited Mr. Lin Jin-hui and three artists. This was our first time to have a formal interview with celebrities. We were both nervous and excited, and we made a lot of preparation in advance. Even so, we still missed some points. Our interviewees were very understanding and kind. They knew that we were green hands, and later, they were willing to make time for us to make our interview better by phone and e-mail. We are very grateful.
   
   
   
6. Reflection:
   　　We learned a lot of skills and experience that we can’t get in class, such as website designing, layouts, interviewing, programming, information processing, teamwork operation, and so on. These will benefit us a lot in the future learning and careers. In fact, this is a totally new experience for us.
   　　In the process, we were under the spur and stress of difficulties and challenges and schedules. Even so, we find that our strength grows and we learn the spirit of never giving up and being unbending when afraid and weak. This spirit really inspires us to overcome the challenges and difficulties along the way.  Thank for the teachers’ instruction and advice. Thank for the interviewees’ patience and experience sharing. Thank for the teammates’ hard work and cooperation. What we have learned and experienced in this game will be our best rewards and memories in our high school days in our lives.
   　　
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1. How did our activities and research connect with our school’s teaching program?
   　　As the technology advances day by day, many companies, institutions and schools use Internet to transmit information. For people, computer network has become an integral factor in everyday life, too. To enhance the students' competitiveness in the future careers, at school, we are taught how to use Dreamweaver CS5.5 to set up our own websites, in which we will record our high school life and learning process, and at the same time, these materials will be used for our college application.
   　　This program provides us a good means to make good use of what we learn on compute class to tell the world the story and people and beauty concerning our hometown, and it also gives us a good opportunity to get in touch with these local celebrities and to learn from them their secrets to success.
   
   
2. The technology we learn:
   　　In this program, we learn how to set up a website. In order to make a website, we learn page making, layout designing, website connection, LOGO production, art designing, navigation bar connecting, flash animation. These will not be taught so completely and thoroughly in our formal classes. It is after joining in this team that we know how hard it is to build up a website.
   
   
3. The cooperation theory and method we have practiced and used:
   　　Since the first day, Ms Yang has been emphasized the importance of cooperation again and again. The first thing we did was to allocate everyone’s job. Very soon, we knew the reason why we had to team up with each other, and why we had to cooperate. Because this program is so big that it is impossible for any individual to finish it in time. We need to work with others and we also need others' help to finish our own jobs, too. One more thing we learn is the sense of responsibility. If anyone of us cannot finish his part in time, all the jobs will be delayed. That will be a big trouble.
   
   
   
   
4. The problem of educational institution that we found during the process:
   　　We find that Taiwan’s education institution focuses a lot on the knowledge of the textbook and examination. The result is that students spend too much time in memorizing the facts of textbooks instead of realizing them fully. We students are passive, not active, to learn something. We feel like ducks crammed with all kinds of knowledge, but have no idea what they taste like.
   　　On the other hand, we also find that what is learned outside campus sometimes is as valuable and useful as what is taught on campus. Take ourselves for example. Many skills used on this website are not taught in class; even so, they are important and indispensable. Without these skills, it is impossible to complete this website. So it seems that there exists a great gap between what we learn on campus and what we practice in real life. That is a existing big problem for the current Taiwan’s education institution.
   
   
5. Is the Internet learning more efficiently than traditional method?
   　　Yes. It breaks the limitations of time and space. It can be used to improve learning efficiency, particularly on transmitting and looking for information. And it also helps the teamwork to run smoothly. Take our team as an example. We use the Internet to share exchange and discuss the information and collected materials when we are not together. It enables us to connect with one another. So when it comes to learning, it is much more efficient than the traditional method.
   Besides, we also find that, in the Internet learning, having an independent thinking ability is very important or we are easily to get confused and lost in the Internet World. It's just like a kaleidoscope, dazzling, charming and full of wonders. However, it's also like a maze, confusing, challenging and full of temptations. Only with independent thinking as a compass can we avoid being lost in the World of Internet.
   
   
6. What information tools and technologies did you use to complete your project?
   
   
   

   Facility	Tool	Function
   Hardware	Desktop Computer	To manage information and create a website.
   	Photographic Equipment	Record oral Interviews
   	Scanner	To scan pictures and photographs
   	printer	print document
   	a single-lens reflex camera	To photograph the research process and interviews
   Software	Flash CS5.5	To create animation.
   	PhotoImpact X3	To image drafting
   	MicroSoft Office Word 2010	To manage documents and files.
   	Dreamweaver CS5.5	To create a website.
   	PhotoImpact X3	To image editing
   others	MS-IE8.0	To search for Internet data and inspect results
   	Voice Recorder	To record interviews with consultants; act as personal data recording devices.
   	USB	carry information more convenience
   	Telephone	To contact with teachers, teammates, consultants, and related departments.
   Printed Material	Books Magazines	Searching for and double-check information
   	Oral Interviews	Oral statements from related professionals

   
   
7. The students participating in the research project represent their local community ambassador, and bear the mission to introduce the audience in the world the characteristics of their native lands. Please explain what kind of methods you use to play “ambassador” role with the contact of online, individual or team?
   　　From the beginning, we have decided to employ the Internet to introduce our native land to the world. Because It is the most modern, convenient and effective method, and above all, it is cheapest, almost for free. With a computer, a cable and a little English ability, we can interact with the outside world and let the whole world know our hometown. Besides, we also inspire the friends and classmates around, who bear the same mission as we, to play "ambassador" role in their own way whenever and wherever they have opportunities to do so.
   
   
8. What influence and impact your research project have on you?
   How did your research project change you place?
   　　Since the Japanese colonial period, the Salty Zone Culture has been playing an important role in Taiwan and influenced the Taiwanese literature and artworks.
   Our research topic mainly focuses on the artists’ works of the salty zone and the viewpoints of their hometown beauty. It will help both locals and foreigners to understand the Salty Zone culture and artists and their works more deeply and thoroughly. At the same time, we want to show our respects for these artists and recognition to their contribution to this land.
   　　This was the first time for us to participate in such a large-scale, complex-contented, long-term and diverse competition. We have learned a lot from it. This was a very different and excellent experience. Our partners worked hard together, and racked our brains for the same goal. This kind of feeling was so good. When in trouble and difficulty, we encouraged and cheered up each other. We worked together to find out the possible solutions. When a problem was ruled out, we yelled, shouted, jumped and hugged to share our happiness and pride. We grew and progressed together. This research project not only improved our skills, broadened our horizons, but most importantly, it changed our attitude when facing problems, and interacting with people. It made us closer to the outside world, instead of confining ourselves to the campus. The sense of achievement, when accomplishing this mission, makes us more confident, positive and courageous in facing the future challenges.
   　　While collecting and dealing with these materials, we are touched by these artists. Their struggling for excellence and their devotion to their hometown inspire us to follow their examples. We begin to think what we can do for our local communities. We cannot help thinking that these artists who grew up in the poverty-stricken area and ages end up as rich and famous, while we, living in a well-to-do generation, have better chances and conditions to develop our talents and abilities. We hope some day we can do as well. In them, we see our responsibility not only for ourselves but also for the land that nurtures us.
   
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Respect intellectual property rights and reference declaration
　　Texts:
　　Most of the contents of this website "Hometown Beauty" are written by our team members. We collect the concerning data and interview with the artists by phone or face to face, and then we deal with these information and put them in words on our website. If any materials are quoted from other websites, we will credit their resources.

　　Photos:
　　The paintings displayed on this website are authorized by the creators. As for the photos, they are shot by Mr. Tsai Wen-chih. These photos will help the viewers more understand the Shiang Yu Museum and our contents.
　　　　　　　　　　
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