Wan-fang's Research

When I started off with my mind map, I came up with five sections: the introduction, research records, research methods, promotional campaigns and activity experiences. The introduction covers the big picture and people involved in it. The research records consist of our groups' activity logs and meeting minutes as well as researched books. Our research methods are based on questionnaire survey and interviews. The most important part is the promotional campaign and activity experiences. The promotional campaign is a team effort to broadcast our findings, therefore everybody can have a better understanding of Cloud Gate. The activity experience is to write down our feedbacks from working on the reports, so that people can get to know Cloud Gate Dance Theatre accurately.

I do not usually work on mind maps but this time I realize that it is not as easy as it seems. In fact, a lot of information is required to produce a mind map. At first, I thought it was a simple task of just writing down what comes to mind. However, the teacher said that I should have a strong structure, not just doodle around. It is necessary to get precise information and figure out the framework, in order to have a good mind map.

Chun-hsien's Research

Our research topic is Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, which I was not really familiar with. I googled online for relevant information in order to understand Cloud Gate Dance Theatre better. I also came up with lots of ideas, such as research techniques and promotional events. Finally, I produced the mind map by plotting everything together on my computer.

The process of producing the mind map allows me to have a better understanding about Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. There was a lot to cover for this topic, so we had to work as a team to complete this project. The advantages of a mind map is it shows concise writing, structured chapters and clear contexts. It is a snapshot for us to prioritize tasks for the research project. I believe a mind map is a great tool for efficient work.

Crystal's Research

Mind maps help people to think and express ideas. They can be used for many purposes, from simple self-introductions to huge architecture of a website. We created a mind map of the general framework of the website before we kicked-off the production process. The mind map outlines each chapter and introductions in order, so that we can clearly update with the progress.

Each team member was assigned work for the website production. The mind map serves as a reference and visual presentation to remind us of our tasks or clarify the required contents. I think a preliminary mind map is needed before embarking on any research. This helps us organize and articulate our thoughts. It also serves as a tool in the production process to follow up with the project's progress.

Ling-yin's Research

My mind map consists of six sections: introduction, relevant information, research methods, activity experience, promotional campaigns, and research records. Our research project seeks to introduce the history, styles, reviews and the practice venue of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. The purpose is to know more about their backgrounds and learn from the past. The data we collected is from books and documentaries, including Mr. Lin Hwai-min's "Wandering with Cloud Gate", Ms. Tsao Wen-chien's documentary "Cloud Gate 30" and its famous dance Formosa.

Our primary research methods are interviews and the questionnaire survey. The tentative plan was to interview Mr. Lin Hwai-min and Ms. Tsao Wen-chien. Questionnaires were released as scheduled. Our experience activity was an actual site visit, with a lesson from the teacher of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. The promotional campaign was also important because we had to work together to make posters and present our report to the classes in the elementary school. Research records include meeting minutes and the activity log within the group members.

Ching-pei's Research

The first thing that came to my mind when I was drafting my mind map, was to make site visitors know about Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. Thus, the first topic is "About Cloud Gate Dance Theatre." As the topic is about dance, I wanted to elaborate on it. I started with an introduction of basic elements of the Cloud Dance performances and highlighted the famous performances according to different elements. I hope the website visitors can clearly understand different characteristics of the dances. As well as their set designs which are also spectacular to know.

The completion of the mind map clarified and organized my thoughts together. It helped me to establish the categorization of subjects and the classification of contents. The most important function of a mind map is the visual presentation of a complex structure made clear. Thus, members of the team can easily share ideas and provide comments on each other's mind map. This is probably the biggest advantage of a mind map synthesis. This project requires a large volume of data and it takes good team work to accomplish it. I hope to do the best for my team.

Yung-chieh's Research

When I decided to get involve with the CyberFair Project, I knew that mind maps were indispensable. A good mind map will easily assist group members in the process of research, classification and framework. The first step was to go over the data in details associated with the topic by visiting Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's official website and browse related reports. Then I went back to review my previous CyberFair mind map as a template for guide and research. We decided that our research outlines should be the introduction to Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Chinese martial art, modern dance, research methods, experience activities, promotional campaign, and the research process.

After extensive discussion and brainstorming our team finally came up with the best and most comprehensive mind map as the structure of our CyberFair Project. This helped us assign tasks for our team members and distribute the workload evenly, so that we could balance between our heavy schoolwork and the CyberFair Project. We are a team and will work as a team towards our goals to achieve the best results.

Pin-tung's Research

Finally after our team agreed on the topic, I was all in for this project. We first drew the master mind map. Then I decided to go through previous websites of the CyberFair Project for ideas. Although this did not resolve my problems immediately, it was at least a start. After completing the mind map, everyone naturally had a basic understanding of the first step of the CyberFair project.

The mind map is a structure of the research steps, promotional campaign procedures and analysis of strengths and weaknesses of a team. Each iteration was necessary, and it took more than just the incorporation of our own ideas after checking with the data given. I often asked other team members when I had questions. We helped each other. We demonstrated our team spirits at the outset of CyberFair project and we completed a high-level structure of the CyberFair Project topics.

Yen-chen's Research

In order to produce the mind map, I read lots of information on Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and searched online for their performances and activities. I also signed up for a visiting tour so that I could understand Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. With this knowledge in mind, I started to draft my mind map. I prefer hand drawing although I am not good at it. It's interesting, I find that drawing the draft out helps me transcribe and remember the information of Cloud Gate faster. We also explored how to conduct the experience activity and the promotional campaign.

A mind map is important because it shows the overall structure of web pages and facilitates the systematic allocation of tasks. We collected all the good points from members' mind map and made our website structure stronger and comprehensive. The plotting of mind maps is very useful. It makes subsequent procedures more efficient. The process of integrating our mind maps helped us to know each other's ideas. This shortened our distance, gave us a common goal and made us a team. I believe we can accomplish this CyberFair Project with good and detailed research on the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre.

Cai-ru's Research

Before we embarked on the CyberFair Project, we needed to discuss the topics and the framework in order to arrange activities, site visits and in-depth research. Once we determined to focus on Cloud Gate Dance Theatre as the project's topic, we began to draw mind maps to clarify the research structure. My own mind map included the classification of to-dos and categorization of different subjects. The mind map showed the hierarchy of different things. Finally, everybody presented their own views and we discussed the mind map most suitable to our project.

Drawing a beautiful and complete mind map is not easy. My purpose was to come up with an easy-to-grasp mind map. I feel that mind maps are a good way of planning. The branches from a central concept helps to clearly define the structure. It also keeps the researchers on the right track. We demonstrated the power of teamwork with our own mind maps so that we would produce comprehensive research findings for the CyberFair Project.

Ai-lin's Research

Initially I did not know much about Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. Even though our team has collected lots of information and data. I was still confused, until mind maps were created, they help me clarify my thoughts on track. At the start, I was thinking to myself, what is most significant of a dance troupe, it must be the story of the founder. So, I had the first heading "Inception". This was followed with the origin of its name Cloud Gate, the practice and rehearsal process, major events and public reviews. I wanted to know about Cloud Gate Dance Group from inside outside.

The process of producing a mind map gave me a rough idea of how web pages are edited. First, it is necessary to come up with a core structure and use it to understand the research topics and discover more ideas in the process. A mind map can help us simplify complicated subject matters in a clear and concise logic. It also facilitates the acquisition of information, without deviating or sidetracking. A mind map also makes it easy to record the research process. I believe mind maps are a good tool for teamwork because it visualizes ideas, makes collaboration more efficient and fosters solidarity and good results. In fact, mind maps can also be used to explain to others the research topics.