School: Chung Cheng Senior High School
    Taipei City, *, Taiwan

11 students, ages we are at the age of 16~1 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 31, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): none

Classes and Teachers: Mr. Peter Lai, Ms. Lee, and Ms. Casey Tsai.

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.ccsh.tp.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

From a traditional industrial and commercial society in its early days, Taipei has gradually transformed into a diverse information society. With the public sector taking the lead in shaping Taipei into an e-city, the private sector has also devoted its effort to joining the powerful trend of information. Taipei’s IT sector evolved from the hardware OEM phase into one that focuses on software development. During the process, Taipei has proved to the world that its IT sector holds an important position in the global IT market.

2. Summary of Our Project

“Information Taipei” was chosen as the research topic. IT companies were broken down into five categories, including anti-virus software, on-line games, databanks, multimedia, and computer animation. By conducting interviews and gathering related data about a company’s “vision, operation, management, and innovation,” we hope to introduce these outstanding local enterprises to teachers and students in Taiwan and around the world.

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:1

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

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

Rainy,Jack,Patrick:Chunghwa Telecom 512K/64K ADSL Cathy:Giga 768K/128K ADSL Ozzy,Gino:PcHome free dial-up 56K Chung Cheng Senior High School:Chunghwa Telecom 1.5M/384K ADSL

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

(1)Choice of research topic We hadn’t decided on the research topic until the group was organized to enter the contest. What’s more, the group members didn’t know each other well enough at first, and that has made choosing a topic all the more difficult. As the summer vacation was drawing to an end, we decided that ideas were nothing unless we carry them out, so we chose to start with the topic—“Culture of Cramming Schools.” However, after the first interview, we found that the concepts of education reform and cramming school culture were beyond our grasp. After comprehensive discussion, we finally chose “Information Taipei” as our topic. (2)Lack of interview experiences Most of our group members had never conducted interviews in big companies; inevitably, embarrassing and awkward moments were sometimes present in our interviews. However, as we completed more interviews, we learned from experience and became better at doing interviews. (3)Data gathering After doing the actual interviews, we found that extended information about some of the interviewed firms was rather little and not easy to find. So, apart from checking these companies’ official sites for more information, we went to libraries, searched for magazine articles and requested data directly from the interviewees via e-mail (of course, we’d always cite the information with permission from the company).

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Through this research, we not only understood how Taiwan’s IT sector flourished through the years, but also learned some interview skills and realized the importance of team spirit. Even though we ran into quite a few problems in the process, it was still a very fulfilling experience. We owe our thanks to many people whose support made our project possible. No matter what the contest results might be, we all gained more than we expected from this wonderful learning experience.

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

*Support and encouragement from our school A lot of people at school cheered for us and encouraged us to keep working hard toward our goal-joining the School Net. First of all, our computer science teacher and members of the scientific research club helped a lot with the technical aspect of our project. On the other hand, our classmates and teachers helped us write letters to companies we want to interview, and gave us valuable input regarding our website. Even though our group members were all so busy that we could hardly spare time for this project, the support from school helped us to carry on. *Contact with IT firms The first time we made calls to the companies we wanted to interview, the receptionists didn’t take us seriously. Nevertheless, Gino skillfully talked the firms into having an interview with us. We all enjoyed the interviews. As representatives of Chung Cheng Senior High School, we believe that we left a very good impression on the interviewees. What’s more, apart from obtaining valuable information that does not show in a company’s official website, we presented our reflections, afterthoughts, and well-organized data in our website. Here we’d like to give special thanks to the companies and people that agreed to be interviewed for their precious time and generous help.

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

Hardware: 1.Telephone and cell phone: Necessary communication tool when off the computer line. 2.PC: Located at home and in the school lab. 3.Digital camera: Convenient and cost-effective. 4.Scanner: Needed when loading pictures into a computer. 5.Printer: Printouts facilitate discussion. 6.DV: Offers complete record of the interview. 7.CD burner: A CD can store a lot more information than a floppy disc. Software: 1.Dreamweaver 4: Very useful tool for web design. 2.Notepad: A simple tool that comes in handy when processing temporary text. 3.PhotoShop7: A powerful image processing software. 4.PhotoImpact 6: User-friendly image processing software produced by Ulead, a company we interviewed. 5.Flash MX: Flash software that’s hot on the Internet. 6.ACDSee 5: Used to browse and process digital photos. 7.CuteFTP 3.0 Pro: Used to handle web page upload and download. 8.MSN Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger: Very powerful instant communication programs for team members to communicate on-line.

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

The interviews are the core of our web content. At first, we contacted companies via e-mail. If we didn’t get any reply, we’d have called those companies on a regular basis to arrange an interview for us. Otherwise, we’d contact them through our teacher who knows people in the company personally, and try to get a chance to set up an interview. It’s important to exchange contact numbers with interviewees after each interview. When handing them our cards, we caught them by surprise because they didn’t expect high school students to have name cards. They were also glad to know that high scholars today are more active than their predecessors and wished our project great success!

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

Thanks to the project, we had a chance to interview a few well-established companies and gather lots of materials. The project will serve as a very good reference material for students and the public to know more about the management and innovation of some world-renowned, Taiwan-based enterprises. To these companies, the web site may help promote its image and products. Moreover, we’ve managed to leave a good impression on people in these companies while contributing to build our school’s reputation. It is also our hope that by way of our interviews and web presentation, we can truly showcase Taiwan’s vitality!

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

It takes more than our team to complete the project, and many people helped us along the way. The most credit should be given to our teacher Mr. Peter Lai who stood beside us during the past six months. Also, we thank senior student Kedy who helped us set up the reserve site account. Of course, our appreciation goes to all the interviewees—Ms.Wang at Ulead, Ms.Yen at Softworld, Mr.Lee at UDNdata, Mr. Ku at Wangfilm, and Ms.Teng and Mr.Wu at Trend. We thank them not only for agreeing to be interviewed, but also for offering us further information that helped enrich our web contents. We also want to thank lots of online friends for giving us valuable data and input. Thank our English teachers Ms. Li and Ms. Tsai for helping with the English translation. Last but not least, we thank those of you who are now reading this research project for your patience and for recognizing our efforts. All in all, thank you!

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We ran into some trouble trying to contact some of these big companies, but after we successfully finished the interview, we found that not all of the people in those companies are as unpleasant as they sounded on the phone. To the contrary, our interviews were usually filled with laughter. After so many interviews, we learned that people working for these companies are all very busy, and we really shouldn’t pop questions out of a sudden whim, completely disregarding their busy schedule. So effective control of time is imperative. What surprised us most about our interviewees is that during the Chinese New Year, many of our team members received an E-card from Mr. Ku, the manager of Wangfilm. Of course, we also became the center of some interesting jokes; the most unforgettable one is that the PR people at Softworld thought we were there for a winter camp! The CyberFair project opened a window on the world for us through which we learned things that cannot be taught in books. It’s such a special experience that none of us will ever forget.