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1. Description of Our Team
Our team consists of seniors from Daedok High School : Eun-Jung(17), Eun-Ji (17), Hee(17), Ho-Sang(16), with Mr. Sang-Ju and Mr. Chang-Sin as coaches. The first three did the bulk of the research, conducting polls and even traveling to various places mentioned in the project. Ho Sang used his superior computer skills to visit websites around the globe to gather even more information, also creating our homepage. The students then met frequently to discuss the authenticity and the objectivity of the sources they had gathered. The coaches occasionally assisted in translating the sources and refining the homepage.
2. Summary of Our Project
We chose the Comfort Women issue as our topic, because they are the living legacy of the inhumane atrocities caused by the Japan during World War 2. As we seriously started to consider this topic, we realized that many Asian countries had no opportunity to tend to the victims needs, as they were wrapped up in the economic turmoil brought on by the War. We then decided that we wanted to contribute to their efforts to reclaim their violated basic rights. So, to enlighten the entire world regarding this situation as well as to help demand formal apologies to the victims in all of Asia and more, we decided to create this webpage.
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
We worked to make sure that the raw materials that we had were unbiased. The sources from the countries of the victims were at times emotional; the sources from Japan were sometimes irrational. We decided to keep an objective stance by relying on the relatively reliable sources from America, U.N as well as other organizations. Also, in facilitating the materials from foreign sources, most of which were in English and Japanese, we found it quite difficult analyze and translate them. Last, it was difficult for us to come up with the time for this project. 12th grade students must come to school by 7:00 am, and are allowed to leave at 11:30 pm. We also have to come to school on weekends, so it was very difficult for us to find the time to get together and discuss the development of the project. We had to work around midnight on weekdays, and the rest on weekends, when school is out relatively early, at 10:00 pm.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Our team wanted to stand up for the compromised human rights of Asia by further exposing this brutal blow against humanity. We also wanted to take diplomatic means to help resolve this issue in a rational, mature manner, with no propaganda or outside forces to interfere, and were met with enthusiastic support from fellow students as well as the faculty.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
We were greatly helped by the fact our academic curriculum dealt with the particular historic period with depth. We had been learning about Japanese Imperialism in Korean History Class ever since we were in fourth grade. Also, we took additional classes in Modern Korean History, which offered us a greater extent of knowledge regarding this project. The Social Studies class helped us look at this matter with greater understanding, as we were able to identify the specific human rights that had been compromised. Computer classes gave us thorough education creating homepages, and we were able to directly apply what weve learned. Moreover, computer classes opened our eyes to how effective the Internet could be in disseminating information. As we were working on this project, we found that much of the sources we gathered were tainted by harsh emotions. We were especially wary of the contents we gathered from the Internet, which we chose as our primary tool of research as it gave us unique perspectives on this matter, as well as immense amount of contents. Through debating and analyzing, we developed the skill to filter out irrational, emotional sources and focus on logical facts. Thus we were able to keep an objective and logical stance, the very principle of this project, regarding this very emotional matter. The fact that the students carried out such extensive research and maintained the team with little adult supervision gave all the students a feeling of responsibility and maturity. Also, the students feel like experts on the entire subject of Japanese Imperialism, and are proud that they have so much unbiased information regarding a very controversial subject. The students were not satisfied with just creating the website. They realized that there was so much more to this issue than the school could allow time for, so they started to enlighten the school with hard facts and statistics and records instead of fueling anger.
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1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?
As we mostly worked at home, we used personal computers, and at school we used our laptops. To share the information that we gathered at our individual homes we created an internet website specifically for this purpose. Through our website, http://cafe.naver.com/culturef.cafe/ .we were also able to hold real-time debates. We also benefited from many translation programs in gathering information. In creating our webpage, we used industry-standard software application. For HTML coding, we used Namo Webeditor as well as Macromedia Dreamweaver. Adobe Photoshop and Jasc Paint shop Pro were used in editing images. To give our site a dynamic appearance we incorporated Macromedia Flash. We made good use of Adobe Premiere for our mini-clips.
2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.
As we were carrying on with our research, we conducted polls and surveys on fellow students. We also contacted numerous organizations and asked for their advice and opinions. In the process, we encountered a number of students who werent very well informed in this issue. We took the opportunity to tell them all we knew, and made the seriousness of this issue clear to them. Also, we wanted to enlighten other students in a more formal fashion, so we asked our History and Social Studies teachers to facilitate our sources in class and introduce our project to other students. We will devote a section of our homepage to forums and consistently gather opinions and questions. Through this, we will carry on our role as Ambassadors.
3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?
Because of the disturbing nature of this issue, it has been avoided. Thus it is believed that there arent many people who are familiar with this subject. With this in mind, we concentrated as much information as we could gather from books, museums organizations and the internet onto this site. Although it is too soon to make any assumptions, we believe that our homepage will raise awareness among not only our society but all over the world. We certainly made a difference among students regarding the violated human rights by integrating the sources into the classes. Now our friends are not driven by blind anger, but logical and rational arguments. A friend who found out about this issue wanted to participate so much that she attended the actual Wednesday Demonstration. We are planning to enlighten others further by constantly revising our homepage and setting up a bulletin board to accept questions.
4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
First, we would like to show our deep appreciation to the people who are still fighting to correct this crime against humanity. It was thanks to their efforts that we were able to gather so much material for this page, and we especially benefited from http://www.womenandwar.net. We also thank our dedicated History teachers, who taught us history and inspired us. Thank you also for allowing us to conduct so many surveys and polls. They helped us to gather accurate insights into just how many students understand this subject, which is invaluable. Also, we would like to thank the various organizations that gave all the help and expert knowledge they could. Without the professional assistance from the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, our homepage would not have been as solid. Last but not least, we would like to thank the coaches and individual team members. The coaches occasionally suggested ideas and helped us to work together. The teammates showed incredible willpower and resilience in dedicating their time and energy into this project.
5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
We found it extremely difficult to find the time to get together as much as we wanted, because of our status as 12th graders. So we decided to take advantage of the high rate of internet accessibility in Korea to work online. We debated, shared ideas and information over the internet at our respective homes. However, we tried use as many diverse sources as possible. Before we worked on this homepage, the comfort women issue wasnt very real to us. We had a vague idea about what happened, but it was all part of an ancient history. However, while creating this homepage, the pain the comfort women had to go through came alive to us. The shocking details we discovered, which was more graphic than what we had learned in school, brought tears to our eyes. The fact that the women are still fighting, that the site of the comfort stations still exist was like having cold water thrown on our faces. We began to discover the attempts to hide this atrocity, so that it never happened, and realized that we had a mission to inform the world regarding this terrible tragedy, so that justices will be served. We hope that our small efforts to serve as Ambassadors had assisted in making this world a better place to live in. Through this project, we learned the value of humans rights, and we will always remember the impact this project had on our lives. We will continue to serve as Ambassadors, no matter the outcome of this contest, and work continuously to resolve diplomatic matters through peaceful and rational means.
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View our CyberFair Project
(Project ID: 4042)
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