1. Description of Our Community
“Fucheng first, Lukang second, and Manka third” is the phrase we have heard very often from the elderly since our childhood. Lukang, the second, refers to Lukang Township, our beautiful hometown. The name Lukang means Deer Harbor, as herds of deer used to gather here. Lukang is the first settlement in Taiwan developed by the Han people.
The turbulent and dangerous voyages on the sea the earliest settlers to Lukang had to go through underpin their religious beliefs. This is the reason why there are temples, big and small, everywhere in this township. Indeed, Lukang is home to over 200 temples. Take some examples. Longshan Temple is known as the Forbidden City in Taiwan, and Tianhou Temple has a large number of religious followers all the time. Among the other famous temples are Wenwu Temple, Hsintzu Temple, and Fengshan Temple. These temple architectures, internal structures, decorative sculptures, and colored paintings are the treasure of architectural traditions and the core of tourist resources for Lukang.
As the saying goes, food is everything for the people. As attractive as the historical temples in Lukang are its street food and local cuisines. Lukang is just like a time capsule of culinary delights. The heritage of local food is as everlasting as the historical sites from hundreds of years ago. Oyster omelets, thick vermicelli, mud shrimps, pork thick soup, and taro ball soup are the culinary feast not available even at a five-star restaurant. After the meal in Lukang comes with mouth-watering pastries. Traditional snacks, such as ox-tongue shaped pancakes, phoenix eye cakes, and radish pastries, are the flavors unique to Lukang. This town, known for ancient architectures, traditional craftsmanship, and delicious street food, is our beautiful hometown Lukang.
2. Summary of Our Project
“Pu-Tu Festival in Lukang” is the topic of our Cyberfair project. We are all children born in Lukang, but we never sought to understand our hometown, let alone its traditional culture of Pu-Tu Festival. The work and interviews for Cyberfair project have equipped us with a good knowledge of the historical sites and Pu-Tu practices. For example, we know about Tianhou Temple (Mazu Temple) but we did not know its other name “Old Temple”. We walk by Hungry Ghost Yard every day and now we know how this strange name came about. In the past, fishermen and wharf workers came to this market for food. They were so hungry that they could not follow good eating manners but ate quickly and loudly. In fact, Pu-Tu can be divided into public and private in Lukang. In the early days, local temples and districts organized these special banquets for ghosts in turns. Lantern pole erections, Ghost Gate opening, and water lamps releasing were all parts of the ritual in Lukang. We learned about the history of Lukang when we worked on the Cyberfair project. We interviewed a local scholar in history and literature, the composer of Pu-Tu music, and an expert active in Facebook social groups. We also visited various sites and gathered information on the Internet. We organized our findings into a file on the history and culture of Lukang, so that more people can know about its cultural legacy and heritage.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:less than 20
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
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
We mainly use the academic network in the computer classroom at school and the online connection is very smooth. First of all, we apply to school that everyone should be equipped with a USB drive and a shared network hard disk, so that we can upload the text files and picture files related to web-page making in the computer classroom at school. After school, when some need to catch up with our deadlines, we can also use communication softwares to continue our project, like E-mail, Facebook, and Line.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
As none of us had any experience with Cyberfair, our teachers asked us to browse the winning projects from the past years to understand the organization and structuring of web page design. This was followed by the team’s discussion of the project mind map with the teachers’ guidance. Then, we brainstormed on what our titles and subtitles would be and how to divide the team into groups. Finally, we worked out a timetable so that we could stay on top of the team’s efficiency and efficacy.
We never produced web pages or used photo editing software in the past. Due to a lack of experience, we ended up repeating what we had done and sometimes overwrote or even erased data by mistake. Mr. Guo-Chang Lu, who heads IT Department in the school, then taught us how to use photo processing and webpage production software, so that we gradually developed basic capability in designing web pages.
When we started with this project, we had no experience of interviewing other people, either. Therefore, our teachers gave us some suggestions, such as doing the drafting of interview questions, taking notes at the interview, recording by using a recording pen, and taking photos during the interview. Task assignments and dry runs beforehand ensured that we did not get too nervous during the interview.
The time we could get together for discussions was limited because of schoolwork pressure and off-campus studies. We hence decided to dedicate the weekends to our Cyberfair project with scheduled interviews and photo taking at tourist sites. At school, we took advantage of the lunch break by discussing and working on the project at the computer classroom. However, we sometimes felt tired at class in the afternoon. It was really difficult to balance between schoolwork and the Cyberfair.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
We are very glad to participate in this competition. During the process of completing the project, we benefited a lot in various aspects.
Although it is very tiring to participate in Cyberfair project and we have to solve the various problems appearing in the process, we have learned the knowledge which cannot be acquired in the class through our mutual efforts and help, and we have developed our curiosity to explore the stories about our town. These achievements are unexpected when we participated in the Cyberfair project at the very start! During the Cyberfair project. Many enthusiasts accept our interview so that we can complete the Cyberfair project smoothly. We feel at a loss in the beginning, but we gradually know what we should do through the teachers’ guidance and the final sense of achievement is irreplaceable. Thus, we have understood each other better and seen the different ourselves in this Cyberfair project.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Please refer to http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2021/gsh8581/B6-3.htm
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