Technology, Finding Meaning in Everyday Life
Digital Regeneration of Xincheng
During weekdays, the little baseball players of Xincheng Elementary School started their daily afternoon training at four. Running laps around the sports field were their first training activity, and from a distance, the young players could be heard frolicking. The coach growled at them, warning of another lap for those who could not complete the run within the time limit.
“In the village, many of the children on the baseball team are from Aohua. They live together in the dorm and do not go home until weekends,” Coach Wen-wei Hu said in a compassionate and helpless voice when speaking of these preteens away from home and families.
At first, to do something for these children, Coach Hu rented an empty house and turned it into a bookstore, a place they could go after school. Even if they don’t like reading, there’s no harm in their staying in a bookstore anyway. Etude Bookstore, a simple-looking building located in beautiful and quiet Xincheng, its books are only for borrowing and not for selling; residents, nuns, or tourists in the neighborhood may help themselves. Because of its inviting aroma of coffees, the stories about the little baseball players, and Coach Hu, who wants to create possibilities for the village, Etude Bookstore has become a popular tourist attraction.
Since then, several vacant spaces and old houses in the village have been refurbished into a cafeteria for the little baseball players, a studio for painters in residence, or a gallery for irregular exhibitions, all gradually becoming the village’s highlights. Coach Hu also collaborated with the local stores and asked the acting B&B managers from work exchange to help draw tourist maps and design general promotional signboards in hopes that all the stores in Xincheng may improve their businesses with more tourists coming to the village.
However, these scenic spots of Xincheng need to be introduced and promoted, but it is a rather difficult task for just two people, Coach Hu and his wife. Thus, the USR Program of National Dong Hwa University (NDHU) contacted Coach Hu, and hoped to utilize the professional knowledge and skills of NDHU students and teachers to create a guided tour app tailored for Xincheng, by which visitors can walk leisurely around the village, listening to pieces of music as well as the brilliant stories of the village that Coach Hu would like to share in their palms.
Fish-Eating Education in the AI World
At the Qixingtan Beach south from Xincheng, rows of floats that are rare to find in other places stand out conspicuously on the sea under the shining sun. The fishing nets as large in size as two football fields are attached under the floats for catching migratory fish. The catch is screened with the nets’ special design and their meshes of different sizes. Smaller fish that can pass through these ocean-friendly nets can continue to grow up in the sea.
Wen-chi Huang, whose family has been engaged in the set-net fishing business for generations, holds a master’s degree in marine management. She believes that “fish” is the closest connection between the ocean and people and insists that “Running a sustainable business while being ocean-friendly is possible.” Therefore, giving up her further studies, Huang returned to her hometown Hualien and established Fish Bar, a company that focuses on fish-eating education. Besides selling fresh fish that are processed, vacuum packed, and frozen at low enough temperature within 24 hours from the time they are caught out of the water, Fish Bar also aims to transform Taiwan’s typical “seafood culture” into “ocean culture” through activities, such as on-site experiencing, the visit to the source of fish products, and the fish-eating education classroom great for both parents and children, that promote the understanding of the role that the common fish on our dining table every day may play in fishery resources.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at NDHU tried to establish an AI system by collecting a large amount of data about the sources of eight common fish species and inputting the data into the system for exercising repeated training so that “computers can also recognize fish.” This AI system that can identify the fish species before our eyes quickly may become a useful tool for strengthening the promotion of fish-eating education. It is also expected that this system will be further upgraded to be able to count the catch number of each fish species that can be used as the basic data of the fish database.
Travel through Time and Space with VR
The application of technology is far-reaching. In addition to the guided tour of a small village and identification of fish species, it can even be used to travel through time and space. Ji’an, called Yoshino then, was the very first government-run immigration village for Japanese people in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945); nowadays, one can still find many cultural and historical traces from that period. Among them, Keishuin (Qingxiu Shrine), designated as the county historic site of Hualien, used to be an important hub of the Japanese immigrants’ spiritual life. The architectural style and cultural context of Keishuin have attracted visitors from many places. Such a precious and important cultural asset should really be preserved digitally by applying virtual reality (VR) technology. Not only can VR technology, along with the interactive game Shikoku Pilgrimage, make the collection of materials for historical tourism more complete but also diversify and increase the tourism experiences and memories.
Back in the Japanese colonial period, around the surroundings of Keishuin was where the Cikasowan tribe of Northern Amis was located at that time. Cikasowan, whose territories covered roughly the entire area of current Ji’an, was the most populous and the strongest among all Amis tribes. Dissatisfied with the cruelty of the Japanese rule, Cikasowan Amis resisted and fought back against the Japanese armies. The battle lasted for three months. Finally, Cikasowan Amis were defeated and forced to be uprooted and move away to other places. This is known as the Cikasowan Incident.
Because of Ji’an’s important position in history, the Township Office has conducted a survey study of the traditional territories of the Cikasowan Amis in the past two years, inviting elders and people in Ji’an and the neighboring tribes to learn about the past and present of Cikasowan together. At the joint presentation of the project results with Ji’an Township Office, the Department of Information Management at NDHU echoed the efforts by the Township Office with the development of the “VR Modeling of Cikasowan Traditional Territories,” a technology through which the tribal elders and people might be able to return to the past and explore the old hunting grounds and everyday life of their ancestors.
During weekdays, the little baseball players of Xincheng Elementary School started their daily afternoon training at four. Running laps around the sports field were their first training activity, and from a distance, the young players could be heard frolicking. The coach growled at them, warning of another lap for those who could not complete the run within the time limit.
“In the village, many of the children on the baseball team are from Aohua. They live together in the dorm and do not go home until weekends,” Coach Wen-wei Hu said in a compassionate and helpless voice when speaking of these preteens away from home and families.
At first, to do something for these children, Coach Hu rented an empty house and turned it into a bookstore, a place they could go after school. Even if they don’t like reading, there’s no harm in their staying in a bookstore anyway. Etude Bookstore, a simple-looking building located in beautiful and quiet Xincheng, its books are only for borrowing and not for selling; residents, nuns, or tourists in the neighborhood may help themselves. Because of its inviting aroma of coffees, the stories about the little baseball players, and Coach Hu, who wants to create possibilities for the village, Etude Bookstore has become a popular tourist attraction.
Since then, several vacant spaces and old houses in the village have been refurbished into a cafeteria for the little baseball players, a studio for painters in residence, or a gallery for irregular exhibitions, all gradually becoming the village’s highlights. Coach Hu also collaborated with the local stores and asked the acting B&B managers from work exchange to help draw tourist maps and design general promotional signboards in hopes that all the stores in Xincheng may improve their businesses with more tourists coming to the village.
However, these scenic spots of Xincheng need to be introduced and promoted, but it is a rather difficult task for just two people, Coach Hu and his wife. Thus, the USR Program of National Dong Hwa University (NDHU) contacted Coach Hu, and hoped to utilize the professional knowledge and skills of NDHU students and teachers to create a guided tour app tailored for Xincheng, by which visitors can walk leisurely around the village, listening to pieces of music as well as the brilliant stories of the village that Coach Hu would like to share in their palms.
Fish-Eating Education in the AI World
At the Qixingtan Beach south from Xincheng, rows of floats that are rare to find in other places stand out conspicuously on the sea under the shining sun. The fishing nets as large in size as two football fields are attached under the floats for catching migratory fish. The catch is screened with the nets’ special design and their meshes of different sizes. Smaller fish that can pass through these ocean-friendly nets can continue to grow up in the sea.
Wen-chi Huang, whose family has been engaged in the set-net fishing business for generations, holds a master’s degree in marine management. She believes that “fish” is the closest connection between the ocean and people and insists that “Running a sustainable business while being ocean-friendly is possible.” Therefore, giving up her further studies, Huang returned to her hometown Hualien and established Fish Bar, a company that focuses on fish-eating education. Besides selling fresh fish that are processed, vacuum packed, and frozen at low enough temperature within 24 hours from the time they are caught out of the water, Fish Bar also aims to transform Taiwan’s typical “seafood culture” into “ocean culture” through activities, such as on-site experiencing, the visit to the source of fish products, and the fish-eating education classroom great for both parents and children, that promote the understanding of the role that the common fish on our dining table every day may play in fishery resources.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at NDHU tried to establish an AI system by collecting a large amount of data about the sources of eight common fish species and inputting the data into the system for exercising repeated training so that “computers can also recognize fish.” This AI system that can identify the fish species before our eyes quickly may become a useful tool for strengthening the promotion of fish-eating education. It is also expected that this system will be further upgraded to be able to count the catch number of each fish species that can be used as the basic data of the fish database.
Travel through Time and Space with VR
The application of technology is far-reaching. In addition to the guided tour of a small village and identification of fish species, it can even be used to travel through time and space. Ji’an, called Yoshino then, was the very first government-run immigration village for Japanese people in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945); nowadays, one can still find many cultural and historical traces from that period. Among them, Keishuin (Qingxiu Shrine), designated as the county historic site of Hualien, used to be an important hub of the Japanese immigrants’ spiritual life. The architectural style and cultural context of Keishuin have attracted visitors from many places. Such a precious and important cultural asset should really be preserved digitally by applying virtual reality (VR) technology. Not only can VR technology, along with the interactive game Shikoku Pilgrimage, make the collection of materials for historical tourism more complete but also diversify and increase the tourism experiences and memories.
Back in the Japanese colonial period, around the surroundings of Keishuin was where the Cikasowan tribe of Northern Amis was located at that time. Cikasowan, whose territories covered roughly the entire area of current Ji’an, was the most populous and the strongest among all Amis tribes. Dissatisfied with the cruelty of the Japanese rule, Cikasowan Amis resisted and fought back against the Japanese armies. The battle lasted for three months. Finally, Cikasowan Amis were defeated and forced to be uprooted and move away to other places. This is known as the Cikasowan Incident.
Because of Ji’an’s important position in history, the Township Office has conducted a survey study of the traditional territories of the Cikasowan Amis in the past two years, inviting elders and people in Ji’an and the neighboring tribes to learn about the past and present of Cikasowan together. At the joint presentation of the project results with Ji’an Township Office, the Department of Information Management at NDHU echoed the efforts by the Township Office with the development of the “VR Modeling of Cikasowan Traditional Territories,” a technology through which the tribal elders and people might be able to return to the past and explore the old hunting grounds and everyday life of their ancestors.
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University characteristic Startup Stage Project
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Hualien County
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National Dong Hwa University
3,800votes
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Measures for Leaving a Message to Enter the Draw for the Live Streaming of the Opening Ceremony
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From 13:00 to 14:00 on December 12 (Saturday), 2020
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Event Measures
Log in to your personal Facebook or Google account to proceed with leaving a message; each account with a successful message of #2020usrexpo left before the end of the live streaming of the opening ceremony will have an opportunity to enter the draw, and each account is restricted to winning the prize once only.
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Event Prize Content
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1st Prize
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3rd Prize
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4th Prize
7-11 Gift Voucher valued at NT$200 27 winner
Announcement of the list of winners
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