CyberFair Project ID: 8095

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: CityBiker in Taipei----Youbike
Category: 4. Local Specialties
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2016/gsh8095/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2016/gsh8095/narrative.htm

School: Taipei Fuhsing Private School
    Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan

10 students, ages 16,17 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 10, 2016. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2015

Classes and Teachers: Hsien-ping Lin, 11 Wang and 11 Ai

E-Mail contact:

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

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Taipei is the capital city and a special municipality of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei. The city proper is home to an estimated population of 2,693,672 in 2009, forming the core part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area which includes the nearby cities of New Taipei and Keelung with a population of 6,900,273, the 40th most-populous urban area in the world. Taipei is the political, economic, educational, and cultural center of Taiwan, and one of the major hubs of the Chinese-speaking world. Considered to be a global city, Taipei is part of a major high-tech industrial area. Railways, high-speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. Public transport accounts for a substantial portion of different modes of transport in Taiwan, with Taipei residents having the highest utilization rate at 34.1%. In the hope of elevating life and culture in the city and in response to a global trend of energy conservation and carbon mitigation, the Taipei City Government, in collaboration with Giant Taiwan, initiated the Taipei Bike Sharing System Service Plan, also known as“YouBike”.

2. Summary of Our Project

On a clear day, we can often see orange figures shuttle in Taipei city. That's right, it's Youbike. In recent years of development, Youbike has obviously become one of the most important means of transport. For instance, businessmen and students or even others can use this eco-friendly facility in an easy way. How the facility affects us in our daily life? And which kind of view the public hold for the Youbike? To amplify the efficiency of this measure and make it easier for the public to use, we started our research. We hope to let the public having more understanding of Youbike, and become the City Biker shuttle in the city.

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:not sure

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

It is always an issue when it comes to designing a questionnaire, after all, we need to be sure that the question won’t be too long for the pedestrians to fill and get the answer we want at the same time. We spent much time in designing the questionnaire, and modified it through the lead of the teacher, therefore ,we got this perfect and interesting questionnaire today. In order to get more information about Youbike from the expert, we contacted many people and tried to interview them. However, most of the people either can't match our time or refuse to take the interview. We did many efforts on the interview and the boro president spent time answer all our questions, then we finish the interview perfectly.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

In the process of the investigation, we expand a big plan into many different details, everyone does their own work, for example, some contact the person we are going to interview, some design the activity, and some arrange the time, and in the end, everyone goes for an event or interview. We often make mistake while doing this project, but we solve and overcome together, make our friendship much closer.

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

Realm of language learning For the sake of letting the questions more specific to the key point, we learned that how to delete the words which are not necessary. We also applied some respective and polite words which were learned in Chinese curriculum. Thus they could answer the questions more easily and they could feel the respect from us. When we wrote our meeting notes, researching our reference and reorganized them, it significantly enhanced our ability in writing. Whatever choosing a word or transfer our sincerely thoughts into essays, we both have improved ourselves. By the way, when we have interviewed with the foreigners, we also enhanced our ability in communication. For us in the future, we should cherish this opportunity to learn these abilities and we can apply them in the future.

Realm of social learning When we were designing the route, we have applied network analyze and GIS. While we were doing Calculation data, we used schematic analysis and pie chart, which were taught from our geography class. When we were doing the research of Youbike, we have learned a lot of revolution of public transportations and the history of Taiwan.

Realm of art learning When we were designing the web, we have also concerned about the beauty of our webpages. Since this reason, we applied what we have learned in our art class. We designed the logo of our team together, just with simple lines and some bright colors, which can perform our eventual spirits greatly.

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Project Elements

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

We use the computers to analyze the statics data, make the chart and search for the information. We also use the cellphone to contact with the boro-president and record the interview. The questionnaire is exerted to investigate the pedestrian’s satisfaction of Youbike. Among all the materials we used, the computers are the most helpful tool of all.

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

We met an employee who works in the Giant---which is the main company of Youbike, he said many interesting things about Youbike, such as the reverse seat means it is broken. On the other hand, we also sent emails to the foreign companies and made us know more about the bicycle transportation system in other countries.

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

Taipei City Government promoted the policy of YouBike very much that made the public transportation more complete. Riding bikes became country-wide movement. However, it's obvious to say that there are still some people haven't understood YouBike or some uncompleted problems in the system, even not considering the thoughts and feelings of people. Our website was set to make people know more about YouBike and promote traffic regulations. Therefore, we made a petition. We wrote ten rules that City Biker should follow on the petition and invite people to sign. As for the part of giving the questionnaire to citizens, we not only spread it on the social network, also go on the street to give out the paper questionnaire. Based on the ten questions we proposed, we were able to realize how Youbike influences Renai district comprehensively and understand more about citizen's opinion of the Youbike. And by answering our questionnaire, citizens can understand the problems of YouBike and make some efforts to solve it. We hope that our promotion on Youbike and our multidirectional thinking and researches can build a bridge to environmental protection and development.

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

YouBike is an important transportation policy, it affects many levels. As a result, it is a hard work to improve it successfully. Governments, local figure, and the acceptability of people are the key points whether this policy will be successful or not. One activity we planned was to make local people understand the traffic rules of YouBike through petition. Thus, we called out neighborhood residents to sign their names after reading those ten rules. We hope we can popular YouBike traffic rules through this event, and become the real City Biker! We also interviewed the borough-president, Mr. Zheng. He welcomed us with passion, and answered all of our questions clearly. Through this interview, we also discovered many problems we didn’t thought of before. Without Mr. Zheng’s assistance, we might not be able to complete this website, and we all appreciate it. As for the part of giving the questionnaire to citizens, we not only spread it on the social network, but also go on the street to give out the paper questionnaire. Though we are students, some people still stopped to ask about our plan and filled out the questionnaire with patience. Due to their kindness, we are able to feedbacks from citizens in first hand. In the process of the investigation, we expand a big plan into many different details, and everyone has their own work, for example, contact the person we are going to interview and design the activity. With all of our members cooperation, we completed the website eventually. We often make mistake while doing this project, but we solved it and overcome it together.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

The topic of our research is one of Taipei transportation tendency---Youbike, thus, we have the chance to know more about Youbike’s operation, function and application. In any aspect, Youbike is surely a breathtaking engineering. In the process of the research, we compare the difference between other countries public bicycle and ours, and find out that Youbike is really a convenient transportation. And we also made the SWOT and PEST analysis, then gradually dig out the advantage and disadvantage of Youbike, and expand the discussion to the problem of the lack of bicycle lanes. In order to know the opinion about Youbike from the citizens, we have delivered many questionnaires, although many people refuse to fill in, we still successfully give out all the questionnaires, it is also benefit to our SWOT analysis. On the other hand, we have been to the borough-president office and do the interview, and understand the opinion from the public figure. The most interesting thing is, we plotted out the traveling route which needs Youbike, and after we run through the trip, we will know what we should improve, then the trip will be more fun step by step. We have gained many benefits from the research. After our exploration and introduction, we hope that everyone can know more about Youbike and arouse the passion to the Youbike, it is not only make people know more about the environment they live, but also let people enjoy the joy while galloping in the wind.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 8095)

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