This year 11 writers are invited to participate in the clips, including novelists, activists, and essayists. There writers share their views and perspectives towards their works, and what they want to reflect upon through words. Although the videos are all in Chinese, hopefully they can still convey and reproduce the atmosphere in their works. In the end of each clip, the voice over promises they are “Good books, and good to read”.

The following are some selected clips with my translation of the writers' narration.

Plastic Opium

In Plastic Opium, the author Xia Chuan-Wei (夏傳位) reveals how credit cards and debit cards influence public perceptions, what unreasonable revolving interest rates are imposed to users, and what discriminations debtors face after falling into the credit card trap. In the clip, you can see the shopping districts in Taipei. He says in the clip:

[…]我想這個社會應該深一層地問，我們可以容許銀行業者賺錢到什麼樣的程度，都不用為他們所造成的社會後果負責；我們社會也應進一步思考，應該要建立一個什麼樣的標準，容許卡奴在負起他們自己的責任以後，重返這個社會，重新生活；我們更應該思考，怎麼樣督促政府，負起他應該負起的管制責任，這個社會要建立起一個什麼樣金融正義的標準，讓每一個人都擁有權利，能夠接觸到這個社會的金融資源，來發展他們自己的事業與生活。

Us

The author Gu Yu-Ling (顧玉玲) is a long-term activist for migrant worker rights. Us is a book recording stories of several Filipino migrant workers. Taiwan has introduced lots of migrant workers from Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, since 1990. In her own words in the clip:

[…]這本書如果對社會會有一點作用的話，我希望它像照鏡子一樣，讓我們看見彼此。我們使用抗爭，我們使用了歌舞表演，然後那個記者會或公聽會，我們用各種軟的硬的方式，其實不就是試著要跟這個社會對話嗎？[…]我一路書寫，我一直非常非常意識到讀者在哪裡，我希望人們看見，我希望人們知道這真的發生在台灣，就在我的左鄰右舍，我只是視而不見而已。[…]

The End of River

As the first generation of Malaysian-Chinese writer in Taiwan, Li Yong-Ping (李永平) writes the novel with Borneo, Malaysia in mind, but lives in Taipei, Taiwan. He mentions:

我是一個小說家，小說家應該有個本事，能夠把兩個不同的空間結合在一起，你打開書房的窗子，你看到的是台灣的河流「淡水河」，你寫的是婆洲大河，可是在一個作家心靈裡頭，這兩條大河、這兩種風景，它就很奇妙地會產生一種互動，那個互動越來越強，結果這兩者就融合在一起，到了後來我幾乎分不清，我到底是寫婆羅洲大河，還是寫台灣的大河，我覺得這是寫作過程裡頭最美妙的一種經驗，這很難傳達出去，但是我相信敏感讀者在我的作品裡頭，應該可以看出這非常非常有趣的面貌。[…]

To view all 11 clips, please visit YouTube page. To read notes from video production team, please visit OpenBook Blog [zh].

Jim Belshaw in Personal Reflections provides thorough backgrounds and analyses of New Zealand electoral system and this year results. To him:

This was an election that combined new and old in interesting ways.

Nik from Spatual Forum notes an interesting fact in this election, and compares the situations in New Zealand and the US:

Curiously, both Clark and Key tried grabbing for the Obama mantle; Clark noting that the US chose to go left, so vote Labour, Key saying the US went for change, so vote Nationals. There are interesting contrasts and parallels with the US election, though — a seasoned politician is defeated by a relative political novice, and the opposition party makes big gains. The difference here is, instead of the centrist-left taking over, our government is now moving more to the right. (Ironic, of course, that we left the US during the dark days of Bush and moved to New Zealand, only to have Obama win the US and the right win New Zealand!)

While some people believe to New Zealand, it’s a time for change, spruiked: djak style thinks there are not many changes:

To an outsider, Key's policies wouldn’t seem all that different to those of the outgoing government. That’s because they’re not. Finding little to fault with the current administration, Key focused his campaign on emotive domestic issues, such as improving education and fighting crime.

[…]

Saturday’s election does not represent change, so much as a changing of the guard. At the end of the day it was time for someone else to have a go at the wheel. That is what New Zealanders voted for.

As immigrants constitute a significant part of population in New Zealand, several parties have candidates with different ethnic backgrounds. To encourage minorities to vote, some immigrant-friendly measures are taken, as sarahliu88 writes [zh]:

為了鼓勵民眾，特別是少數族裔的選民踴躍參與，投票通知單上共印有20種語言，光中文就有繁、簡兩種呢！

vote ‘08 photo by Jake Faulkner

What is SketchPan?

With SketchPAN, we provide a platform and intuitive tools allowing users to create countless and unique contents distinctive from other texts, photos, and videos.

Our tools for drawing, animation and relay drawing help users to transcend the border of their imagination. Users will also meet new multi-playing drawing games soon.

Furthermore, our website enables people around the globe to share and communicate through their own visual creations with our unique social network service.

What's the motivation to start SketchPan at the beginning?

Yu Kim, the CEO and founder of SketchPAN felt empathy seeing great works of talented students becoming just one of school projects. He wanted to create a platform to help them express their creativity freely on the web, and share those works with friends around the world.

What are creative ways of using this service?

SketchPAN, “pan” meaning a board in Korean, provides following services: DrawingPAN, AnimationPAN, TogetherPAN, and ShopPAN. DrawingPAN records and replays drawing process. AnimationPAN lets users to create flipbook like animations easily. TogetherPAN allows collaboration artwork. ShopPAN provides pre-made background images. Finally, MyPAN is a personal page where users can keep track of friends’ works and image comments.

A demo or DrawingPAN

Did you have any unexpected experiences and applications from users?

Our initial target for the service was artists or people who were interested in art; however, during our testing, we saw kids and parents showing enormous interest in our service. Even now, a large percent of SketchPAN users are kids, who continuously create many unique and fun contents.

A demo of AnimationPAN

New and creative ways always exist. Educators, children, parents, students and many others are all expected to benefit from SketchPAN, but there are more possibilities. Welcome to move your mouse and start your private online drawing class today.

What inspires you to create FMM?

In October 2002, my sister was struck by a car and passed away a few hours following the accident. Prior to her death, I wasn't very active in politics or human rights issues, but the shock of losing someone so close really made me understand the value of a person's life. A few months later, The War in Iraq started. I didn't support the war, and with the recent passing of my sister, I realized many families were about to experience similar losses. After a great deal of self-reflection and questioning, I decided to start speaking out about the war and related human rights issues. A blog called “Five Minutes to Midnight” was born a few weeks later, and this eventually evolved into the non-profit organization.

These events still inspire me today. Questioning and sharing information is extremely important, and technology plays a key role in this. It is by asking questions and debating with each other that we, as a society, can grow and become more equitable. Knowing that FMM contributes to this process is a wonderful inspiration.

The vision of FMM is “to create a place for youth to share their view and opinions on human rights and international issues.” How do you reach and collect them? Do you use any online tools?

FMM started as an online magazine, which we published monthly until January 2008. We collected young people's views and ideas through e-mail — people would write articles and send them to us. We built our own basic system for managing articles.

Over the last few years, we began running workshops with our partner organizations, mainly in developing nations. We use free and open source software and refurbished computers to organize extremely low-cost journalism projects which could then be run by young people or small organizations. We don't republish these articles, and simply act as a facilitator for starting community-based media projects.

What are the obstacles to youth around the world to stop them from sharing their views?

I'd say the biggest obstacles for young people today are tokenism and a lack of awareness. The technology for sharing your views is freely available, and sites like Global Voices are perfect examples of this. Many institutions today admit that a massive youth demographic exists and do their best to “engage” youth. Young people's opinions are regularly collected and synthesized into reports, but little is done thereafter. It is important that aside from sharing their views, young people take a stand on issues and hold governments, institutions, and corporations responsible for their actions and promises.

However, this problem isn't solely a result of tokenism on behalf of major institutions. Young people need to become more informed about the issues they care about — whether these are political, scientific, or otherwise. Youth should not only get involved in taking a stand on such issues, but should also do the research and conduct debates that help them make up their minds.

After five years, FMM has a website, has held numerous workshops, had published monthly magazines and a photo book. What's your next step?

We're always looking for new projects and ideas. One of FMM's strengths is that we are very much driven by our partners — aside from promoting low-cost technologies and free expression, we do not have a political agenda, and are happy to work wherever our expertise is needed. We're very much focused on building new partnerships in addition to the connections we've already built in countries like Chad, Kenya, and Nepal.

In addition to continuing our workshops, we're becoming much more rigorous in our analysis, research, and evaluation. We've already written one research paper and will be presenting it at a conference on intercultural collaboration in 2009, and we hope to continue contributing both to grassroots communities and organizations while also documenting our work. I think a lot of institutions and governments can learn from the type of work FMM and similar organizations do.

Blogs, Flickr and other online media are getting more and more popular among youth worldwide. Have you used any to reach more audience?

Yes, we've been very active in blogging — both in setting up our own blogs and helping our volunteers and partner organizations run their own online content systems independently. Through web-based services like Blogger.com and software packages like Wordpress, it's very easy to help people start their own basic media projects. This has facilitated our work immensely.

FMM also runs a project called “Article 13 Initiative“? What is it?

The Article 13 Initiative is the name for our international workshops. It's based on Article 13.1 from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states: “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.”

We believe every young person has the right to express themselves, and do our best to enable this through low-cost technologies, in-person workshops, and the Internet.

How can people get involved in FMM? What kind and form of participation do you need? If we want to contribute, what should we send to you (words, photos, videos)?

We accept any and all interested people as volunteers. One of my main philosophies about volunteering is that it is a learning opportunity — I started FMM without knowing much about non-profit organizations, and it was the best way to learn about politics, the non-profit sector, and international development. I'm happy to work with people who are interested in learning a new skill or who want to visit a new place. If you do want to volunteer, please e-mail me at wojciech@fiveminutestomidnight.org

In terms of what we look for, we are in need of writers and researchers. We do a lot of proposal writing and try to research countries and partner organizations as much as possible. Also, if you have a technical background — in web design, open source software, or even fixing computers — we'd love to have you.

We're a dispersed organization and are very comfortable working with people from any part of the world, as long as we can get in touch with them by phone, e-mail, or in person.

It is, of course, insufficient to have computers and internet access as people need basic skills in using technology. To help people in remote villages and tribes learn and understand internet tools and applications, such as blogs, Twitter, Google Maps, Facebook, etc., Association of Digital Culture Taiwan (ADCT) [zh] (台灣數位文化協會) starts a new project named “Puncar” (胖卡) [zh].

This 10-year-old second-hand car, although can only ride 80-90 kilometers per hour, is well equipped with cameras, computers, portable solar panels, and so on. In May 2008, volunteers have spent three weekends organizing training courses in five distant villages and tribes in southern and eastern Taiwan.

Participants in different age groups gather in the community center for the event.

One local participant A-shan (阿珊) records the event in her blog [zh]:

徐兄在台上跟大家解釋著部落格是什麼…怎麼弄…又如何使用。
[…]
伯伯轉動著滑鼠…重覆著剛才課程內容，讓自己進步每一分鐘。

Tim (CEO of ADCT), standing on stage, introduces and explains what blog is, how to use it and what can be done.
[…]
Participants move their mouses, repeat what are taught, and try to improve step by step.

Philsu(阿寬), joined the tour in the second week, reflects on his experience [zh] with Puncar:

在跟小朋友互動的舉手投足、言語交流間，
體會了好多好多事情。
那是一種內在性的衝擊，撞擊著自己習慣性的思考，
進而延伸出好多的問題跟反思。
哪怕只是短短數小時的相處，
哪怕我們只是將簡單的網路地圖＆部落格使用方法帶給你們，
但我似乎獲得了更多的東西。

I have learned so many things through interactions with these children. The experience has affected my old habits and thoughts, followed by many questions and reflections. In fact we only spent a few hours with them and taught them how to use online maps and blogs, but it turned out that I have learned more from them.

Qweaz (陳力), driver and photographer of Puncar project, offers a complete photo record in his Flickr album.

Tim Shyu (徐挺耀), CEO of ADCT, says [zh] in the Puncar blog:

部落格行動車將集結優秀及熱情的師資人才，設計活潑實用的網路教學課程，以實際走 訪的方式，運用該社區已有的硬體設備，協助解決「軟體」上的不足。並進一步發掘各偏遠地區的經濟特色，給予資訊科技方面適合的建議與支援的可能。

Puncar will recruit more members with passion and skills, and design more interesting and practical internet learning programs. We visit different villages, make use of existing facilities, and help solve the problem of skill insufficiency. Through the tour, Puncar will look into the economic characters in these rural areas and provide suitable IT advices and supports.

Puncar project will last for at least three years. Carrying on with its experiences in May, Puncar will be on the road again in July. For further details, please contact ADCT through adct DOT npo AT gmail DOT com .

All pictures are used under Creative Commons license

Copyright c This image provided by A-Guo, Taiwan Pride Parade. All rights reserved.

(Photo from peellden's flickr)

(Photo from A-Meow's flickr)

這次參加遊行的團體，來自從各角度關懷性別以及人權議題的團體。包括全台灣各大專院校的性別研究學系與相關社團、性別人權協會、台灣人權促進會以及婦女新知等等團體。除此之外，也有著不同性別認同的團體，以及長期關懷愛滋病友人權的關愛之家、愛之抱抱團等團體。

Organizations joining this parade are concerned with gender and human rights issues from various perspectives, including departments and clubs from many universities, Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Awakening Foundation[zh], etc. Harmony Home Association Taiwan, which long focuses on HIV/AIDS human rights issues, and Freehugs for HIV/AIDS[zh] are also present.

在這次的遊行團體當中，還可以看到幾位媽媽帶著才幾個月大的孩童參加遊行。她們正是同志家庭權益促進會的成員。同志家庭權益促進會一直為了同志合法結婚以及 合法領養的權益而努力。以電子報的方式，發送關於同志結婚以及領養的相關訊息，而現在也在朝向電子報紙本化的方向而努力。今年也與三缺一劇團，合作了〈一百種回家的方法〉的劇碼，以戲劇的方式表達同志組成家庭的困境。

In the parade, several mothers walk with their infants. They are members of Homosexual Family Rights Association[zh]. This advocacy group has been promoting gay marriages and adoption. They issue e-papers about related information and are trying to publish printed edition. This year, the association cooperated with theatrical company “Short One Player” to perform a play named “A Hundred Ways of Going Home[zh],” trying to emphasize difficulties that homosexuals face when having a family.

My mom is a lesbian and she is perfect. (Photo from piglee&awid's Wretch)

One child and two mothers equal to a happy homosexual family. (Photo from peellden's flickr)

Freehugs for HIV/AIDS. (Photo from A-Meow's flickr)

Besides a happy festival, this parade has a serious request. Independent media Coolloud writes[zh]:

今天的遊行提出訂定「反性別歧視法」、「同居伴侶法」等訴求，主要針對LGBT社群在就業、婚姻、求學過程中遭到的歧視與 制度上的阻礙；除此之外，國家機 關透過社會秩序維護法、刑法235條等惡法，與警察機關利用「釣魚」等方式對「援交」、「性工作者」採取不人道的對待；對於LGBT社群聚集的場所，惡意 地掃蕩、破壞社群的生存權利。即將在今年12月9日國際人權日前夕舉辦外勞大遊行的台灣國際勞工協會秘書長吳靜如特別上台，希望今天參與遊行的朋友們，一 起來參加外勞的遊行，她說，就因為外勞與性邊緣者，同處弱勢的地位，所以他們在居住權、就業、性自主等，備受壓迫，她希望外勞、同志，所有的弱勢者可以一 起走向多彩的社會。

The parade asks Legislative Yuan (the Congress) to pass “No Gender Discrimination Law” and “Cohabitation Law” in order to eliminate discriminations and institutional challenges that LGBT community faces in school, marriage and job market. In addition, the government treats sex workers inhumanely by using Social Order Maintenance Act and Articale 235 of Penal Code. Police sets up traps to arrest sex workers and maliciously sweeps LGBT gathering places. On December 9th this year, Taiwan International Workers Association will hold a migrant workers parade[zh] on the eve of Human Rights Day. Secrectary general of TIWA, Wu Jing-ru calls on everyone to join that parade because sexual minority and international workers are both disadvantaged groups. Both groups are oppressed in terms of housing rights, employment and sexual autonomy. She hopes internaional workers, LGBT and all disadvantaged people can come together towards a diversified society.

“Is transexual wrong? Is transexual wrong? Is transgender wrong? Is transgender wrong?” This beautiful lady chanted “Trangender is not guilty” in the parade and asked national health insurance to cover transgender operations. (Photo from Yang Chih-Hsiang's flickr)

Participants ask the government to draft “No Gender Discrimination Law” and “Cohabitation Law”. (Photo from peellden's flickr)

Ykan, a lesbian, writes down her thoughts after the parade[zh]:

中途看到形形色色的人，有的人真的好勇敢！高喊著：
”同志不是罪，同志沒有錯”
”我是同志，要求平等”
”變性有錯嗎？”
”還我人權”

I see so many different brave people shouting:
“Homosexuals are not guilty! Homosexuals are not wrong!”
“I am gay. I want equality.”
“Is transexual wrong?”
“Give back my rights!”

天后張惠妹的到來掀起了高潮，我不是第一次看到現場的阿妹演出，但我是第一次這麼的喜歡阿妹，因為她對同志的友善，沒有商業，沒有渲染，有的是看到她對同志滿滿的好感和關心，還有付出！

The popular singer A-mei's participation excites so many people. This is not my fist time to see her live show, but this is the first time I like her so much. She is so friendly to homosexuals without any business operations. We all appreciate her contribution and consideration.

看著這麼多人、一萬五千人走上街頭，沿路被很多人拿著照相機，攝影機拍著，沒有畏畏縮縮，只有驕傲！ 我很慶幸我來了，不然我永遠不會知道當個同志是可以很驕傲的，我們也是跟一般人一樣，我們多麼需要人權。

那一下午到晚上的感動，震撼我心，直到永遠！

15,000 people come up to the street and videotaped by others on the way. They have nothing but pride! I am glad that I am here, otherwise I will never know it can be proud to be a homosexual. Just like others, we need human rights so much.I am moved and touched by this event forever!

For more pictures, you can look at photoalbums of Flickr users Damon Lin and sunnydoll. shafferswows has uploaded several clips of A-mei's performance that night on Youtube.

Originally written in Chinese by GV Chinese team member, FoolFitz

Shih-Da night market is one of the most famous night markets in Taipei. (”Shih-Da”(師大) is the abbreviation of National Taiwan Normal University(國立台灣師範大學) in Chinese. The night market is right next to the university.) Its own exotic character is quite different from other night markets. This is because, for decades, many international students study Chinese and live in the neighborhood of the National Taiwan Normal University. They bring their home culture and combine them with local characteristics.

In this article, Walking in the South Village[zh], Liang-lou Han says,

希望透過南村落未來的努力，大商圈可以換掉這個過份商業化的名字，而以南村South Village的面貌問世。畢竟對所有在這一帶居住、活動、玩耍的人而言，位居台北市南區的這塊充滿人文氣息與波希米亞藝術風味的地方已經越來越有紐約東村East Village的味道了。

The name of this place, Shi-Da night market, is too commercial, and I wish it could be replaced by “South Village”. After all, for the people who live, exercise, and play here, this place is like the Easy Village of New York, filled with humanity and Bohemian flavor.

People who agree with Han, like Mei-Chun, mentions[zh],

可能因為我非生長在台北，對台北的舊城市、舊街道的感覺，就像是對其他國家有歷史風情的街道一樣陌生，但又帶有一點想要窺視的心情，所以也就生起興趣來，但這個興味也僅止於無聊沒事做的份上，缺乏認同感。而G的反應更直接：那不就是師大夜市嗎！有什麼特別？。不過基於對文化的熱情，我還是很想反駁，因為有這些人用這些方法保留或喚起人們對城市韻味的記憶。

Maybe because I do not grow up in Taipei, therefore, for me, the old Taipei city and streets are just as strange as any other foreign cities. I develop an interest in this city and want to take a peek, but not because the identification. I just have nothing to do. But G says more directly: ‘It's just Shih-Da night market, nothing special!!' Based on the passion to the culture, I still want to controvert his argument. We really need these people to do something to protect or remind us the memory of the city.

But for Wreacca[zh], who has lived in this area for more than ten years, it is another story. He points out,

師大夜市對我來說就是師大夜市，什麼南村，埽死威裡舉，老子英文不好啦，真是一群任性的文藝中年。師大商圈這名字的確是有些商業的味道，但改名為南村落難道不是另一種行銷包裝？我承認，「南村落」看起來的確比較多了那一丁點想像。喔、不行，我快吐了，尤其是看到這篇描寫師大夜市（韓小姐稱之為南村落）的文章，人與人之間對同一件事物的認知落差真的可以大到很誇張。

For me, the Shih-Da night market is Shih-Da night market. My English is so poor and I don't understand what South Village means. These middle-aged people are dilettantism and capricious. Even the name of Shih-Da night market is commercial, how about “South Village”?! It is just another marketing strategy!! I admit that people may have a little more imagination to “South Village,” but it still sounds so weird especially after reading the article written by Han. People really have very different interpretations and understaning towards the same object.

Kenshin121 starts his argument with East Village in New York. In his opinion[zh],

簡而言之，沒有Greenwich Village，沒有Soho，沒有劇場(BlueMan Group演出的Astor Place Theatre就在East Village附近)，沒有日本蛋糕、sushi、拉麵、章魚燒、居酒屋跟燒肉店，沒有St. Mark's 書店，沒有才情洋溢的藝術家與多元文化在東村附近彙集相遇，那也不過就是貴學校的hip學生與教授們居住的地方。

In short, without Greenwich Village, Soho, Astor Place Theater, Japanese Cake, Sushi, Japanese Gourmet, St. Mark's Bookstore, artists, and multi-culture, the East Village is only a living area for the brownstone students and professors.

這跟師大夜市的窮學生們(不論台灣or外國學生)隨遇而安的求學生活與安慰外國小朋友的食物文化交流一點都不像好嗎? 殊不知政大書城是以折扣大聞名，但是東村的St. Mark's書店是以原價怪書多聞名?

The life of East Village is SO quite different to that in the Shih-Da night market. It is the place where poor students (local and international included) do culture exchange and enjoy their school lives. While bookstores in the night market are known for discount books, St. Mark's Bookstore in East Village is full of unusual books with no discounts at all.

From marketing perspective, macdog[zh] has some tips of cultural marketing. He says,

1. 找人圍事是必要的。不單是募款的需求，那頂多募個一兩次就乾了，這裡推動的是善意的「文化」延伸，文人雅士莫不以參與這個劃地盤的行動為榮。
2. 商業拉抬是必要的。透過共享商業繁榮的吸子，納入附近商家的參與，既然在同一條船上，堆動同一個理念就合理化了。
3. 給人上台是必要的。辦活動就是要搞熱場子，不要自己一個人玩完，場子搭了，就是要給其他大腕也有上台表演，說唱個兩句的機會，互相捧個面子人場。
4. 現成便宜是必要的。用既有的資源和發展，重新制定遊戲規。離了現成的都會區另創一片天是事倍功半，所以選了師大夜市來正名是聰明的。

1. Help from others is necessary. People are needed not just for fund-raising (because what you can get is limited). If you are promoting and extending the culture, scholars will be more than willing to participate.
2. Business operation is necessary. When nearby shops are all involved, you will gain legitimacy to promote a idea.
3. Giving credits to others is necessary. All events need participants. Invite every “influential person” to get on the stage and say a few words. It's beneficial to both sides.
4. Using existing resources is necessary. Redefine the rules with materials available now. If you leave urban area, much more efforts would be needed to achieve the same goal. Renaming Shih-Da night market is a smart choice.

To ordinary people who are not able to open a shop or marketing, however, Shi-Da has long been a good place for foods. What Wraecca[zh] and we care the most is:

服飾店攻佔小吃攤的速度是否越來越迅速了。

There are more clothes shops but fewer food vendors now.

originally written by swpave in Chinese