Started by a group of bloggers in 2005, and then organized by ADCT since 2006, BoF(Birds of a Feather), aka Taiwan Youth Blog Festival, has become the major Web 2.0 event in Taiwan. This year, because of Typhoon Morakot that wreaked havoc in August 2009 in southeren Taiwan, BoF 2009 on 9/27 focuses on how online community, as a part of local society, should have leverage in the offline world under the theme “Clean UP!”. Besides damage mitigation, this year BoF also divide sessions for microblogging, blogger economy and family bloggers, observing how different trends and innovations change the landscape in the blogosphere. (Live broadcasting in both text and video here.)

The GV Chinese lingua team invited twitterers to comment on the case and use hashtag “#abian911” to mark the tweets that they recommend to be featured in GV. The opinions are rather diverse.

Twitterers from Taiwan tended to doubt if the sentence is justified. HOW from Taiwan:

[murmur] 阿扁判無期徒刑…但為什麼性犯罪者可以假釋。我恨透他貪汙，但司法也不能這樣搞啊，比例原則在哪裡啊！（認為我政治狂上身可以盡量remove我沒關 係）

Abian got life sentence…but why sex criminals can have conditional release, (but he can't?). I hate his corruption, but justice cannot play it this way. Where is the principle of proportionality!

pipperl from Taiwan:

扁案這簡直是抄家，以後所有被告也要比照辦理嗎？ #abian911

The case of Chen is simply a family purge. Is this going to be a model for other politicians?

judie35 from Taiwan:

扁案一審的判決充滿政治報復意味，讓人無法接受。此種做法不是伸張正義，而是逼台灣社會對立分裂繼續深化。扁非無辜，但過重的懲罰反而會使法院失去正當性，讓人同情他、甚至尊他為殉道英雄。 #abian911

The sentence of the first trial of Chen's case smells completely like political avenge, and that is not acceptable. This is not justice, instead, it forces Taiwan society to continue its antagonism and disunion. Chen is not innocent, but the over-weighted punishment is making the court lose its legitimacy, which in return lets people feel sympathy for him or even regard him as a hero who die for his country. #abian911

traaworld from Taiwan RT @thecarol: RT @Lydia618: RT: @4F:

你們不要傻傻的，以為謀財貪污已經走了。謀財貪污一直都在，謀最多貪最大的一直都在打人喊救人。#(真的，這才是笑點所在) #abian911

Don't be fooled to believe that corruption is gone. Corruption is always here, and the most corrupted are always accusing others as corrupted. #(Yeah, this is the point) #abain911

traaworld from Taiwan RT @lianyue from China:

终生监禁的两种表述方法：陈水扁无期；共产党万岁。 #abian911

Two expressions for “In jail for life”: Chen Sui-Bian's life sentence and Long live CCP.

Octw is quite an exceptional Taiwanese view who believes that justice has been served:

正義。所有犯罪的人都應該追繳犯罪所得。希望這是一個永恆的判例。 #abian911

Justice. All the illegal earnings of criminals should be pursued and returned. I hope this is an eternal prejudication. #abian911

While among twitterers from China, the fact that an ex-political leader received life sentence is quite unimaginable. gudidi from China:

陈水扁的人生还真是跌宕起伏。。像部精心炮制的精彩大戏哪。。#abian911

Chen's life is full of ebbs and flows…just like a sophisticated drama! #abian911

TONG from China cites lianyue's tweet:

#abian911 民主的台湾，阿扁无期；专制的大陆，人民无期。

Democratic Taiwan leads to Abian's life sentence; Aristocratic Mainland China leads to all citizens' life sentence.

ismaelan, a Chinese Muslim:

重判一个具有族群象征意义的台湾人,更让人加深了对国民党治国无能、内斗有方的恶劣历史印象. #abian911

Heavily punishing a token of ethnic Taiwanese adds more on the evil impression on KMT's inability to run the country and the ability to battle against interior enemy. #abian911

As for the Taiwan English-speaking twitter circle, it seems that most of the opinions simply do not trust the ruling party KMT and some accuse the Beijing government for operating behind the scene in Chen's sentence. The following tweets are selected by GV author David Reid:

Tortue: You know that I don't keep SCB (Chen Shui-Bian) and DPP in my heart but I don't think that a life sentence here was really appropriate…

TimMaddog: Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian and his wife Wu Shu-jen just sentenced to life imprisonment. Fuck this Ma Ying-jeou government!

vshchen: I hope most Taiwanese are smart enough to see how KMT is trampling on Taiwan's justice.

I wouldn't be surprised if Chen Shui-bian were sentenced to death by KMT's court. It's already very obvious that KMT want Chen to die.

jgdeutsch: A life sentence for Chen Shui-bian? This seems a bit extreme, even for a regime that's kissing up to the CCP. http://ow.ly/oWh1 [link to BBC news article]

JuleSuga @vshchen Hope now more ppl will wake up & see KMT's true colours. Chen will come out one day & lead us to build our own country.

David also suggested an article from The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato, who believed that the life sentence is to please Beijing government:

Chen was a flawed leader. But he is being sacrificed by a regime that cannot help but bend over backwards to please Beijing. As he and his wife face life behind bars, Beijing has successfully split Taiwanese Aborigines while dealing as death blow to the only opposition party in Taiwan that make the country worthy of being called a democracy……….

I certainly do not wish a 9/11 I Taiwan, or anything resembling a Cuban Revolution. But if the voice of the people continues to be ignored like this, and if Beijing continues to succeed in its plan to annex Taiwan one voice at a time, I fear that nothing less will be necessary.

Heavy rainfall in Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Taitung has resulted in record-breaking daily precipitation. While the most devastated region is Pingtung county, where the accumulated rainfall in 24 hours is 1,403 mm (zh). The accumulated rainfall in three days is up to 2,500 mm(zh), which is equal to the average annual rainfall!

Two third of the Pingtung County has been flooded. In Linbian, Fangliao, and Kanding, a large number of buildings are surrounded with deep water and residents have to stay on top of the roofs awaiting for help. In Chiadung, the whole town has to be evacuated(zh).

According to news report at 22:00, Aug 10, the flood has already claimed 23 lives and brought 56 missing cases(zh). More than 30,000 people were traped(zh).

Photo by Liu of UDN.

Typhoon Morakot reminded Taiwanese of a previous disaster “87 flood(zh)” in 1959, which had destroyed 13 counties. The damage caused was up to 11% GDP of Taiwan then.

The broken South Link Railway in Taimali, Taitung

Photo by CNA(quoted from UDN)

Witnessing the widespread destruction caused by Morakot in Southern Taiwan, blogger and netizens decided to take action.

Billypan and a team of volunteers on Plurk started aggregating and gathering informations from all over Taiwan and created a Google Map mash-up to mark the affected areas.

Billypan reported on Plurk:

“Having entered so many markers on the disaster map, I have a strong feeling that the situations in Changhwa and Taichung are getting more and more serious. People in Central Taiwan better be prepared.”

XDite also created a website, “Supporting for the victims of Morakot Typhoon“, for netizens to offer helps to each others.

Twitter and plurk messages by GENE and landslides map by Schee are aggregated at Morakot Disaster Intelligence Center, another disaster relief coordinating platform created and maintained by ADCT, a non-profit organization of which I am also a member. Below is a sticker that links to the website.

Sticker for Taiwanfloods: “God Bless Taiwan”(天佑台灣)

Blogger Ivan shared many information about disaster relief(zh) on his blog. He reminded other netizens to send bottle water rather than cokes to the affected regions. Vincent Chang suggested Administrative Yuan to learn from Web 2.0(zh) in its disaster relief work.

Blogger, Mr. Friday, inspired by Billypan and Xdite's responses to the flood, looked into theviability of redesigning the city with digital technology(zh). Journalist and blogger Chyng wrote an in-depth report about the impact of the global climate change on tropical island. The article was ended with a citation of an environmental scholar Liao Ben-Chuan's words:

但廖本全指出，全球氣候變遷影響下，暴雨只會愈來愈多；研究也顯示暴雨對島嶼影響最大，若政府沒有長遠國土復育思維，台灣未來堪慮。

Co-authored by Dreamf, GV Chinese translator.

The snapshot on Dell website taken by Fred on the night of June 25.

Fred blogged about it immediately as the tsunami of order from Taiwanese Internet attacked Dell's website:

電腦大廠Dell可能因為網站程式錯誤的關係，當然也可能是因為前一陣子靠Twitter賺了三百萬美金的關係，大手筆回饋用戶，今晚在該公司官網上每一項產品都降價NT$7000，使得19吋螢幕一部只要NT$500、20吋低價版也只要NT$999。

Perhaps it's a website programming error, or perhaps it's a customer giveback for the 3 million USD sales thanks to Twitter not long ago. Tonight, all product prices listed on Dell's official website have been lowered by NT$7000, making 19-inch monitors on sale for NT$500, and 20-inch for only NT$999.

But Fred doubts:

至於Dell真的會出貨嗎？還是拿購買協議中的「Dell得無責地對其出具之行銷印刷物、報價單、價目表、出價接受函、發票或其他文件或資料的印刷錯誤、筆誤或其他錯誤或遺漏進行更正。」來自保呢？ 不知道，「有夢最美」。:)

Will Dell really ship the products? Or will Dell save itself by using the Terms and Conditions, which states: “To the extent permitted by law, any typographical, clerical or other error or omission in sales literature, quotation, price list, acceptance of offer, invoice or other documents or information issued by Dell shall be subject to correction without any liability on the part of Dell.” I don't know, but we can always dream. :)

However, Dell ‘fixed' the pricing errors the next morning. And in the afternoon, Dell released another announcement:

「戴爾（臺灣）的網站系統於6月25日的資訊中出現DELL液晶螢幕的線上價格標示錯誤。我們正在深入瞭解整體訂單狀況，並將直接與顧客聯繫，妥善處理這個事情。對於為客戶帶來的不便深表歉意。」

On June 25, the website system for Dell (Taiwan) displayed pricing errors for LCD monitors. We are scrutinizing the overall situation of the orders. We will contact the customers directly to resolve this matter properly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to our customers.

iThome reports:

據消保會公佈的資訊，戴爾上週8個多小時標錯價期間，系統共湧入2萬6千多客戶，共4萬3千多筆訂單，訂購了將近14萬台液晶顯 示器。若每台19吋螢幕以當時錯誤標價每台500元保守估計，8個多小時湧入的訂單金額最少7千萬元以上，而損失金額若以每台5000元估計，若全數出貨 損失可能高達7億元。但實際上也有很多網友以999元訂購20吋螢幕，這部份的損失將讓損失擴大。既使依消保會所說的，每筆訂單依當時標價出貨一台，損失 也可能超過2億元。

According to the information provided by Consumer Protection Commission, Dell website received 26,000 visits from customers, who placed a total of 43,000 orders with the wrong price within 8 hours. If the 19 inch LCD was sold for 500 NTD each, the estimated loss will be at least 70 million. If they were sold for 5,000 NTD each, the loss could total 7 billion. But in fact, many online customers also bought the 20 inch LCD monitor that was priced at 999 NTD. This portion of the sale would further increase the loss. Even if Dell does according to Consumer Protection Commission's announcement - ship one monitor per order at the corresponding price - the total loss could still exceed 2 billion NTD.

3C expert Jeremy summarized the event and shared his analysis based on past experiences:

再對照戴爾台灣的聲明，推測可能的處理情況應該是：戴爾台灣恐怕會發信個別與下訂客戶聯繫，如果不願意取消訂單，戴爾就會負起出 貨的責任。如果對照更新後的價錢，每出一台就要損失4801元，但沒辦法，誰叫你已經登出來了，這筆帳恐怕不賠不行。所以有收到訂單確認信的人，我想拿到 螢幕的可能性很高。

After reading Dell Taiwan's statement, I believe one possible solution is this: Dell Taiwan will probably email every customer who has placed an order. If the customer refuses to cancel the order, Dell will be responsible for shipping it. Dell will lose $4801 for every monitor shipped. And unfortunately, Dell has to honor its words. Therefore, for those who received an order confirmation, I believe their chances of receiving their order is very high.

However, after the pricing error incident on Dell's Taiwan website, many among those who placed orders online are not satisfied with the Dell's initial statement. Customers flood into Dell's Facebook page to express their complaints. Dell's page suddenly become filled with messages in Traditional Chinese from Taiwanese users.

According to major websites and social networking sites, the main reason for the enormous dissatisfaction has been due to the order reply Dell sent out to buyers on June 26, which contains the following words:

戴爾股份有限公司(臺灣)的網站系統 (www.dell.com.tw) 於6月25日11PM至6月26日7AM期間，資訊中出現線上價格標示錯誤, 現已經將價格更正。由於價格錯誤，在此期間下的訂單將不被接受。我們正在深入調查,待瞭解狀況後將直接與顧客聯繫，妥善處理這個事情。為此給客戶帶來的任何不便, 我們深感歉意。

The website (www.dell.com.tw) for Dell, Inc. (Taiwan) made pricing errors from 11PM on June 25 to 7AM on June 26. The prices are now updated. Because of the pricing errors, all orders accepted during this time will not be accepted. We are examining the situation, and will contact customers directly to resolve this matter when we gain a better understanding. We deeply apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.

An T-shirt designed by irritated painting blogger pigx3s

Another T-shirt designed by nokimi

This event sparked netizens' creativity. A ballad song by Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou was reproduced with lyrics that mock the situation by Facebook user Ya Chi Liao.And, a Dell Music video by designer Even Wu has been pushed(digged) by more than 1100 users on funp, a digg-like website.

Gururu suggests that Dell should get someone on micro-blogging to deal and prevent such incident:

由於，台灣市場不大之故，因此， DELL 戴爾公司站在全球佈局的立場來說，將大中華區的網站業務部門建立在全球最大的華人市場－中國之中，這是件無可厚非之事。但，倘若 DELL 戴爾公司可以如同在日本的Direct2Dell_JP微網誌一樣，於台灣市場之中複刻一個的 Direct2Dell_TW微網誌（Twitter與Plurk可同步設立），我相信這件事情會完全改觀。

Due to the small size of the Taiwanese market, Dell has set up its Chinese division in the center of its biggest Sino-market, China. There's nothing wrong with it. But if Dell can copy Direct2Dell_JP's model and set up a micro-blogging interface, both on Twitter and Plurk, to service the Taiwanese market, I believe the matter could be changed completely.

一來，Direct2Dell_TW微網誌不一定要有台灣的負責人員，他可以是香港或其他以繁體中文語係為主的負責人員。當 Direct2Dell_TW微網誌中發佈此一產品的售價連結訊息時，顧客面對此一超級優惠的價格，必然會有人發言詢問。負責人員可以在第一時間內，馬上 知情並做網站內部系統的修正。

By doing so, Direct2Dell_TW does not necessarily need a Taiwanese representative. The person in charge can be based in Hong Kong or other regions that primarily use Traditional Chinese language. Whenever Direct2Dell_TW publish product pricing related messages, customers could inquire about the sale. Meanwhile, the staff in charge could send a notice to fix the internal error on the website without delay.

Not everyone is against Dell. Airline623 does not like the way how many Taiwanese buyers behave in this event:

對我而言，用「網路暴力」來形繪此事，恰如其份。 大家捫心自問，當你看到這麼不合理的折扣時，依經驗法則判斷，理應知道這應該是價格標錯了吧？或許用不著你來判斷，因為在網路上許多文章擺明寫道：「戴爾 標錯價錢啦！大家快去買！」。 DELL要不要為這個疏失負責？當然要，但當大家採取這種趕盡殺絕的態度，只會讓DELL更傾向不願善意處理的一端。如果我是DELL，看到態度強悍的消 費者佔大多數，媽的賭爛到了，這時我只要發佈一個新聞稿：「本公司網站疑似遭駭客入侵，竄改本公司商品之價目」，你們這群王八也拿我沒轍。

To me, it is very appropriate to use the term “Internet Brutality” to portray this matter. Everyone, according your own experiences and logic, when you see this unreasonable discount, you must know there has been a mistake. Or perhaps you don't even need to reason, because various articles online have pointed out, ‘Dell made a mistake on pricing labels! Everyone hurry up and place your orders! Should Dell be responsible for this error? Of course. But if people decides to adopt a merciless attitude, Dell may lean towards a less advantageous settlement for the consumers. If I were DELL, with so many irrational and aggressive customers, I would think, hell, bad luck. And all I'd have to do is announce : “Dear Customers: Our website may have been hacked and items price modified ” Then you son of bitch won't be able to do anything.

CGS also questions:

但我想問問這次購買的人，扣掉價格的因素，真的會想購買 Dell 產品的機會有多少？除了這次的價格大殺盤，下單的人買過或用過 Dell 產品的有多少？Dell 咬牙出貨的話，真的會贏得這些客戶的忠誠嗎？還是這些人只是拿到產品後，得了便宜，還罵 Dell 一聲呆呢？

But I'd like to ask those who placed their orders, aside from the discount, who really wanted to buy from Dell? Aside from this huge sale, how many of you have actually bought and used a Dell product? If Dell really incur the loss and ship the orders, would it really get customer loyalty in return? Or would those who get the products on sale, after getting a cheap deal, dismiss Dell as simply stupid?

Subing, however, thinks quite the opposite:

同樣的事情在台灣卻是一齣叫人厭煩的爛戲，首先是DELL，由事發到現在已經好幾天了，有許多下單買LCD的人連一封email都沒有收到，在聲明中DELL也只表示願意與另一個強勢者，也就是政府的消保機構協調，完全視消費者於無物。 有人或許會為政府的消保單位喝采，但是在這個過程中，我看到的是台灣的消費者完全被當作沒有行為能力也沒有任何權力的嬰兒，只有等待大人出面才能幫我們爭取權力。

This type of situation in Taiwan seems like a boring drama. First there's Dell, days after the incident, many of those who placed the orders for the LCD monitors have not even received an email. And in its public announcement, Dell has made it clear that it would only negotiate with the other powerful actor, the Consumer Protection Commission. The consumers are completely sidelined. Perhaps some are rooting for the government agency CPC, but in the process, the Taiwanese consumer has been treated as infants with no ability nor rights to defend themselves, waiting for the adults to solve their problems.

Yeager Yu on Engadget Chinese discusses the possibility of “error-price” marketing:

老實說，趁現在熱度夠的時候，做標錯價行銷是最讚的了，一來會在網路上流傳，二來新聞也會幫忙播報。當然，在預期上來講，要搞刻 意製造的標錯價，需要有很大的勇氣，因為你沒辦法確定要砸下多少錢，才會有效果。不過，老實說，對於大公司來講，對於一個重要的產品做行銷，或是特定時機 做行銷，砸下幾百萬，是很常見的。 因此，標錯價行銷，絕對是有機會成為行銷事件的可能性。

To be honest, having an ‘error-pricing' marketing strategy while the news is still popular would be great; not only do you get the word-of-mouth on the internet, you also get news coverage on the media. Of course, you need a lot of guts to pursue error-pricing marketing, because you can never know for sure how much money you need to invest to get the desired effect. But to be honest, for any big company, spending a couple million to market an important product or for seasonal marketing is pretty common. So, this price-error marketing can definitely become a marketing event.

Willy concludes his analysis [with the following paragraph:

另外,現在大家看到這篇應該會覺得挺諷刺的啊:戴爾顧客決定一切！ 在這次事件中,戴爾會死的那麼慘,很大一部分是因為「微網誌」,諷刺的是,dell本身還因為運用twitter推特得當,常常被當作微網誌運用的典範,但他這次就死在這上面.

In addition, those who are reading this must find this ironic: “Dell customers decides everything!” In this incident, Dell has failed so horribly largely due to “micro-blogging”. Ironically, Dell has utilized Twitter quite well, and has been held up as a model for doing so. And this time it was screwed over by the same technology that it used to promote itself.

EvenWu simulates what will happen if Dell really ships all the LCD he ordered on The Sims 3.

Maybe the most interesting post is from Gordon168 who did not bother to order any Dell products because he argues that even with the error price, Dell's products are still too expensive(zh) in comparison with other indigenous Taiwanese brands.

Dell released their final terms of settlement on July 2 in which Dell promise to give 1000-3000 NTD discount to all orders, but not everyone is OK with that and the debate continues(zh).

This post is written and translated by Portnoy and Cindy Hwang.

The burning of the Plague God Boat is one of the folk rituals of the seafaring people in southwestern Taiwan. The original purpose of this ritual was to send the Plague God out to the sea, and diseases along with him; today it is an activity held to pray for peace and good fortune. The festival is held once every three years, around the ninth lunar month, at Donglong Temple in Donggang. The boats are burned in the middle of the fourth month at Cingan Temple in Sigang, Tainan County. Generally, the Donggang event is bigger. These celebrations include large-scale temple activities, which climax with the burning of the plague god boat on the last day.

The Donggang boat-burning celebrations run for eight days and seven nights. According to custom, before the boat is set afire, devotees and other participants prepare goods for the symbolic trip. Then a big fire is made (this is to force bad spirits and the Plague God to go aboard), and the boat is burned while the people pray for peace.

But not just at Donggang (google map link) or southeastern Taiwan, the same ritual is conducted in many small villages all around Taiwan with diversity. YangPhoto recorded one of them in Da Jiou (Pingdong City), which was conducted in a minimal fashion on his photo blog:

YangPhoto says:

這是個「小而美「的燒王船儀式
至今拍王船祭典，少說也有十餘次
從來沒有看到如此精簡，但這麼有地方特色的王船
這艘王船竟然是紙糊而成的，四個大漢就可以輕易扛起
…………..
那天上午，拍完東港漁船鮪魚進港後，就驅車前往位於屏東市大洲裡的超峰寺
該廟宇的送王儀式，參與的當地信徒只有數十人 與動輒數千人大型王船祭相比
簡直是小巫（廟）見大巫（廟）

長得像十字架的船錨？

添載物有醬油，而衙役水手也是用紙做成，簡單到不行

四個人就可扛起的紙糊王船，有四隻支架

婦女信眾就大剌剌的坐在小貨車後面

長老抽香菸凝視溪畔，等待燒王船儀式的進行

添載只花了十幾分鐘即完成

在阿嬤旁這位小女孩，微笑對著我的鏡頭，靦腆的擺出V字形手勢

祭祀後，即刻點燃燒王船儀式

香火爐筒隨著高屏溪流走……
屏東大洲超峰寺送王祭典沒有熱鬧的人群，也沒有喧囂的陣頭
有可能會隨著時代的變遷在不知不覺中流失
但根於台灣土地的堅持信念和在地人民的護祐
那是永遠不會變的…….

All the photos in this post are reposted with the permission of original author, YangPhoto.

You can see more photos of Plague God Boat Burning around Taiwan on flickr here.

In March, I reported about the debate on Statue of Rural Renewal that was about to be passed in Legislative Yuan. Given all the problems and controversies in the Statue, the Council of Agriculture had been pressured by a coalition of farmers, scholars, and social activists to organize more public hearings, in particular in rural areas for collecting more public opinions. However, these public hearings have been neglected by mainstream media, and the only way the public get to know the discussion and debate is via citizen journalists who have participated in the hearing and posted their reports at online platforms, such as dfun.com (zh) :

Citizen reports on public hearings

On April 21st, Kaohsiung County, citizen journalist Relax reported:

美濃林英清先生也表達公聽會並沒有達到政府資訊真正公開，他是自己上網下載條例看了五遍，認為條例中有許多問題，但是也無法在公聽會中表達意見。…

最後，李分局長似乎沒有聽到這些質疑的聲音，說出「今天民眾全都是支持農再條例」的結論準備總結高雄場公聽會，但台下馬上有民眾回應「哪裡有！」

The next day, in Hualien County, peggy reported:

開放發言的時間到了，看著現場許多聽不懂國語、不會寫字的老人家，我擔心不會寫發言條的他們，是否會有發言權？
果然，上台發言的幾乎全都是立委、議員、社區發展協會總幹事、村長。…

聽完一場不談農村再生發展條例內文，也沒有任何政府與民間對話與回應的公聽會，我跟阿公、阿嬤一樣，在離開時領了便當。

The bureaucratic and formalistic public hearings were under serious criticism online and finally President Ma Ying-jeou agreed to meet the anti-Statute activists in the Presidential Palace(zh) on April 29th. During the meeting, Ma required Chen Wu-siung (陳武雄) the Chief Councilor of the Council of Agriculture to review the whole Statute and post the revised Statute online “if necessary”.  However, nothing had really changed after the meeting and the majority of Legislative Yuan are determined to pass the Statute before May 20th, a day marked the inauguration anniversary of Ma's presidency.  Activists then initiated a “citizen public hearing” via webcast. They call this activity “3 small media Webcasting“:

LiveCast

苦勞網、台灣環境資訊協會是就是二小媒體，但三小媒體還有一小就是「你」。
第一次跨媒體合作將會在5月26日上午九點半，台北立法院現場進行網路直播，三小媒體也邀請公民記者、部落客、地方組織者、社區營造團隊一同參與「台北現場報導」或參與「地方端點直播」。
希望將辯論現場畫面傳送到農村與社區，你可以協助報導在地的聲音、將討論農再的心得繼續投稿民間媒體。 農再的討論不能只在官方辦的公聽會中草率結束，地方更可以以主動的方式，要求官方來地方辦公聽會，透過網路直播在一起檢視公共政策是否有問題？激盪起真正 「由下而上」的討論，非讓「由下而上」成為政府卸責的口號。

Farmers-activists also use twitter , stickeraction, justin.tv, and other social media to spread the above message.

However, recently president Ma faced a new wave of political crisis after the mass rally and over night sit-in protest against his China policies on 17th of May. Public attention might be directed to more dramatic political controversy rather than “regular law enactment”, like the Statute of Rural Renewal.

Songs and musics

Meanwhile an indie band, Hao-Ke (好客樂團) took another approach to raise public awareness of Taiwan's rural crisis. Members of the band are all farmers and they have recently entered the entrant list of the 20th Golden Melody Award on Best Bands. Indeed, the cultural approach is very effective.

Ecogoodies recommended Hao-Ke's album “Love to Eat Rice”:

這是我喜愛的一張專輯”愛吃飯”，是好客樂隊的主唱陳冠宇，在2006年離開喧囂的城市，走進台東池上的有機稻田，開始耕田計畫…

跟許多人一樣，我早早就離開生長的家鄉，自此在都市裡停留，家鄉的記憶也總是愈來愈遠。每次，感覺受傷或是失望的時候，就會想起家鄉空氣和土地的味道，讓我想要回到最先出發的地方，找到重新來過的力量。

Photo by Guan Yu, the vocal of Hao-Ke.

Hao-Ke described their feeling after they were nominated in the Award on their official blog:

現在我待在田裡的時間更多了，每天心繫著田地裡的植物，覺得心頭充實。金曲獎反而成了惱人的外務。我做音樂的目的不是為了金曲獎；但他的力量卻又那麼強，讓我不得不把它掛在心上，心情跟著它起起伏伏 …..

They started the experimental project of “rice coop” about 3 years ago. Ke Zhi-hao, the guitar player of Hao-Ke explained their idea and daily routine of the “rice cooperatives” on e-info.org:

我們在農田中演出，下田插秧除草，替稻米拍攝紀錄片，攥寫文章，攝影，寫歌，製作唱片，甚至將我們種的有機米，在台北女巫店演出時實地煮給來看演出的觀眾們一起享用

我們相信健全的市場機制是提供較多的選擇，可以使整個市場更強韌與增加彈性，生產者不再只有藉由仲介者來進行行銷，甚至可以選擇一半透過仲介者，另一半自己直購

The band uses wikimapia to show the location of their farmland, and encourage audiences and fans to join the cooperation.

Apart from Hao-Ke, bands like Country Boys (zh) and Sheng Xiang also convey their love, sorrow, and anger for the disappearing Taiwanese agriculture through their music. These bands and musicians also actively participate in street gatherings or protests against destructive agricultural policies and globalization.

Artists and activists in Taiwan are cooperating more and more frequently on various social issues though their influence is still weak when compared with the government and big corporates. But joint handedly, they make the civil society more vibrant .

Last but not the least, please listen to “I Don't Want to Be a Farmer Anymore”, a song full of anger depicting the erosion of Taiwanese agriculture and rural life, performed by Country Boys when they attended “Free Burma, Free Aung San Suu Kyi” concert last year.

Photo of Jian Yi-hao

What would you feel if you are fired,  your small business goes bankrupt, or you simply cannot find any way to make a living?

In this most disastrous moment of economic downturn, many Taiwanese are losing their jobs and helplessly waiting for for all the dreadful news to stop. Some begin to blame themselves for being unemployed. Business Weekly (商業週刊), one of Taiwan's most popular mainstream financial magazine shows this trend:

在台灣，就業市場也極嚴峻。勞委會估計，今年上半年，至少有九萬個正職工作消失，且今年七月畢業季，失業率將破六％，創歷年新高！

而對失業的恐懼感，甚至比實際的失業率還要高出好幾倍。

根據本刊和雅虎奇摩合作的網路民調顯示，近五成（四六．五％）民眾認為自己一年內可能被裁員。透過交叉分析更發現，就連碩、博士學歷者，也有四成以上認為自己可能被裁；而年齡越高，也越覺得自己會被裁。

不只如此，這份民調中，有近六成（五九．九％）民眾認為自己一旦被裁員，無法以現有技能在職場上獨立生存。其中，二十三歲到三十歲、三十一歲到四十歲者，認為自己難生存者超過六成。連碩士、博士學歷者，也有四成以上認為自己難生存。

The only solution offered by mainstream media is: be prepared to become a casual laborer and be ready to upgrade one's personal ability. For example, on Commonwealth Magazine: Who can give me a stable job?

全國的中高齡勞工都期待一支真正可以釣魚的魚竿，可以有尊嚴地工作，不必靠救濟金度日。

…and on United Daily News: Increase Personal Value by ACTION

「世界隨時在改變，你的『視界』也要隨之改變。」魏美蓉認為，自我鍛鍊成為「無可取代」的人，厚植個人的可雇用價值，而非技能的獨特性，逐步拉大與別人之間的距離，有朝一日，會找到職場的一片天。

However, to Jiang Yi-hao (江一豪), a worker and social activist, all these so-called solutions are nonsense. Jiang works in a remover company, writes for a left-wing citizen media Coolloud as a citizen reporter and fights for aborigines' living right as a Han Taiwanese.  In a speech he gave in Tzu Chi University, he argued against these popular nonsense. He carried on the discussion in his blog, “Life is a Fight”:

「有人說：一定要有『靠救濟是一種墮落』的心態，才能讓自己不失業。怨天尤人、把責任都推給別人，不如『活在當下』『先動起來最重要』。」我相信，正是這種說法，才讓台灣勞工陷於今天的一敗塗地。

「美國華爾街掀起的金融海嘯，已延伸為大失業潮，潮水覆蓋全球，從美洲、歐洲而亞洲，無一倖免。」這句被王發行人拿來為這篇文章破題的話，精確地點出至今讓許多工人失業的罪魁禍首——擁有金融資本的權貴們透過衍生性商品在市場上興風作浪，並在搜刮財富後，將整個泡沫爆裂的代價以大規模的失業，推給無力自保的勞工階層來苦吞這場遊戲的惡果。

如果引發這次大失業潮的許多不公不義，至今還未被好好地清算；過程中受害最深的工人階層，正因為無法被制度保護而陷於生死邊緣之際，憑什麼要相信「靠救濟是一種墮落」的心態，來確保自己不失業？

這是什麼道理？！

然而攤開每天每日的報章，這樣偏廢的言論卻不斷地充斥在大眾的眼耳間。就拿天下、遠見雜誌的樣版企業——台積電來說，光是這個(3)月就備受主流媒體以大量篇幅來款待，不論是蟬連「天下企業公民獎」的大型企業首獎、或是其執行長蔡力行列名巴隆金融週刊（Barron's）年度全球最受敬重的執行長，連因為短期訂單增加取消無薪假，都能成為頭條新聞。但台積電於此同時發生的勞資爭議，卻遲遲無法在主流媒體曝光(註2)。

台灣的失業工人之所以會獨自走向貧窮、燒炭的命運，很大部分正是因為我們長期把失業當成個別勞工的錯誤與罪過，卻錯失集體面對、思考制度結構嚴重缺損的問題。如何透過這次因權貴階級把玩資本遊戲，而讓無辜勞工承擔痛苦的大失業潮，讓大眾至少能在「失業不只是我的錯」這個共識下，思考並推動妥善處理失業創傷的制度療法，才是一個正確的理絡，絕對不該再走回高唱勞工自我調適、增值的老路上。

在那天結束慈濟大學的分享後，有些同學仍意猶未盡地伴著我跟另一位講者提出他們的問題與感想，其中有位同學跟我說著她那同樣作為搬運工人的父親，我記得自己說了下面這段話：「我們工人的每一分錢都是靠著自己血汗，清清白白賺來的，沒有一分是不勞而獲、不義之財。」最後我說，「所以我覺得，當個勞動者是很光榮的一件事。」

明明不是我們不夠努力，而是這個社會給予我們的認識與尊重，太少。