Portnoy Zheng

Latest posts by Portnoy Zheng

Taiwan: Lying Girls

  28 April 2011

After Japan's flying girl, here come Taiwan's lying girls. The Lying Girls will show you a really, totally, different way of viewing Taiwan…Come lie together!

Taiwan: Start-ups Ask “Where's the Love, Government?”

  5 April 2011

As an CEO of a new start-up, Alex shares his feeling about the indifference of Taiwan government toward start-ups[zht]. He admires the positive policies of Singapore and US that encourage and welcome foreign start-ups. While wondering that is it “not-loving-Taiwan” if start-ups leave Taiwan for survival and for better global...

Taiwan: Curating Japan Disaster Situation

  18 March 2011

The Association of Digital Culture, Taiwan(ADCT) starts to curate and translate latest information from Japanese and English into Chinese[zht] in order to provide worried Taiwanese netizens a trustworthy source of information upon the media turbulence. They have done the same effort in 2009 when Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan.  (Disclosure: I...

Taiwan: Reflection on Japan Earthquake

  12 March 2011

When the 5th strongest earthquake ever recorded hit Japan yesterday, Taiwanese were also shocked. Taiwan and Japan share a lot of geological similarity and both countries are very vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquake and typhoon.

Taiwan: How to Get Your Facebook Back

  9 March 2011

Recently, Facebook suspended or closed many Taiwanese users’ profiles or pages, including some celebrities’, due to claimed misuse or using pseudo/nicknames. Billy Pan explains his experience in 2009 and how he got his account back.

Taiwan: Social Media Makes Indigenous Voices Loud and Clear

  9 March 2011

Stories about the Taiwanese indigenous population's struggle for identity, sustainability and dignity are missing from the country's public sphere, as a result of relative social and political domination by the majority Han Chinese population. Now, thanks to social media, indigenous youth are making their voices heard and reconnecting with their traditions.

Taiwan:Is Central News Agency Censoring China's Jasmine Revolution?

  22 February 2011

The National News Agency-Central News Agency of Taiwan is suspected to censor related news about China's Jasmine Revolution yesterday. Jou Ying-Cheng, blogger and former reporter of CNA, accused CNA for not syndicating the second and further interview with Tan Lan-Yin(談蘭英)’ son due to political sensitivity, and such news blocking has...

Taiwan: Women's role in free and open source software movement

  9 February 2011

WoFOSS (Women in Free and Open Source Software in Taiwan) is a community of females in free and open software development and movement. Traditionally, in the field of information/engineering, men are always in charge, however, for many years, women have been stepping in from various directions, including developers, promoters, or...

Taiwan: Animal protection “cockroaches” on Facebook

  30 January 2011

Boogier warns facebook users to think twice before clicking “like” or “share” button on those pitiful stories and photos of stray dogs and poor dog carers. He criticizes this kind of tactics used to allure people by fake animal protectors-who he'd rather call “cockroaches”, and argues that more dogs are mistreated because of...

Taiwan: Ma Ying-jeou on Facebook

  28 January 2011

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan(Republic of China) opens his official facebook fan page today. At the “About” session it says that the goal of the fan page “…is not to be trendy, but to exchange ideas with all of you, share experiences through wall posts, think together, click ‘like’ for...

Taiwan: Dacheng Wetland, not a wetland?

  25 January 2011

Citizen journalist Zhu Shu-juan(朱淑娟) reports that even though all reviewers from the Wetland Review Committee of the Ministry of Interior suggested Dacheng Wetland in Changhua County to be listed as national or even international wetland, due to resistance from local politicians and consortia who support petrochemical project to be built there,...

Taiwan: Greenpeace member arrested

  24 January 2011

Tipsuda Atichakaro, a Thai member of Greenpeace's flagship Rainbow Warrior, was arrested in the first protest in Taiwan during the ship's East Asia tour to protect the ocean. Taiwan environmental activist wobblies67 tweets that “…a member was arrested by the police and is now under investigation at District Prosecutors Office. Our lawyer friend says...

Taiwan: Don't be a lousy traveler

  19 January 2011

Blogger Mochadango(抹茶糰子) who lives in Kyoto, Japan, condemns the ignorance and nearly-criminal acts(zht) of a Taiwanese traveler who recently took photos and videos of other travelers while taking a hot spring bath during his tour in Japan, though he claimed to have permission. The traveler(screen name:we5376301) uploaded the photos and...

Taiwan bloggers on Wikileaks

  12 December 2010

Schee, project owner of Hopendata, calls for more attention on Wikileaks by hosting an event on Dec.22 about “Wikileaks and Freedom of the Internet” while setting up a mirror site at “wikileaks.com.tw“.  On the other hand, Influential blogger Billypan builds the Taiwanese version of Wikileaks that aims to crowd-translate the 3,456...

Taiwan: Blogger initiate “It gets better” campaign in Taiwan

  2 December 2010

Wikipedian, blogger, and gay right activist mingwangx vows to initiate “it gets better” campaign in Taiwan in his new post[zht]. He was shocked and saddened by yesterday's news about “two Taiwanese 16 year-old college lesbians committed suicide because their families had been asking them to break up”, and he thinks...

Taiwan: National dignity hurt in the Asian Games

  19 November 2010

On November 17, leading Taiwanese Taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun was disqualified from the 2010 Asian Games during a match with a Vietnamese competitor for “wearing non-certified electronic foot equipment” or “electronic socks”. The incident has stirred up a lot of emotions in Taiwan.

Taiwan: The Na'vi in “Avatar” Join the Fight against Petrochemical Plant

  12 November 2010

The native blue giants “Na'vi” who fought with colonization armies from the earth in the blockbuster movie “Avatar” has become the spiritual symbol of young environmentalists and students in Taiwan who stand against the Kuo-Kuang Petrochemical project in Changhua County. A march against Kuo-Kuang will take place on 11/13, and...

Taiwan: Reporting on Autumn Struggle 2010

  10 November 2010

The Annual Autumn Struggle(秋鬥) was held on 11/7 this year, more than 1000 people from various minority groups and social activists organizations-migrant workers, indigenous tribes, HIV+ patients, sex workers, environmentalists, and farmers deprived of their lands-joined the march together. CivilMedia's video report summarized demands from different groups[zht] while Coolloud's photo report captured...

Taiwan: Open data, open failure

  9 November 2010

Zonble demonstrates many failed examples of how Taiwanese government spend money on creating useless, difficult and empty “open data” websites of crime information[zht]. As an iPhone app developer, he also criticizes the government for over-emphasizing on soft and promotional apps like “flora expo guide”, but not apps for crime information...

Taiwan:Typhoon Megi Breaks Rainfall Record

  22 October 2010

Zhong Sheng-siung (鐘聖雄) on citizen media “88news.org” is now reporting and uploading first-hand photos from Su-ao in Yilan county where Typhoon Megi has brought more than 1400 mm in just two days. In his post are photos of flooded Su-ao town and rescuers trying to find missing people in a...