Internship in Academia Sinica Taiwan, “Engaged with Global Community”

July 25^th is my First time to see the sunrise in Formosa (Taiwan) land. I was in Taiwan for internship, starts from July to September 2010 in Research Center for Information Technology Innovation Academia Sinica Taiwan. This program is a part of cooperation between Academia Sinica and Mathematics Department, Syiah Kuala University. Every year start from 2009, 2 students will send to Taiwan to learn open source.

My first in the internship was memorable. In early morning I walked from my apartment to my office. Step foot on that morning much faster and enjoyable. I felt different on that morning, the spirit and my body condition is better than before. I walked like a teenager in Taiwan that runs with an upbeat style while listening to music with headset from my mobile phone. Indeed, the atmosphere that morning was not so oppressive because the streets wet with rain that came down, but the sweat still poured. Walked from my apartment to my office make me become more healthy and fit. I had to hurry, because I should get to the office on time. The day that I arrived in Taipei, Mr. Marr (my advisor in Taiwan) gave map to me, the map that show the direction where is my office.

Apparently here every vehicle running on the right, so I feel a little weird but fun.
After walking for 25 minutes, I arrived at the Information Science Institute building. The map showed the building is the place where I would intern. When the main doors opened automatically I asked the officer at the front desk what floor is for intern students.

That day I met lots of Taiwanese friends, because many researchers at the building said hello and we exchanged business cards. Tim is my mentor. He guided me during the internship. My first task is to learn about Media Wiki. They gave me a week's time to learn about Media Wiki, ranging from installation and modification. But in the afternoon I completed all of my tasks and Tim was very surprised and he confused what should I do next.

Internship in Taiwan is impressive. I had to adapt to new neighborhood. Actually the adaptation process was quite impressive. Tried to get used to with new habit and get used to new neighborhood where not all could run smoothly as I think and unexpected incident sometimes happen. I looked for the answer to make the condition remains stable. It wasn’t easy to get through all this, but I feel the power that was always pushed and watched me one of them is the power of prayer from my parents.

Taiwanese live in modern and advance city. In many cases they are really care about disabled persons, parents, pregnant women and small children. Other rules if you are not in hurry you should walk in right side and if you want to walk quickly you should take left side.

After one month on in Taiwan, experienced many things, there are few complaints and also amazed. I also have a chance to feel Ramadhan in Taiwan. At weekend in the first week of Ramdhan as usual, quite impressive, exhausted and full of challenge, of course accompanied by sore feet, yes .. Although the transportation here is adequate but we still have to walk to find info about transportation or the place we were going to visit. The most experience that really meaningful to me is I have chance to celebrate my Iedul Fitri in Taiwan. That was a first time I celebrated Iedul Fitri not in my home even not in my country. I felt little bit sad, regret and upset but when the day of Iedul Fitri I met lots of Indonesian friends and celebrated it with explore Taipei city.

ICOS 2010

When I was internship I also have a chance to follow International Conference on Open Source (ICOS) 2010, held from September 17-19, in Koahsiung, Taiwan. I was one of the invited speakers. My presentation is about partnership between Aceh and Taiwan Community. On that presentation I explained about Aceh province, Syiah Kuala University, and about Tsunami and earth quake that hit Aceh in December 26, 2004.

I also explain that immediately aids from Taiwanese came just after Tsunami and earth quake hit Aceh. The aids almost 200 tons includes food, clothes and daily needs and Taiwanese also builds many buildings and houses. The aids still continue till now and total of the aids more than 50 million US Dollar. And right now the biggest aids for Syiah kuala University is ICT buildings. The building is use for development ICT in Aceh, also becomes the place to teach computer for teachers. It cost 2 million US Dollars. The aids also come from ADOC, they give 20 computers and 20 laptops.

The partnership between Aceh and Taiwan community also gives chance for young talented Aceh student to internship in Academia Sinica. The program starts from 2009 till now. This program gives chance to Aceh student to learn open source, open their mind about Taiwanese culture and advance technology. They also have chance to communicate with other people and share ideas. Taiwan also sends their student from National Tsing Hua University. From 2008 till now they sent volunteers to teach open source in rural area in Aceh province. The program called E-Mate (E-Learning Medan Aceh Taiwan).

To conclude my presentation, in my opinion the partnership between Aceh and Taiwan community need improvements, because Taiwan and Aceh need each other to develop their country. They need community development to keep this condition such as discussion on mailing list or share with others people to let them now the condition. Taiwan also needs to engage with global community and strengthen the volunteers program. Taiwan needs Aceh because they have to learn about culture and let the Taiwanese communicate with global community with global language, not only mandarin.

Aceh also need help from Taiwan, student from Aceh have to continue their study in Taiwan, and also they need to strengthen the internship program, so Aceh student can learn more not only about open source but also Taiwanese culture.

In ICOS, I also have a chance to engage to global community because in ICOS lots participant from overseas, so we could know each other and had a warm discussions.

July 25^th is my First time to see the sunrise in Formosa (Taiwan) land. I was in Taiwan for internship, starts from July to September 2010 in Research Center for Information Technology Innovation Academia Sinica Taiwan. This program is a part of cooperation between Academia Sinica and Mathematics Department, Syiah Kuala University. Every year start from 2009, 2 students will send to Taiwan to learn open source.

My first in the internship was memorable. In early morning I walked from my apartment to my office. Step foot on that morning much faster and enjoyable. I felt different on that morning, the spirit and my body condition is better than before. I walked like a teenager in Taiwan that runs with an upbeat style while listening to music with headset from my mobile phone. Indeed, the atmosphere that morning was not so oppressive because the streets wet with rain that came down, but the sweat still poured. Walked from my apartment to my office make me become more healthy and fit. I had to hurry, because I should get to the office on time. The day that I arrived in Taipei, Mr. Marr (my advisor in Taiwan) gave map to me, the map that show the direction where is my office.

Apparently here every vehicle running on the right, so I feel a little weird but fun.
After walking for 25 minutes, I arrived at the Information Science Institute building. The map showed the building is the place where I would intern. When the main doors opened automatically I asked the officer at the front desk what floor is for intern students.

That day I met lots of Taiwanese friends, because many researchers at the building said hello and we exchanged business cards. Tim is my mentor. He guided me during the internship. My first task is to learn about Media Wiki. They gave me a week's time to learn about Media Wiki, ranging from installation and modification. But in the afternoon I completed all of my tasks and Tim was very surprised and he confused what should I do next.

Internship in Taiwan is impressive. I had to adapt to new neighborhood. Actually the adaptation process was quite impressive. Tried to get used to with new habit and get used to new neighborhood where not all could run smoothly as I think and unexpected incident sometimes happen. I looked for the answer to make the condition remains stable. It wasn’t easy to get through all this, but I feel the power that was always pushed and watched me one of them is the power of prayer from my parents.

Taiwanese live in modern and advance city. In many cases they are really care about disabled persons, parents, pregnant women and small children. Other rules if you are not in hurry you should walk in right side and if you want to walk quickly you should take left side.

After one month on in Taiwan, experienced many things, there are few complaints and also amazed. I also have a chance to feel Ramadhan in Taiwan. At weekend in the first week of Ramdhan as usual, quite impressive, exhausted and full of challenge, of course accompanied by sore feet, yes .. Although the transportation here is adequate but we still have to walk to find info about transportation or the place we were going to visit. The most experience that really meaningful to me is I have chance to celebrate my Iedul Fitri in Taiwan. That was a first time I celebrated Iedul Fitri not in my home even not in my country. I felt little bit sad, regret and upset but when the day of Iedul Fitri I met lots of Indonesian friends and celebrated it with explore Taipei city.

ICOS 2010

When I was internship I also have a chance to follow International Conference on Open Source (ICOS) 2010, held from September 17-19, in Koahsiung, Taiwan. I was one of the invited speakers. My presentation is about partnership between Aceh and Taiwan Community. On that presentation I explained about Aceh province, Syiah Kuala University, and about Tsunami and earth quake that hit Aceh in December 26, 2004.

I also explain that immediately aids from Taiwanese came just after Tsunami and earth quake hit Aceh. The aids almost 200 tons includes food, clothes and daily needs and Taiwanese also builds many buildings and houses. The aids still continue till now and total of the aids more than 50 million US Dollar. And right now the biggest aids for Syiah kuala University is ICT buildings. The building is use for development ICT in Aceh, also becomes the place to teach computer for teachers. It cost 2 million US Dollars. The aids also come from ADOC, they give 20 computers and 20 laptops.

The partnership between Aceh and Taiwan community also gives chance for young talented Aceh student to internship in Academia Sinica. The program starts from 2009 till now. This program gives chance to Aceh student to learn open source, open their mind about Taiwanese culture and advance technology. They also have chance to communicate with other people and share ideas. Taiwan also sends their student from National Tsing Hua University. From 2008 till now they sent volunteers to teach open source in rural area in Aceh province. The program called E-Mate (E-Learning Medan Aceh Taiwan).

To conclude my presentation, in my opinion the partnership between Aceh and Taiwan community need improvements, because Taiwan and Aceh need each other to develop their country. They need community development to keep this condition such as discussion on mailing list or share with others people to let them now the condition. Taiwan also needs to engage with global community and strengthen the volunteers program. Taiwan needs Aceh because they have to learn about culture and let the Taiwanese communicate with global community with global language, not only mandarin.

Aceh also need help from Taiwan, student from Aceh have to continue their study in Taiwan, and also they need to strengthen the internship program, so Aceh student can learn more not only about open source but also Taiwanese culture.

In ICOS, I also have a chance to engage to global community because in ICOS lots participant from overseas, so we could know each other and had a warm discussions.

Membidik Universitas di Taiwan

Pada sabtu 09 september 2010 kemarin digelar pameran perguruan tinggi di Taiwan. Bertempat di Academic Activity Center Dayan Dawood Universitas Syiah Kuala Aceh, Indonesia. Rombongan yang terdiri dari sekitar 88 orang ini berasal dari 38 universitas top di Taiwan. Mereka datang ke Aceh untuk mempromosikan universitas di Taiwan kepada rakyat Aceh. Tak luput juga ikut dalam rombongan Menteri Pendidikan Taiwan dan juga dari Elite Study In Taiwan (ESIT).

Acara yang dibuka langsung oleh Sekretaris Pemerintah Aceh ini dikunjungi oleh masyarakat Aceh yang terdiri dari pelajar, mahasiswa, dosen dan masyarakat umum. Pameran yang diadakan hanya satu hari ini dikunjungi oleh ribuan rakyat aceh. Rakyat Aceh sangat antusias mengikuti pameran ini. Pengamatan dari penulis hingga pukul dua siang hampir seluruh brosur yang ada di stan-stan universitas habis diboyong oleh pengunjung. Kebanyakan dari pengunjung menanyakan tentang program yang ditawarkan di setiap universitas serta beasiswa yang disediakan oleh universitas atau pemerintah. Bahkan ada seorang bapak yang datang ke salah satu stan universitas berkata “saya menanyakan informasi ini bukan untuk saya, tapi untuk anak saya yang tidak bisa datang kesini”.

Kebanyakan dari pengunjung yang merupakan akademisi seperti dosen ataupun mahasiswa rata-rata sudah membidik satu universitas di Taiwan sebagai tempat untuk melanjutkan studinya, mereka memilih berdasarkan keunggulan universitas di bidang yang digeluti ataupun berdasarkan beasiswa yang di tawarkan ada juga yang memilih berdasarkan jumlah mahasiswa Indonesia yang ada di universitas tersebut. Namun, ada yang kurang dari kehadiran universitas-universitas dari Taiwan yaitu ketidak hadrian National Taiwan University Science and Technology (NTUST). Memang sebagian dari mahasiswa Aceh sudah membidik universitas ini sebagai tempat melanjutkan S2 atau S3 dan mereka menanyakan ketidak hadiran NTUST dalam pameran kali ini, mungkin di NTUST sudah terlalu banyak mahasiswa Indonesianya bahkan Aceh sehingga rakyat Aceh dapat memilih universitas lainnya yang tak kalah bagusnya.

Pameran ini merupakan pameran yang pertama sekali di gelar di Aceh bahkan Indonesia. Setelah berkunjung ke Aceh selanjutnya rombongan dari Taiwan akan berangkat menuju Jakarta untuk melakukan pameran yang serupa di dua universitas berbeda di pulau jawa. “kami hanya mempunyai kesempatan untuk tinggal selama 8 hari di Indonesia, setelah itu kami langsung kembali ke Taiwan. Tapi kami sangat senang bisa berkunjung dan tinggal selama beberapa hari di Aceh, kami berharap bisa kembali ke Aceh lagi dan dapat mengunjungi tempat-tempat wisata di Aceh” sela Annabel yang berasal dari Kaohsiung Medical University.

kita berharap bahwa kedepan pameran ini terus diadakan setiap tahun dan mengalami peningkatan tiap tahunnya, seperti diadakannya pemeran univeristas-universitas dari Negara lain sehingga rakyat Aceh dapat memilih untuk melanjutkan studinya di universitas manapun, sehingga semakin banyaknya rakyat Aceh yang berpendidikan semakin bagus pula taraf hidup masyarakat, ini merupakan investasi jangka panjang bagi pemerintah Aceh, dan inilah sebenarnya hal yang dilakukan oleh Negara-negara maju untuk menyelamatkan dan menciptakan generasi penerus negara mereka. Semoga kerjasama ini terus berlangsung dan semakin banyak rakyat Aceh yang melanjutkan studinya demi membangun Aceh tercinta.

Mewakili dari pihak panitia penulis ingin mengucapkan banyak terima kasih kepada pemerintah Taiwan atas kerjasama yang baik ini dan semoga terus terjalin di masa yang akan datang. Penulis juga mengharapkan kepada rombongan dari Taiwan menikmati kunjungannya ke Aceh dan Indonesia, semoga yang terkenal bukan hanya pulau Bali, tapi Aceh juga menjadi tujuan wisata bagi turis-turis mancanegara di masa yang akan datang. Kunjungan ini juga menunjukkan kepada pihak international bahwa daerah aceh aman dan nyaman untuk di kunjungi oleh siapapun.

Taiwan Higher Education Fair 2010

On Saturday 09 September 2010 The Taiwan Higher Education Fair 2010 was held. Located at the Academic Activity Center, Dayan Dawood Syiah Kuala University in Aceh, Indonesia. About 88 Taiwanese representatives from 38 top universities in Taiwan include The Ministry of education of Taiwan and also from the Elite Study in Taiwan (ESIT) came to Aceh to promote the university in Taiwan to the Aceh people.

The event was opened by the Secretary of the Government of Aceh. The exhibition visited by people of Aceh consisting of students, university students, lecturers and the civil society. The exhibition was held just one day and visited by thousands of people of Aceh. The visitors were enthusiastic to visit the exhibition. Until two o'clock almost the entire brochures in the university stands run out, the visitors brought it as much as they could. Most of the visitors asked about the programs offered at each university and also about scholarships provided by universities or local government. There was a father who came to one of the university stand and said "I am asking this information is not for me but for my child who could not come here."

Most of the visitors that came from university in Aceh such as lecturers or students, they already had a target which one of the university in Taiwan will be the place to continue their studies, they choose based on the field that they are focus on or based on the scholarship that offered by the university or based on the number of Indonesian students that studying in the university. However, all of the universities attract the visitors, seems like the visitors want to study in every university in Taiwan.

This exhibition is the first exhibition held in Aceh and even Indonesia. After promote their universities in Aceh the group of Taiwan will go to Jakarta to hold a similar exhibition at two different universities on Java Island. "We only have opportunity to stay for 8 days in Indonesia, after that we will come back to Taiwan. But we are very pleased to visit and stay for several days in Aceh, we hope we have a chance to visit Aceh again, and see beautiful places in Aceh "said Annabel, that come from Kaohsiung Medical University.

We hope that this exhibition is held annually every year and increase every year, such as the number of universities that promote in Aceh will increase and also we hope universities from other countries also promote in Aceh so that the people of Aceh could choose any university to continue their studies. So it will be more and more people of Aceh could get better education, this is a long-term investment for the government of Aceh, and this is the real thing done by developed countries to save and create the next generation to lead their country. We hope this cooperation continues and support the people of Aceh to continue their studies in order to build our beloved country.

As a committee, author wants to say a big thank you to the Taiwan government for the good cooperation and hopefully this cooperation will continue in the future. Author also expects the group from Taiwan enjoyed their visit to Aceh and Indonesia, hopefully the Taiwanese not only know about Bali Island but also Aceh will be the destination for Taiwanese and foreign tourists in the future. These visits also prove to the international that Aceh Province is safe and comfortable to visit by anyone.