Legend has it that King Solomon had a ring that allowed him to talk to birds, beasts, insects, fish and nature. To allow a dialogue to be carried out with Taiwan’s  mountains and ocean, this year the National Science Council has released the Natural Formosa science popularization website, turning PTV documentaries into an interactive database that tells the story of 12 Taiwanese scientists and describes their scientific research journey, featuring forest, rock, ocean, climate, natural disaster, ecology, environmental protection, anthropology and culture related knowledge. The website contains 200 precious films, 2000 HD photographs. 110,000 words of scientific knowledge, 12 science popularization teaching plans, interviews with experts and on-site scientific records; it received the assistance of 30 scientific institutions and was participated in by 100 scientists and is in Chinese, English and Japanese, showing Taiwan’s scientific research, natural ecology, rare species and cultural landscape to the world.

Upon entering the website, an island seems to rise from the seabed, and butterflies, forest and other images circle Taiwan. The current position will be immediately shown when the icon is moved to the image map and, by clicking it, the themed page can be entered. Taking Qilanshan/Forest Mist for example, the image that appears after clicking is stunning. The lower part is divided into scientific knowledge, character stories, local history, travel information, each teaching the user about the forest ecology, through integration, arranging and situation creation, learning is made fun.  

http://www.naturalformosa.nccu.edu.tw

http://vimeo.com/29708093