Can I also access it afterwards if I need go over something?
Cool. It’s good to be...
Thank you...
Great. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. This is a profile that’s going to be published in a French magazine called "Causette." It’s a women’s magazine in France that’s interested in gender issues. I’m going to be asking you questions very generally about your life.
Maybe we can start with you telling me a bit about your childhood, where did you grow up? Can you tell me a bit about that?
Would you say Taiwan is a place you call home, it feels the most like...?
No? [laughs]
[laughs]
As a child you lived in Europe for how many years was that? As a child, when you were in Europe, how many years?
That was in Germany?
Why were you in Europe?
I heard that you decided to stop school at 12, is that right? Why, what was the...?
How did you first start getting interested in coding? Did you remember the first time you really found out about it?
Yes, I read about that. You actually drew everything, like all the formulas and what the outcomes would be on paper?
Do you remember what actually drew you to coding initially? What was the appeal for you?
How did you first put into practice, what were first things you created basically?
How old were you when you did it?
After that, how did you move on from that? You created a startup, right?
What kind of startup was it?
How long did you stay with that startup?
After that, what was the next step?
Come back to something you were saying when you went back to university. What sorts of insights that that provide you on the behaviors we see online? What did you understand...?
What did it lead you to understand about how people behave online?
To get back to the second startup with Acer, how did it move on from that?
Like which ones?
When did that start you said?
2010. I’ve heard that from 2011 or so, you decided to retire and in brackets. [laughs]
2014.
Could you tell me a bit about that? When was the first time you got involved with the civil society and public sector?
When the ‑‑ I don’t know how to say it ‑‑ gov‑zero.
G0v. Can you tell me a bit about that? How did that start?
The aim here is, really, to take the information that’s there and make it understandable.
Has it had some affects? Has the government taken into account some...?
Is it focused on the budget, or has there also been other types of policies and things that would explain in this way?
Do you have an example within the budgets of one point that was discussed very strongly and then something has changed?
How do people in Taiwan react to this? Are they very receptive? Just that do they really want to take part or has there been a lot of...?
To what extent do you feel that the philosophy that problems on the Internet is being translated in civic or political affairs through all these kinds of initiatives? Is it the same philosophy that...?
How can you use artificial intelligence to take inputs that are not verbal? How does that work?
What about taking into account people’s non‑verbal expressions?
What about your current post, how did that come about? How were you approached, what was the process?
When did you start?
What are you main tasks?
What are your main projects for the next few months? What are you planning to do?
What is the situation in Taiwan? There was the Sunflower Movement. How is that working out? Is it still ongoing?
Back in Hong Kong, do you feel they are inspired by it?
Is this situation still quite tense with some people from the movement and the new government or are they very much behind the new government?
Could you talk a bit about your decision to change gender? When did you decide that? How did you know that was something you wanted to do?
Did you feel that more and more young people think like that? I was living in America before and it feels like it’s a big movement, now. There are lot of people who just decide that gender is not relevant. Is that like that, here in Taiwan?
This radical demand for free expression, is that something that started after ’89? That’s when it really started to not go back?
What’s the role of China in all of this? How does it try to influence Taiwan and go against this free expression? I know in Hong Kong they are not really allowed to do what they want.
