A Creative Challenge

Thought I should write something about the work I'm actually doing out here and give you some indication as to how we are getting on with the website.

Some of this may be pretty dull stuff for most of my readers and for those that have worked with me on web projects in the past it will probably raise some hoots of hollow laughter.

Things have gone surprisingly well so far. I was told to expect the worst but the worst hasn't happened.

I have a brand new PC, scanner, colour printer all hooked up to a dial up modem which can be really slow or REALLY REALLY SLOW . However with the introduction of a download accelerator (thanks Jason) I have now managed to download a surprisingly comprehensive set of web site design/construction tools - nearly all of them free and open source .

So I now have the tools to start work.

Some of my professional colleagues will know that I have something of an aversion to writing detailed Functional Specs or PIDs (Project Initiation Documents) and that usually I am unable to follow any discernible project methodology. However they will be surprised to know that on this project after only two weeks we have a clear statement of the site's objectives, a high level time based plan and a detailed PID !!!

Am already working on the Art Direction (snorts of derision from those that know my talents' do not lie in the graphic design area) and its coming along ok. Have produced an early set of wireframes and will be presenting them to the other members of the Handicrafts Group Management Team next week - that will be fun since none of them have ever seen a wireframe before and most of them are only just getting used to email.

However the real challenge is not technical - it very rarely is.

What I want to do is to develop a website that is much more than just an online catalogue of our products. It needs to tell the stories of the struggles that the women have in their lives. It has to bring a human dimension to the table. I'm working on a theme along the lines of "A bilum is not just a bag". Here in PNG it is a cultural icon, inextricably woven into the social and cultural fabric of this fascinating country. People write songs and poems about their bilums. They are tokens of love, reminders of home, holders of magic and symbols of wealth and position. For many they are memories of lost childhoods - most babies in the Highlands sleep comfortably in a Bilum rather than a cradle or are carried in one on their mother's back.

Can we actually build something that serves the utilitarian purpose of a catalogue but also has the appropriate emotional and human dimensions too?. Something practical yet beautiful - like a bilum.

My Bilum

A Sonnet by Travertz Mabone

Not in a cradle

Being rocked to sleep

It was a bilum

I laid fast asleep

Papa and bubu

Everyone in too

With colours and designs

So plentiful and fine

Marks my heritage

Something I call mine

For kaikai and buai

Baby rock-a-bye

Where's my bilum

I have something inside

Bubu - grandparents

Kaikai - food/eat

Buai - Betel nut