Yogyakarta goes online to market handicrafts<\/p>\n
Tarko sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Experiencing difficulty in marketing traditional handicraft
\nproducts, the Yogyakarta Craft Council decided it was about time
\nthey promoted the industry online.<\/p>\n
\"I think the time has come for us to use modern technology to
\nmarket our products, as the main supplier of the country's
\nhandicrafts,\" said the council's chairwoman, GKR Hemas, the wife
\nof Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono.<\/p>\n
The council's first step was to set up a website with a
\ndigital catalog and provide information in the form of an
\ninteractive CD-ROM, VCD profile and multimedia kiosk.<\/p>\n
Both the digital information products as well as the website's
\nmanagement have been produced by Thinknolimits, a division of the
\nPT Misty Total Media multimedia company, and will be launched on
\nSept. 12 this year. The launching will be in concurrence with the
\nGelar Seni and Budaya Yogyakarta festival, scheduled to run Sept.
\n12-14.<\/p>\n
\"But people can already access the website,\" said
\nThinknolimits' Nenden Novianti Fatiastuti.<\/p>\n
The website (www.jogjacraftcouncil.com) will be updated every
\nfour months. It includes the council's profile and directory as
\nwell as scheduled events and handicraft exhibitions. There is
\nalso a discussion of the trends in handicrafts, other related
\nnews and a catalog of the council's products.<\/p>\n
The council intends to make it easier for the public to access
\nthe website, it plans to link it with the official website of the
\nWorld's Craft Council (www.wwcwis.gr).<\/p>\n
Hemas said the council's decision to use modern technology to
\nmarket and promote handicrafts was in line with the government's
\ndecision to enter the global market, as part of an agreement with
\nthe World Trade Organization.<\/p>\n
\"Yogyakarta's economy is dominated by middle and lower scale
\nindustries. It cannot avoid global development. That's why we
\nhave to come up with strategic ways to keep up,\" Hemas said.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, he said, the new method would boost the sale of
\ntraditional handicrafts, especially internationally.<\/p>\n
\"At present, 75,000 workers are employed in the Yogyakarta
\nhandicraft industry, which generates an export value of some
\nUS$110 million a year. That amount excludes the figures that are
\nnot recorded by the provincial administration, since many of them
\n(the products) are also exported through other provinces,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"I do hope the use of modern information technology will truly
\nboost the development of the industry here and at the same time
\nimprove the welfare of the people whose life depends on it. I
\nalso hope this has a good impact on the tourism industry.\"<\/p>\n
Governor Hamengkubuwono, who is also a Sultan and the King of
\nYogyakarta, expressed similar hopes, saying that the Bali bombing
\nnot only destroyed Bali's economy but Yogyakarta's as well.<\/p>\n
\"The bombing made us realize that we depended so much on Bali
\nto market our handicraft products,\" he said. He added that nearly
\n60 percent of Yogyakarta's handicrafts were sold in Bali.<\/p>\n
He said it was about time Yogyakarta accessed the global
\nmarket. Turning the province's Adisucipto Airport into an
\ninternational airport, to allow the direct entrance of tourists
\nand prospective investors, was another dream of his.<\/p>\n
\"We have to start using modern technology to market our
\nproducts. It's not the time for us to insist on using
\ntraditional, conventional ways only,\" the Governor said.<\/p>",
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