annotated list of previous websites designed, for organisations and projects

O R G A N I S A T I O N S


• Birzeit University, December 1995-present - Construction on this site has been constant since December 1995, although the site wasn't publicly launched until June 1996. www.birzeit.edu offers brief information about the university and wider Palestinian society. Birzeit's website is a long-term project which will offer a mixture of both current news about the university via the Birzeit News section as well as historical archives of main university publications and photographs. Department pages have been constructed independently. The design has evolved considerably since the launch, and is still evolving, slowly, pending the hiring of a second staff member. Some of the websites below form autonomous parts of the Birzeit site.
  
  
• Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Christmas 1996 - The Holy Sepulchre website, including the research associated with the "significant dates and events" page, was designed and constructed in 5 days due to time restraints imposed by the inauguration of the new rotunda on 2 January 1997. Fortunately, an excellent visual record already existed of the renovations, which made life a lot easier. The colours of the website are based on the colours someone sees when looking up at the inside of the Dome in the early evening. It would have been nice to put navigation buttons on it but 5 days didn't really permit for much scope for detailed creativity.
  
  
• RIWAQ Centre for Architectural Conservation, March 1996 - The RIWAQ website was established as a free demo, using their calander of Palestinian tiles and a project brochure about Nablus. An early website which remains as RIWAQ's virtual brochure, there is plenty I would change/add, but time for pro bono work has lessened as the Birzeit website and other projects have grown and RIWAQ have not yet budgeted for Web publishing.
  
  

P R O J E C T S


• A Personal Diary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, December 1995-present - Launched simultaneously with the Birzeit University website in June 1996, this is a regularly-updated photodiary of the conflict from "on the ground" in the West Bank, focusing particularly on the experiences of the Palestinian university community of Birzeit, in the period after the Oslo 2 agreement. The site is being slowly worked over a period of time so that the navagation is better, offering sections such as the Hebron Redeployment and Abu Ghnaim diaries, as well as a chronological list of all entries. This website gave us the idea for the On the ground in Ramallah website (reviewed below), constructed under duress during the September 1996 clashes. A Personal Diary is significant because there is no other existing, ongoing, available or local record on the Web of what life is like here. Other features include reports from the redeployment from Ramallah, some of the first photographs from inside a Palestinian prison, and an account of the day Birzeit students confronted Arafat in Ramallah. The diary has won a few awards, including from the Jewish Communications Network.
  
  
• The Complete Guide to Palestine's Websites, June 1996-present - Palestine's answer to Yahoo!, the Complete Guide is attracting increasing attention, and was recommended in the Hebron Redeployment coverage of the New York Times Online. The Complete Guide exists to offer links to and reviews of websites of organisations and individuals located in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as a means of tracking the development of the Internet here. There are currently around 85 discovered websites in Palestine. The Complete Guide acts as the Palestine WWW Virtual Library section of the Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library maintained at the Australian National University. In progress since June 1996, the website has seen major design changes. Features a site of the month "where it's at" section and the beginnings of a guide to websites about, but not based in, Palestine.
  
  
• On the ground in Ramallah, September/October 1996 - As clashes errupted across the West Bank and Gaza after the Netanyahu government opened a tunnel in the Old City of Jerusalem, Ramallah, in common with other Palestinian towns, was beseiged by Israeli tanks and helicopters. Palestinians were wounded in huge numbers after widespread Israeli use of live ammunition, and one of our students was left brain dead. We made this website to tell the story from "on the ground" - that is - free from the filters of Israeli and international media. I did the website design, the collection of local links and the photo diary. Other contributers are credited in the "people involved in the construction of this website" link at the bottom of all main pages. Despite having to construct the website on inadequate equipment, it worked! We had 3,000 visits in about 10 days and the total number of monthly visitors to Birzeit's website jumped from 2,000 to 5,000. The funding appeal for equipment posted on the site had raised over US$15,000 in the first nine months in equipment and financial donations. Media coverage of this site was widespread.
  
  
• September 1996 Memorial, September 1997 - A year after On the Ground in Ramallah, a group of Birzeit, ex-Birzeit and non-Birzeit people began a project to put the life stories of the 88 Palestinians on the Web. Teams of volunteers travelled around the West Bank and Gaza Strip to visit the families and friends of those killed. An unusal site, because it aimed to challenge Palestinian society's treatment of 'martyrs', as well as provide faces to the statistice. A week's design and HTML work, Java-enhanced design and Real Audio music. The design is based on the website of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, who was ultimately responsible for the clashes. A stormcloud theme background and handwriting font offered a balance between the seriousness of the 88 deaths and the light that those who died brought to their families and friends.
  
  

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