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Reluctant Web Awards
Most Useful Website - www.expat.or.id
November 2001

This website is a prime example of usefulness just for the sheer amount and variety of information vital to expats and other residents in Indonesia. The more ready-to-go-native bules (those people who don't even consider the term negative) will scoff at some parts and say "chill out and just live here!"

But for those who find life here daunting, the community website hits the mark. It offers general information about the country, information on schools, medical facilities, community organizations and everything else under the bright and sometimes harsh sun. It even recommends local publication such as the "capital's first and only comprehensive city mag - which offers a whole slew of funky junk." (hint: starts with a 'd' and ends with 'jakarta')

It scores really low on web structure, though. Pusing! It's more semrawut than a pasar kaget in Monas on a Saturday night. Please, the site is just crying for someone to organize it. The hopelessness of finding something here also exaggerates the rather amateurish design. So room for improvement here on an otherwise excellent site.

Another possible pitfall is the tendency of such sites to become too much of an oasis implicitly encouraging foreigners to mix with the same flock and hardly ever actually touching the lives of Indonesians except their pembantus and drivers. Hope this one doesn't.

Our response to djakarta! the city life magazine

Thanks a million for the "Most Useful Website" designation awarded (however reluctantly ;) to the Living in Indonesia web site (www.expat.or.id) in the anniversary edition of djakarta! the city life magazine.

Just as your team has endeavored to put together a magazine that reaches the information needs of a niche market in Indonesian society, our committee members have spent the last four and a half years striving to meet the information needs of the diverse expatriate community in Indonesia in order to smooth their "daunting" transition to living in Indonesia. It's encouraging for us all to see our efforts recognized in this way!

Your constructive criticism of the site is much appreciated. We are in fact taking steps to launch a new site design. It will still be low-tech (which does not mean amateurish ;) as our committee doesn't equate javascript/flash/etc. with web site excellence. Content is king ... and that's where our focus is ... in providing the information people need in a quick-to-download format. With over 500 articles we have grown far beyond our wildest dreams and a navigation update is undoubtedly overdue ... as you noticed.

We are grateful for your comments and the spirit in which they were given ... as a prod and encouragement to improve the existing site so that we can help more newcomers achieve a successful transition to their new lives in Indonesia.

Congratulations on your first anniversary ... we look forward to more great issues of djakarta! in the future.

All the best,
--
Danielle Surkatty
Member of the Organizing Committee
Living in Indonesia, A Site for Expatriates
http://www.expat.or.id

To our web site readers:

The Organizing Committee of the Living in Indonesia web site sincerely does welcome constructive criticism. We were pleased to be awarded this award ... and their comments on the site got us thinking (as they should). We have come up with a plan to improve navigation ... which will take some time to implement ... but your input, as always, is welcome!

We will also come up with a new look for the site ... though we definitely will not incorporate a bunch of Javascript, animation or flash to jazz up the site. We want our articles to download as quickly as possible ... and all the techno-garbage doesn't assist in that goal at all!

Your comments on the development of this web site are always welcome ... just contact us

A new design with navigation buttons and search boxes on every page was launched in early 2002 ... to address the deficiencies pointed out in this award/review!