Creating a Maine Craft Heritage Trail in Cyberspace

Phase II efforts focus on the actual creation of a content-rich, multimedia web site featuring a fully functional and activated western Maine craft heritage trail. This virtual trail is designed to systematically enhance the marketing opportunities and income of creative rural producers who are geographically located on or adjacent to the trail. At the conclusion of Phase II, this concept prototype will undergo beta testing and be ready for review by potential investors and full commercialization on a national scale. The site will serve as a state-of-the-art regional portal with the intention of replicating this model at selected rural locations throughout the U.S. This site anticipates the mass consumer utilization of broadband communications and integration of next stages of computing and information technology. The site will be designed to be engaging, streamlined, user-friendly, readily accessible, highly informative, well-managed--and profitable within five to seven years. Its continuously updated and fresh content will feature artistic/crafts, heritage, scenic, and geographic highlights of the region, which invite self-selected regional explorations, personal interactions, and e-commerce transactions from heritage tourists and craft buyers in the U.S. And abroad.