Shine without polish

So after promising to upload young people's work onto the Shine 2010 website and get involved in celebrating the talents of our children, I receive a message today notifying me that the DfE has withdrawn funding so no website, no upload, and no home access for parents to see their child's work.

Which begs the question, How to shine without polish?  I guess we've all got used to 'free' web-based services and organisations supporting our work through gov't funding.  But times have changed.  One day there's a site to upload to; the next day it's gone.

I try to be optimistic and look for the positive in most situations, and am reminded of the old 'necessity is the mother of all invention' line.  Sounds good but many inventions come out of expensive R & D labs, so there might be a rose tint to that one. . .

Nevertheless, there could be some potential here for a real change in behaviour where at last young people are encourage to become creators not only of content but of the hosting technology itself.  The drive to shine a finished product can overcome the absence of on off-the-shelf solution.  By experimenting and asking around we can generally find the key components and move from dependent consumer to empowered producer/hoster.