P E O P L E P O I N T S

Is the ICT profession ready for the 18th Century?

2010-05-19T17:19:00.008+12:00

Catching Up
This post is by way of a pit stop for regular visitors to PeoplePoints - of which - to my blushing astonishment there seems to be more and more. In any event, this last fortnight has been a bit of a whistle stop tour of New Zealand, and I have been conscious that my visits here have been a little episodic. So call this the catch up.

NZ Computer Society - lecture/presentation series.
First up, I have been on on one of NZCS national series when they invite people to come and share their thoughts with NZCS regional branches. I chose to offer some thoughts on Open Data - and its potential, especially from an ICT perspective.

And so, this last 10 days I have been in Dunedin, Christchurch, Hamilton, Auckland, closing off in Wellington last night.

Is the ICT profession ready for the 18th Century?
The presentation opened with a speculative challenge as to whether we - that's anyone involved in boot-strapping the next phase of the Internet as an open digital public space - are in touch with the historical parallels of the 18th Enlightenment and of how the subsequent gold seams of science and technology came about in part by, in addition to the long march to democracy, embedding public education and literacy as a key public good?

Developing 21st century digital public literacy
Turning to current challenges, my thesis was/is that the current definition/policy frameworks around open data - especially around government owned or managed data sets - needs to radically expand to include all the cultural/heritage data assets contained in the myriad of cultural institutions - libraries - galleries - archives - museums, which in turn are one of the great products of, and containers for, the inheritance of the 18th century Enlightenment.

And that, not only were these rich cornucopias of assets and opportunities key ingredients to the development of a 19th and 20th century public literacy, in turn they are key contributors to the development of 21st century digital public space, and its mystic twin - public digital literacy.

Tool Boxes
Moreover, I was/am strongly of the belief that - if we are serious about picking up the challenges to 21st century digital literacy - then tucked inside the search /find/share/transform/co-create mantras of various national and international digital content strategies - we need a whole bunch of additional tools than are currently showcased in storehouses/archives coming into view from the likes of Open Data USA or UK Open Data.

Should this interest, be advised there is an audio file of the presentation - and of course the obligatory slide deck. When I put the two things together, I will post them here.

Social Media Junction.
I also presented at the Social Media Junction event in Sky City here in Auckland on Monday. My brief was to offer 10 public/nor for profit examples of people using social media/ social networking tools/behavior as part of their core activities.

BBC - History of the World
And yes, as the image above suggests, I used the seminal British Museum History of the World Project as an example. And for the record, be advised that the second parallel BBC series just launched.

The audience, though primarily from the private sector corporate world seemed receptive. There was a very active Twitter tag #smj If this subject interests, then check it out.

Playing at House
Somewhere along the way I have re-grown a beard. Now I have sciatica in my left leg, and am limping along. So somewhere along the way, and if I give into the temptation to buy a cane tomorrow, my transformation into House is complete

Tamati Kruger says return of Te Urewera pivotal to Tuhoe settlement with NZ Crown

2010-05-15T12:31:00.005+12:00

The issue
For those who need context, you need to be aware that here in New Zealand Ngāi Tūhoe, have been in active negotiations with the New Zealand Crown for the last 18 months over their claim under the Treaty of Waitangi for a fair and lasting settlement of the raupatu , or confiscation, of their lands by the NZ crown. This is a long and vexed issue, which the NZ Herald Maori correspondent Yvonne Tahana neatly summarises this morning, here.

Te Urewera
Suffice to say, after 18 months of negotiation. both Tuhoe and the other parties, including many crown agencies, believed a draft heads of an agreement was in place with signature and ratification due this week. A key part of the settlement would be the return of the Tuhoe lands in Te Urewera, their tribal homeland in the Urewera Mountains on the East Coast of New Zealand. Currently, much of this area is included in the Te Urewera National Park.

At the 11th hour - last Monday Prime Minister John Key unilaterally declared the return of the Te Urewera to Tuhoe had been taken out of the draft settlement. This move, which also took John Keys co-alition partner, the Maori Party by surprise, continues to provoke fierce debate here in New Zealand. And as the video above shows, events are still very much in play.

Other voices.
Earlier this week, Tariana Turia , the co-leader of the NZ Maori party wrote a moving piece in the NZ Herald on the deep connection Tuhoe have with their ancestral land - here.

Minister Chris Finlayson at Auckland Writers Festival
The New Zealand minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, [OTS] is Chris Finlayson. He is also Attorney General and Minster for the Arts. On Thursday night, in the latter portfolio, he opened the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival.

It was a slightly awkward affair. First, he took a clumsy swipe at the political affiliations of elder statesman to the NZ literary scene, Karl Stead. Secondly, and to my surprise, he made reference to the pleasure he once had listening to the NZ historian Dame Judith Binney give the Michael King Memorial Lecture in 2008.

I was, and remain totally bemused by this reference. I also was at this lecture. In it Dame Judith Binney gave an account of her current research among the Ngai Tuhoe, and couldn't have made it clearer where her sympathies lay.

Moreover, her recent work Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 - also speaks forcefully and at length as to the many and often betrayals of trust between the New Zealand Crown and Tuhoe. For more on this see this excellent review by Catherine Masters, here

Dog Whistle?
I'm still trying to work this out - was the Minster giving a long coded dog whistle that he disagreed with his Prime Minister - or was it just crass insensitivity on a stick? Hopefully the former - but could we please maybe have a bit more clarity to his intention and his position?

Web 3.0 - a 15 minute documentary by Kate Ray

2010-05-13T15:13:00.003+12:00

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

source
This came via OpenCalais, who call it a ' dynamic and thought-provoking video that breaks down core concepts of the so-called 'Web 3.0' and Semantic Web movements, featuring interviews with Tim Berners-Lee, David Weinberger, Clay Shirky and more.

On cabbages and kings with Jim Mora today

2010-05-12T14:26:00.001+12:00

Afternoons with Jim Mora - Radio NZ National
This afternoon Jim Mora and discussed the news around the items below, including the late insertion of a the web site for the Tuhoe people whose negotiations with the NZ Crown for the return of their ancestral lands is a current hot news topic. See here for a sample from the NZ Herald, as well as the recommended web site above.

The audio
The notes are below, and the audio is here Ogg Vorbis MP3 - or click the wee player:

1. The iPad and the competition The Slate from HP .

Last week I touched and used, however briefly, an iPad and I am underwhelmed.
I was so looking forward to this - BUT - not in love - maybe not even bothered about asking for a date. It just doesn't feel ready for the revolution it is claimed to kick start

That said New Zealand has a launch date -July as does Australia - and yes they get it before us. - May 28th. Good coverage on the options coming up with the SMH, Sydney Morning Herald, here

Competition from HP
More seriously we went on to compare the iPad strategy with the apparent rethink of HP's device The Slate which used Windows 7. HP just bought Palm and the rumo mill is alive with speculation that they will go head to head with Apple with a new device
See this story from CNET News for context

2. XT - Report on the XT failure released by Telecom
UK-based Analysys Mason Report shows XT network not ready for the amount of traffic it was asked to handle and that immature management practices failed to catch the problems in time.

Useful Summary on Kiwi Blog
The network failed because the network and supporting operations were not ready to manage the levels of traffic it experienced

Software issues contributed to network instability

Although the XT network was designed to initially provide planned coverage that matched the CDMA network the initial configuration of the XT network and, some network build issues, led to coverage variability

Some aspects of the network architecture are overly complex meaning that any faults are difficult to find and rectify

Immature operational management systems and process failures contributed to the impact of network issues.

Plus summary and full report from Telecom , here

3. Australian Gov 2.0 TaskForce.
The Australian Government have come out in favour of the key recommendations of the Australian Gov 2.0 TaskForce. Details here.

Creative Commons
The endorsement include the recommendation that all Australian government data /information should be open for reuse - with minimal copyright restrictions and should, by default , unless there is a proper reason not to - use the Creative Commons License.

This is a very big deal - opens up shed loads of Australian knowledge assets into the market - mapping data - and puts to rest the notion that Governments should make money out of their information .

This issue of open data goes to NZ Cabinet in July.

New Zealand Creative Commons
http://www.creativecommons.org.nz/

4. TED
Some brilliant new sessions/talks on TED from the 2010 conference February, including this one from Stephen Wolfram and his quest to make all knowledge computational -- able to be searched, processed and manipulated. - See TED, here

5. NGAI TUHOE
Last but not least, as per the opening comment to the post, the Tuhoe Establishment Trust have a very good web site which explains their plans for the development of the Tuhoe people. See especially the section on their vision - which, among other things, explores the centrality of regaining control of their lost lands.

National Digital Forum 2010 Conference Linking data, linking people

2010-05-10T13:25:00.000+12:00

New Zealand National Digital Forum
The NDF in New Zealand, Aotearoa is a collection of 150 organisations, including museums, libraries, galleries, archives, and their partner organisations It's probably one of the best conference spots in the the local cultural/heritage web - mostly because the people involved are both active learners and participants. In short, most of the people in the room - usually around 300 - have either got something to learn - and something to say - often both. See the web site here, and the Ning site for more, here

The next conference is in October, 2010. The organisers have just released the following - and have asked that it get circulated as widely as possible. So here we go!

National Digital Forum 2010 Conference
Linking data, linking people
Monday 18 – Tuesday 19 October 2010
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington

The 9th annual National Digital Forum conference will be held in Wellington Monday 18 – Tuesday 19 October 2010 at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

The National Digital Forum (NDF) is a coalition of museums, archives, art galleries, libraries and government departments with more than 150 member organisations committed to collectively building New Zealand’s culture and heritage online.

Linking data, linking people will raise discussion and explore opportunities for the creative and cultural sectors to link and make available digital content to the benefit of New Zealanders and the rest of the world.

The interactive format of the programme will encourage delegates to take part in open knowledge sharing, discussion and debate.

The 2010 conference programme will include stimulating keynote speakers, discussion sessions, practical workshops and demonstrations.
Key Dates
Mark these dates in your diary now!
7 May 2010              Call for contributors opens
24 May 2010             Early Bird registration opens
24 May 2010             Sponsorship opens
14 June 2010            Call for contributors closes
12 July 2010            Conference programme available
3 September 2010        Early bird registration closes
18 October 2010 NDF 2010 conference opens

Call for Contributors / Presenters
Interested in presenting at NDF 2010?
We are looking for speakers to participate in expert forums on key topics around linking data and linking people. There is also an opportunity for you to share stories of your project with other attendees, describing what you have been up to, what you have achieved and share the lessons you have learned from successes as well as failures in demonstration sessions.

Proposals must be submitted by completing the online Submission Form

Derrida - the father of Deconstruction

2010-05-09T08:49:00.002+12:00

Save Middlesex Philosophy

2010-05-08T14:23:00.006+12:00

Save Middlesex University Philosophy School
Staff and students, both current and former are occupying Mansion House on Trent Park campus, part of Middlesex University, in protest at the planned closure of the philosophy department. More on this , here.

Today there 9,902 on the Facebook campaign, here- and a parallel 12554 signatures on the online petition, here

This gets personal
I should say this gets very personal for me. I did a BA in The History of Ideas at Middlesex in 1984-87 when it was still good old Middlesex Polytechnic. I loved every day there. To do post graduate work you had to head on down to the likes of Brighton to the University of Sussex, and freeze in the tiny bedsits on East Slope to take the much more prosaic MA in Social and Political Thought. Even now, the sounds of a group of Chinese voices chattering next door can take me straight to that narrow little study, the little built in desk and the tiny sixties minimalist single bed.

Since since, after the change to Middlesex University, the North London Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy is now one of the main focal points to the study of the European or continental philosophy. Despite this, management at Middlesex University have decided to cut all philosophy programs, including their MA and PhD degrees.

This essentially means the end of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, a hub for internationally scholarship and the best RAE rated research department in the University. Current supporters include some of the most prestigious names in international philosophic scholarship. Thirty of the same recently wrote to the THE to say:

"We the undersigned deplore the recent decision of Middlesex University to close its Philosophy programmes, including its prestigious and successful MAs. The abrupt closure of these programmes is a matter of national and indeed international concern. Not only does it contradict the stated commitment of Middlesex University to promote ‘research excellence’, it represents a startling stage in the impoverishment of Philosophy provision in the UK.

We have participated in events organised by the Philosophy group at Middlesex and we can testify to its unique combination of strengths, and to the significant and distinctive contribution it makes to philosophy in the UK. Its set of MA programmes is currently the largest in the UK. Philosophy is the highest research-rated subject at Middlesex University. In RAE 2008 Middlesex was rated first in philosophy among post-1992 universities, with 65% of its research activity judged “world-leading” or “internationally excellent”.

It is widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world. It is one of only a handful of Philosophy departments left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching and supervision aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist.

We call on Middlesex University to reverse this damaging and ill-judged decision to close its Philosophy programmes, and to renew its commitment to widening participation in education and to excellence in research.

Keith Ansell-Pearson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick

Alain Badiou, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, École Normale Supérieure,
Paris

Etienne Balibar, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Université de Paris-Nanterre & Distinguished Professor of Humanities, University of California Irvine

Miguel Beistegui, Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick

Andrew Benjamin, Professor of Critical Theory and Philosophical Aesthetics, Monash University

Andrew Bowie, Professor of Philosophy and German, Royal Holloway, University of London

Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley

Susan Buck-Morss, Jan Rock Zubrow ’77 Professor of Government Cornell University,
New York

Barbara Cassin, Directeur de Recherches, Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, Paris

Simon Critchley, Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department, New School for Social Research, New York

Christopher Fynsk, Professor of Comparative Literature and Modern Thought and Director of the Centre for Modern Thought, University of Aberdeen

Simon Glendinning, Reader in European Philosophy, London School of Economics & Director of the Forum for European Philosophy

Boris Groys, Professor of Slavic and Russian Studies, New York University

Michael Hardt, Professor of Literature, Duke University, NC

Harry Harootunian Emeritus Professor of History, Chicago and New York Universities

Joanna Hodge, Professor of Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University

Claude Imbert, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, École Normale Supérieure, Paris

Mandy Merck, Professor of Media Arts, Royal Holloway, University of London

Dermot Moran, Professor of Philosophy, University College Dublin

Michael Moriarty FBA, Centenary Professor of French Literature and Thought, Queen Mary, University of London

Antonio Negri, philosopher and political scientist

Jacques Rancière, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Université de Paris VIII

Kristin Ross, Professor of Comparative Literature, New York University

Lynne Segal, Anniversary Professor, Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck College, University of London

Peter Sloterdijk, Rektor der Staatlichen Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe

Gayatri Spivak, University Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, New York

Isabelle Stengers, Professor of Philosophy, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Peter Weibel, Chairman and CEO, ZKM/Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe

James Williams, Professor of European Philosophy, University of Dundee

Slavoj Zizek, Co-Director of the International Centre for Humanities, School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London.

People to email
As well as joining the FaceBook page, signing the petition et al, you might also care to write to:

Michael Driscoll, vice-chancellor of the university – m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk
Waqar Ahmad, deputy vice-chancellor, research and enterprise – w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk
Margaret House, deputy vice-chancellor, academic – m.house@mdx.ac.uk
Ed Esche, dean of the School of Arts & Education – e.esche@mdx.ac.uk

Friday moment: TEDxNYED: Education is all about Openness - Prof David Wiley -

2010-05-07T08:00:00.001+12:00

France adopts law allowing return of Toi Moko

2010-05-05T10:06:00.005+12:00

From The New Zealanders Illustrated - George Angas - 1847- this image sourced form Te Ara, here.
Auckland City Library digitsiation of The New Zealanders Illustrated - here

Tukuna mai he kapunga oneone ki a au hei tangi

Send me a handful of soil so I may weep over it
reference

Toi moko
The vexed issue of when, or under what conditions, a national or universal museum can or should return artifacts to their origin, comes into fore this morning with the news that the French Parliament has approved the return of more than a dozen toi moko, or preserved Maori heads, to New Zealand.

The story goes back to 2007 when the Rouen Natural History Museum decided to repatriate a head in its collection. It was blocked by the French Ministry of Culture, and it has taken until now to get the legislative framework and the cross party support to create a national policy which will allow all toi moko in French collections to be repatriated.

Note - repatriated does not necessarily mean reunited with the subjects whanau [family]. Given the complex histories of war, conquest, and subsequent trading practices, there are huge issues within Maoridom here in New Zealand around identifying the point of origin of a toi moko, and who in turn has the responsibility of looking after the head, and accepting it for burial.

In recent times, Museums are the last candidates for any long term care and custodianship of toi moko. Indeed in many instances local Maori groups - especially hapu [sub-tribe] consider any storage of human remains not just an insensitivity; it creates a condition whereby people won't go to the Museum because it is seen as a cemetery, and the human remains, and by extension the whole building, tapu.

That said, many New Zealand museums have very sensitive protocols around handling human remains, including policies which actively seek repatriation and de-accession. See for example, Auckland Museum, here.

Moreover, in regard to toi moko in particular, Te Papa, the NZ National Museum, act as negotiators and conduits to the eventual homecoming and burial of toi moko. See here for more on this from Te Papa.

So, one more step in the long chain of discourse and practicalities around a topic which can only be approached with respect.

Source
As a measure of the importance of this issue here in New Zealand this morning, Te Papa, [Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa] acting chief executive Michelle Hippolite spoke on Radio NZ National Morning Report

Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3

A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

2010-05-04T09:45:00.000+12:00

Thanks to Bindy B

OLPC Oceania - Team One Beep and the Microsoft Imagine Cup

2010-05-03T12:22:00.005+12:00

Mitiaro High School Mitiaro, Cook Islands

Imagine Cup NZ winners hooks into OLPC
Monday morning just got a whole lot more interesting courtesy of this three leg story which connects a remote island school in the Cook Islands and their One Laptop Per Child, OLPC, project with Auckland University engineering students and Microsoft New Zealand.

First up the Auckland University engineering students. Known as Team One Beep, they are the winning team at last Fridays Microsoft NZ Imagine Cup, who now go onto the worldwide final in Poland in June - with more on that, here

Team One Beep
The Team One Beep,project, in a lovely twist, deliberately focuses on the One Laptop Per Child programme and its 1.4 million deployed laptops,

Their software solution packages a file of educational data as audio to be sent via radio waves. This can be received on any cheap AM/FM radio which passes it on to the laptop. The file is then converted back to its original form once it has been received on the childrens' laptops, ready to be viewed.

AM/FM Radio? For sure, sounds a little esoteric in the age of digital. But that's the point - by stripping it down to transport over radio frequencies, it allows text, and hopefully soon, audio/video and eventually code to be picked up by any old radio and then onto a OLPC mesh.

Mitiaro, Cook Islands
And so to the photo above and the Cook Islands. The kids in the photo are from Mitiaro High School. Mitiaro is a small remote island in the Cook Islands, which in turn sits bang in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. The OLPC Oceania project is working with 17 island countries, including the Cook Islands and these guys are one of the latest schools to get with the programme.

And yes its more than interesting to see Microsoft NZ getting behind an open source programme like OLPC, although it should be noted that according to the OLPC Road map, the OX 1.5. will run both Linux and Windows. Haven t seen this in action yet - but hopefully soon.

Sources
In any event - not a bad Monday morning story - more on the Imagine Cup end from Computerworld, here . OLPC Oceania blog is here. And for balance, a bit of a step back and re-think on the OLPC roadmap is here.

Funny old world
Lastly, I just asked myself, would I rather go and visit Poland for the final, or Mitiaro? Answer, Mitiaro any time. You have no idea how blessed the welcome is in Pasifika.

Speaking with Jim Mora on Radio New Zealand National - Afternoons

2010-04-28T12:51:00.003+12:00

source

Jim Mora
These are the notes for this afternoons programme with Jim Mora on Radio New Zealand National. There are two ways to get the audio. Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3 Or - click the wee player:

1 Facebook - if Google = Search - Facebook wants to be Facebook = social .
They will do this by encouraging web site makers and developers to use new tools they unveiled at their developer conference F8 last week.

see
http://www.macworld.com/article/150801/2010/04/facebook.html
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/21/facebook/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/194770/how_facebook_plans_to_dominate_the_web.html

2. Great web sites - principles/practice - from Webby Nominees
Using three examples from Webby 2010 Nominees, - we ask , 'what can they teach us about the four main principles of great web projects: design - content - collaboration - community.

3. Quick Hits

3.1. Pew Report on Institutions
Reference and the header to the study - here

3.2. The Daily Mail 100 cancer stories
Got this via Twitter and then Facebook - so its a bit like the social web in action.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=269512464297

3.3 Nessie!
No less than the Chief Constable of Inverness believed in Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, and wanted him protected according to secret memoirs just released by Archives at Scottish Archives.

See UK Telegraph for the bones of the story, here.

Plus National Archives Scotland site
http://www.nas.gov.uk/

Preserving the British Library’s C19 Newspaper Collection

2010-04-27T08:13:00.002+12:00

"In 2004, the British Library secured £2 million funding from JISC to digitise its fragile C19 newspaper collection and make it available online. The collection is one of the top ten in the world and is used by journalists, historians and researchers world-wide.

The British Library has digitised two million pages amounting to 80 terabytes of data. This film looks at the challenges the Library has faced to preserve the collection for the future and the decisions it has taken."

Source: Planets

Planets
'Planets is a four-year project co-funded by the European Union under Framework Programme Six. It is coordinated by the British Library and delivered by 16 national libraries, archives, technology and research institutions. The project has developed a suite of software tools and services to help organisations preserve digital content for the long-term'

http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/

Auckland Writers and Readers Festival - 12th- 16th May, 2010

2010-04-26T10:39:00.004+12:00

The Auckland Writers Festival
When bumping into friends colleagues and acquaintances of late I'm noticing we are starting to talk about the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival coming up on the 12th - 16th May, 2010.

I love these 5 days - for sure McGovern Online is a sponsor - and for sure - I'm always proud of the web work we do: but there is also a real community of practice running around this gig.

Patrons and sponsors have, by in large, been there for ever; the organisers, budget and distance notwithstanding, continue to want to push the envelope; writers on the festival circuit come away glad they did this one; and audiences just keep on rocking up every year.

And every one a reader! Things ain't over yet! See you there.

Programme - tickets - news - etc- here

Auckland Writers and Readers Festival 2010 from Paul Reynolds on Vimeo.

The Impact of the Internet on institutions in the future - Pew Internet and American Life

2010-04-24T09:37:00.003+12:00

The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future
Pew Internet & American Life Project

" By an overwhelming margin, technology experts and stakeholders participating in a survey fielded by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center believe that innovative forms of online cooperation could result in more efficient and responsive for-profit firms, non-profit organizations, and government agencies by the year 2020.
While their overall assessment anticipates that humans’ use of the internet will prompt institutional change, many elaborated with written explanations that expressed significant concerns over organisation’s resistance to change. They cited fears that bureaucracies of all stripes – especially government agencies – can resist outside encouragement to evolve. Some wrote that the level of change will affect different kinds of institutions at different times. The consensus among them was that businesses will transform themselves much more quickly than public and non-profit agencies... '

report summary and pdf link, here

Source/context
I sourced this from the ever excellent series, The Source from the NZNL. Reading it, in part, as preparation for an upcoming series of conversations/seminars I am involved in with the NZ Computer Society, Details, here .

NZ On Screen - Country Lads - from ANZAC Collection, April, 21010

2010-04-23T07:54:00.005+12:00

ANZAC Day - Sunday, 25th April, 2010

2010-04-22T12:13:00.001+12:00

ANZAC Day - Sunday,
This coming Sunday, 25th April 2010, is ANZAC Day here in New Zealand and Australia, when the people of each country commemorate their joint heritage from the 1st World War and other conflict zones. There will be many online points of presence for this annual day of memory, including institutional ones. These in turn will be flanked by a myriad of ceremonies of remembrance up and down the rural and urban pathways of both countries.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum
One of the key pillars of the Auckland Museum - embedded in its proper title, AWWM, The Auckland War Memorial Museum, is as the place for remembrance to the fallen here in New Zealand, with the dawn service in particular a place where the generations - especially the younger - meet to honour their grandparents and great grandparents.

The Cenotaph Database
And on that note - 'tis well to pause to reference the excellent Cenotaph Database a biographical database of New Zealanders who have died in the 19th century, from the New Zealand Wars and South Africa, through the First and Second World Wars to Korea, Malaya and Vietnam.

ANZAC, 2010: Online Book of Remembrance
To mark the 2010 anniversary, the AWWM has put up online a Book of Remembrance, as well as a some rare archival photographs in their collection plus a small but sensitive feature to four of the NZ men who served in the 2nd World War Theaters.

Heroes of Gallipoli
Friday 23, Saturday 24, Sunday 25 April
7.30pm - 10pm
Northern Façade

Also this year the Museum will repeat it's projection of Anzac soldiers in Gallipoli footage which was digitally restored by director Peter Jackson. The Museum will also project a collection of rare footage from New Zealand Film Archive’s After the War was Over. This includes:

Arrival of New Zealand Troops at Cologne, 1919
With jaunty stride the New Zealand Division crosses the German frontier into Cologne where they formed part of the Allied Occupation Forces after the Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Division crossed the frontier at Herbesthal-Euphen, and reached Cologne on 26 December 1918 after a 23 days trek from the start point at Beauvois.
Maori Contingent Home, 1919

“Welcome Home to the Maori Pioneer Battalion from the front”.
The return at Auckland wharves and powhiri in the Domain to the veterans of the Maori Pioneer Battalion Te Hokowhitu A Tu.

Governor General Attends Consecration of Colours Auckland, New Zealand, 1933
The presentation of the colours of the Auckland Regiment to the Auckland War Memorial Museum by the Regiment's senior officers, including Gallipoli veteran Colonel A Plugge CMG.

ANZAC Day - Sunday the 25th
The ANZAC Day service at the AWWM begins with the dawn service at the Cenotaph, at 6am. The Auckland War Memorial Museum is open to all immediately after the service at 6:45. There is a full programme of events, here

ANZAC Resources
I will try and reference other sources as they come to hand. Firstly, the RSA has an excellent site including maps of country wide ANZAC ceremonies, here. See also A Guide to ANZAC Day, and also the excellent NZ On Screen ANZAC Collection. And don't miss the essays by Jock Phillips, et al, here.

ANZAC Search from DNZ

Search: Anzac Day

Can LIANZA , et al, have a look at Melina Merchetta talking to Penguin TV?

2010-04-21T10:11:00.009+12:00

How mornings start.
I started this morning with a bunch of emails, some of which agreed with my comment in the previous post that LIANZA - even if they should have waited a bit longer to iron out the bugs on their new site - would indeed be better served now by concentrating on their content editorial plan.

Outside of a Dog.
Then the post brought a review copy of Rick Gekoski's Outside of A Dog. Gekoski is appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival, so I'm keen to read this account of 'the intricate relationship between reading and his life'.

Naturally he acknowledges [on the inside cover] that his title is a riff from the famous Groucho March quote - 'Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.'

Inside a Dog - SLV
This quote is also the riff for the State Library of Victoria, Inside a Dog - their web site on reading - writing et al, for YA's .So I decided to boogie on over for a catch up - and guess what - squaring the circle - I found gold - courtesy of this brilliant interview with Australian YA author, Melina Marchetta.

Melina MarchettaLIANZA
This is a beautiful interview. I love the Sydney inner city back garden - her attitude - the honesty - the writing the city texture- and of course the sun. It's Australia on a stick! Love it to bits. And made by Penguin TV. See above - or go here to see it in situ.

Penguin TV
Penguin TV? I had no idea Penguin Australia were remotely as cool as this - bringing readers to writers - books out on the screen. Total respect to you. This is a lovely piece of work, and if LIANZA, or indeed the public libraries of NZ/Australia want a benchmark for their content/editorial plan - they have to watch this now.

Then they might ask the local publishers how they can help?

NZ LIANZA web site

2010-04-20T14:50:00.003+12:00

LIANZA, The Library and Information Association of New Zealand, Aotearoa, has a new web site. Critiquing collegiate web sites can cause lots of problems - people get hurt - sensitivities are provoked. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped the NZ library community can both benefit from, and be able to participate in, some robust internal and external debate on what will be their primary online home for a couple of years at least.

Look and feel
On the local library list serve the criticism has hitherto been all about colour - look and feel - including comments on the nitty gritty detail of the contact button - spelling mistakes et al. And fair enough - people will do just that - but 'tis to be hoped we can move quickly towards a deeper debate on the content and editorial plan, both current and to come. On that note, I have the following suggestions I'd like to offer for debate:

1. The library/professional focus
There seems to be a big emphasis on the profession - its members and concerns et al. I would like to see this extended to include key supporters and users of libraries - especially public libraries.

I would also love to see a lot more on how libraries serve this wider stakeholder constituency - via case studies - key facts on economic value - in short - as the Brits once had it - build the evidence base for the economic and cultural value of libraries.

This could be done as a dashboard - a bit like the Indianapolis Art Gallery Dashboard

2. People Using libraries
There are great war stories on just how important libraries - especially public libraries- are to people, most recently Rolling Stone,Keith Richards, and his secret librarian life, here. Inside this article is this marvelous quote from his autobiography:

“When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.”
Also to hand is the wonderful interview with Junot Diaz with the Christchurch City Library web team at the 2008 Writers Festival in Auckland, when he says that 'libraries saved my life' That story also reveals that the public library can be a bit of a news star in its own right - i.e. Christchurch City Libraries web team went to the Auckland Writers Fesitval - got the story - wrote it - published it. See here

3. LIANZA Conference
Here in NZ, the LIANZA library conference in October is one of the great meeting points for cultural/heritage/arts people, especially online.

There are literally dozens of great LIANZA conference sessions on record over the last 5/10 years - including the seminal presentations from the likes of Larry Lessig in Auckland 2008. Why cant we have a selection of these videos up on line?

I know the automatic response is rights - but that must be under control now? After all the sessions are for sale within an hour of the presentation at the conference , and I don't know of any speaker who gets a royalty from these.

So please can we have a video wall up and running now - whether via a You Tube or Vimeo Channel - this stuff is just so achievable.

4. Friday moments
The NZ Libs list serve has the occasional Friday moment - I have offered more than a few myself - why not this feature here? There must be a mile of interesting ways to create the community effect the site is aspiring to.

5. Reading Diaries/Journals
Can we have a composite one - i.e. what are people reading? Would make a great tag cloud? Would also make a great Twitter feed?

6. Guest Blog
Can we have a guest blog feature? The UK Museum Computer Community do a great job of this here:

Summary
In summary I would love to see a really robust debate from within the profession - and, dare I say, the outside world - on the content and editorial plans for the site, and leave the debate on colours, and micro-managing the information architecture for another day.

Museum Commons: A Professional Interaction - MW 2010, Michael Edson & Rich Cherry

2010-04-17T10:13:00.002+12:00

Museum Commons: A professional interaction (Museums and the Web 2010, Michael Edson and Rich Cherry)

View more documents from Michael Edson.

ABC Australia: Media Watch. Channel Nine Cameraman Incident

2010-04-16T13:57:00.000+12:00

Comment
There is precious little need for comment, other than to say, this could just as easily have happened in NZ or the UK, or the USA. The recent news is that the cameraman has been sacked. But as Brian Edwards points out , he wasn't alone - the retribution should equally apply to the Director and the news editor. This stuff just smells!

Source/Context
First alerted to this story via an excellent blog post from Dr Brian Edwards, here

Sir George Grey - Wikipedia and NZ Papers Past

2010-04-16T07:08:00.006+12:00

NZ Papers Past

Sir George Grey, governor, premier and collector.
For various reasons which will emerge in due course, I am deeply interested in the life and times [and collecting habits] of Sir George Grey, the 19th century two time Governor plus Premier of New Zealand, who also managed to build three marvelous libraries of books/manuscripts, each of which he gave away- with one of them forming the original foundation to collection to the Auckland City Library, itself a child of the Auckland Mechanics Institute. With more on that, here

Wikipedia at Museums on the Web
I am also aware that this is the week for the MW2010, Museums on the Web 2010 Conference, and that some folks from Wikipedia are leading a workshop on how the collection sector in general, and the museum sector in particular might better collaborate with Wikipedia

George Grey - Wikipedia and Papers Past
All that in place, I can now recount that 20 minutes ago I was happily poodling about in the Wikipedia entry on Sir George Grey and then discovered that - in the last week or so - some truly bright eyed petal of a darling has sorted through Papers Past, the NZ National Library collection of 19th Century. Newspapers, and embedded them into Wikipedia as contextual footnotes to parts of the entry.
Here's some examples:

^ The Colonial New Zealand Wars, Tim Ryan and Bill Parham, pg28

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Sinclair, Keith (7 April 2006). "Grey, George 1812–1898". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1G21. Retrieved 2007-07-03.

^ ^a ^b The Penguin History of New Zealand, p. 203.

^ "(By Telegraph). Auckland. Dec. 22.". North Otago Times. Volume XXIII, Issue 1159, 23 December 1875. pp. 2. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NOT18751223.2.14.2. Retrieved 11 April 2010.

^ "THE ELECTIONS". Daily Southern Cross. Volume XXXII, Issue 5708, 8 January 1876. pp. 3. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=DSC18760108.2.16. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "The Thames election : petition against sir George Grey's election.". Daily Southern Cross. Volume XXXII, Issue 5724, 1 February 1876. pp. 3. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=DSC18760201.2.23. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "Sir George Grey and the seats for the Thames and City West.". Daily Southern Cross. Volume XXXII, Issue 5205, 17 June 1876. pp. 3. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=DSC18760617.2.12.4. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "New Zealand Parliament". Taranaki Herald. Volume XXIV, Issue 2427, 12 July 1876. pp. 3. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TH18760712.2.22. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "Parliamentary". Bay Of Plenty Times. Volume IV, Issue 401, 15 July 1876. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=BOPT18760715.2.13. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "General Election News". Wanganui Herald. Volume XII, Issue 9511, 11 September 1879. pp. 2. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WH18790911.2.10. Retrieved 16 March 2010.

^ "The Remainder of the Colony". The Star. Issue 4255, 10 December 1881. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=TS18811210.2.15. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "The New Parliament". Wanganui Herald. Volume XIX, Issue 5378, 29 July 1884. pp. 2. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=WH18840729.2.13.1. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "THE GENERAL ELECTION.". Hawke's Bay Herald. Volume XXII, Issue 7859, 28 September 1887. pp. 3. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=HBH18870928.2.14. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "RESIGNATION OF MR GOLDIE, M.H.R". Poverty Bay Herald. Volume XVIII, Issue 6001, 23 February 1891. pp. 2. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=PBH18910223.2.13. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "The Newton Seat.". Wanganui Chronicle. Volume XXXIII, Issue 11205, 27 February 1891. pp. 2. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WC18910227.2.12. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "Telegrams". Inangahua Times. Volume XVI, Issue 20216, 27 March 1891. pp. 2. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=IT18910327.2.9. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ "NEW ZEALAND". Marlborough Express. Volume XXVII, Issue 79, 6 April 1891. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=MEX18910406.2.18. Retrieved 13 April 2010.

^ Barnes, Roger (1994), New Zealand Armorist, 52, pp. 18

Other sources - NZETC and NZDB
Also worth noting are the external linkages to Sir George Grey's works on the NZETC, NZ Electronic Text Centre, here, and the NZDNZ

It's Friday
Some times the clouds clear and the sun comes out! And whoever you are, thanks!

UK elections, Bebo, Public ACTA and the Webby Awards with Jim Mora

2010-04-15T10:50:00.003+12:00

image source

Jim Mora on Radio New Zealand National, Afternoons.
Herewith the links and background notes to my fortnightly chat with Jim Mora on National Radio. Had some interesting feedback on the UK Internet campaigns. Looking forward to covering this more. and on that note, I forgot to mention that the BBC seem to be gearing up for a major Internet newsroom on the election. Check here for a start.

Radio NZ Audio with thanks
The audio with Jim and I, is here, Ogg Vorbis MP3 , or click the wee player.

1. Bebo
The social networking site Bebo - owned by AOL is rumored to be closing down.
We review the story - the AOL takeover - investment - lack of traction with audience, and the lessons learned for other social networking sites. Should Facebook be worried?
[Note: Bebo never took off in the USA - but it did in the UK and at one time was the biggest kid on the block in NZ]
Question: what happens to your stuff? Family memories - photos - videos etc?
http://beebo.org/

2. UK Election - social media
We discuss the role of the Internet in the upcoming UK election.

UK Hansard Society.

Have published a study on digital campaigning, which includes an international review of past elections, including New Zealand, as well as offering some considered views on how the Internet will impact on the 2010 UK Election.

Their conclusion is that though the Internet will offer some useful, and on occasion, important tools, especially for single issue campaigns and party activists, this won't be the year of the big UK breakthrough for Internet campaigning.

We also looked at the main political party sites:

Conservatives - MyConservatives
Labour Party plus Labour Manifesto site
Liberal Democrats

Plus the spoof site on the UK Labour Party - here

3. Public ACTA
Wellington Declaration
In a world first for Internet democracy the organisers and participants of the Public ACTA conference in Wellington last Saturday have had their recommendations acknowledged by the NZ team who are tasked to represent NZ's interest inside this secret inter- country treaty negotiating process on new copyright frameworks.
The declarations and the principles are here:
http://publicacta.org.nz/

4 Webby Awards
On the cool site front, nothing comes cooler for sites than the Webby Awards
This years opening nominations are going up today. Plus the People Nominations are open here.
www.webbyawards.com

[Note: apologies to on air listeners - I gave webby awards . org - not .com. ]

Detroit Disassembled - Andrew Moore : Sunday moment from New York Review of Books Blog

2010-04-11T18:54:00.003+12:00

click image to move through slide show of 12 images

"...Known for his large-scale photographs of dilapidated buildings in places like Cuba, Russia, and Times Square, Andrew Moore has now turned his attention to Detroit. These images are from his new collection, Detroit Disassembled, published by Damiani and the Akron Art Museum, where an exhibition of his work will be on view from June 5 to October 10.... "

Source: New York Review of Books Blog

Malcolm Mclaren - buffalo gals - the tribute thing

2010-04-10T06:26:00.000+12:00