• Latest News
• Publications
  • Digital Strategy 2.0
  • Summary of Submissions
  • Draft Digital Strategy 2.0
    • Executive Summary
    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. The new digital environment
    • 3. The enablers: Connection
    • 4. The enablers: Confidence
    • 5. The enablers: Content
    • 6. The enablers: Collaboration
    • 7. Achieving our digital potential
    • 9. Evaluation
    • Glossary
  • 2007 Report on Progress
  • 2005 Digital Strategy
  • 2005 Digital Strategy – Summary
  • 2004 Draft Digital Strategy
• Digital Future Summit
• References
• Background on the Digital Strategy
• Glossary of Key Terms
• New Zealand Digital Content Strategy
• Mind Map

Our prosperity as a nation depends on our people – so our digital future must contribute to the needs and aspirations of all New Zealand communities and enhance their wellbeing. In a digital age, we need to consider how we reflect on, experience and value the identities, cultures and histories of New Zealanders, along with how we protect and care for our digital heritage and traditional knowledge.

Prosperous communities
The government has invested in improving outcomes for communities through the Broadband Challenge and the Community Partnership Fund. These have already produced a diversity of community-driven responses, from legal aid videoconferencing and chronically ill children remotely accessing specialists and support groups, to community digital-story telling and heritage building. One of the strongest outcomes of these funds to date is to challenge communities to think differently about how they work together to use digital technology, how they can create a critical mass of demand for attracting technology investment, and how they support their community members through acquiring digital literacy and confidence. Ensuring government and business work effectively together with communities to reach their potential is a key part of this challenge.

Valued cultural identity
For much of the last century, public broadcasting has been an important way of delivering material to New Zealanders that helps to define and reinforce our sense of identity and enables us to play active roles as citizens. Our libraries, museums and archives care for the collective memories of our nation, while marae are often the seat of mätauranga Mäori and täonga. The digital age provides new opportunities for preserving and presenting our history and culture in digital form, but it also creates
new risks, such as a loss of visibility in an ocean of international digital content. One part of the challenge is to address how individuals, businesses and communities create, discover and use this valuable New Zealand content to enhance our digital potential. We also need our performing arts and creative industries, as major local content creators and providers, to find new ways of reaching and connecting with audiences in the digital environment.

Action table
The following table below lists actions where the use of digital technology can assist in enriching and valuing our communities and cultures. A couple of examples are included but your contribution is needed to fill out this table.