Wellington

The Wellington Loop received Community Partnership funding to pilot a range of projects through the CityLink fibre infrastructure including; Moodle, e-learning, a collaborative library system, high speed internet access via KAREN, web 2.0 social software and community workshops partnering with six schools.

The six foundation schools have formed The Wellington Loop Trust to create a collaborative learning environment for schools in the Wellington Region. The high speed fibre network is live to those schools with five more in the early stages. An application environment is being defined that will support video storage and conferencing, learning management resources, and a support environment for arts, language, and music teaching as well as other teaching and learning resources. Discussion about the Wellington Loop is also providing a catalyst for the tertiary to secondary education ‘outreach’ initiatives. In addition, commercial, local and central government partners are exploring ways to deploy a new generation of technology-enabled resources only possible with high speed uncontested, symmetrical network systems. For example, the Wellington Loop is actively working with a 3D graphics provider to enable a previously unobtainable level of graphic arts education.

www.wellingtonloop.net.nz

www.wellington.govt.nz

Community Partnership funding was received for a project to develop a digital hub including technology planning and technical support, creating a city portal, establishing an ICT learning strategy and implentation of four community access points (centres).

A Community Partnership Fund grant was awarded for 150 families in Porirua to join the Computers in Homes programme. The Computers In Homes project (CIH) aims to support low income communities to use ICT to strengthen their education. It is very much about what ICT can do to for family opportunity rather than a hardware dump or the learning of computer skills for their own sake.

http://www.computersinhomes.org.nz/

Community Partnership funding was awarded for a Medianet research and development project.

The Medianet project will see the development of a nationwide network providing community access to New Zealand’s moving image heritage through the use of video streaming and computer technologies. The Film Archive is working with the following core group of eight institutions during the development phase: Whangarei District Libraries, Hamilton City Libraries, Te Wananga-o-Raukawa, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Te Puna Toi Performance Research Project, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Otago Settlers Museum and Te Manawa Art Gallery. Progress to date has concentrated on determining the user requirements, and on the processes to be followed for content selection and clearance. Design company Chrometoaster have been contracted to develop the infrastructure and interface design for Medianet system.

www.filmarchive.org.nz

Porirua City Council received Community Partnership Funding for an Asset Map Project (Business, community and voluntary sector; ICT infrastructure and Learning centres; awareness raising; GIS).  The project involves researching how ICT is used by the city’s community & voluntary sector, schools, E-Centres, ICT learning providers, our local ICT sector and home based businesses. It will also explore the challenges research participants experience in using ICT and realising their aspirations for future growth. Geospatial information systems will be used to represent much of the data and create a range of discussion and planning documents to guide our next steps.

With Community Partnership funding, PPIF is expanding its ICT Learning Centre to include a training component. 
The Siaola project has kicked off the development of a prototype eLearning tool called Tohitapu that has been designed to meet the needs of the Tongan community. This tool has been developed using a mix of user-centred, learner-centred and metaphorical design so it reflects the culture of the people who will be using it.

http://www.siaola.blogspot.com

A community ICT Learning Centre has been set-up alongside the community centre in Timberlea with funding from the Community Partnership Fund. Timberlea is an economically low-decile area that is geographically separated from the main area of Upper Hutt City. The lack of resources in many Timberlea households – from the practical (landlines) to the IT knowledge of families – indicated a strong community need for more connection with the digital world.  

Building delays have had some impact on the project’s completion, however, the progress on the ICT front is exciting, and even needing to put a "design freeze" in place is a sign of the continued enthusiasm about the project. 

www.uhcc.govt.nz

In partnership with Hutt City, Upper Hutt and Porirua, SmartLinx3 is deploying an open-access mixed fibre and wireless network for the region.  The project received funding in round 1 of the government's Broadband Challenge and it will service tertiary and research institutions in the coverage area as well as business and community organisations.

http://www.smartlinx3.co.nz/

Community Partnership funds are enabling online digital broadcasting for three community radio stations. It will also be used for training community content providers.

Wellington Access Radio, Fresh FM Nelson, and Community Radio Hamilton are now streaming-live on the internet. The stations’ online content is going from strength-to-strength. With over 350 items that can be listened to or downloaded at any time, users have the ability to select individual programmes or listen to community-content in their own language via our virtual community radio station. Each partner’s community radio station can display all of the available content, while retaining their local flavour.  

www.accessradio.org.nz

www.freshfm.net

www.communityradio.co.nz

When it comes to technology at Wellington Girls’ College, students teach the teachers.  Each Tech Angel mentors two teachers, teaching topics ranging from general use of the computer through to scanning, movie editing and burning CDs. Sponsored by the Ministry of Education, the students volunteer to take part in the programme and are given professional training in ICT and how to teach and support college staff.  The programme was launched in 2003 when the school’s technological needs started to outstrip the ICT skills among its teaching staff. 

http://www.techangels.org.nz

ECO received Community Partnership funding to develop SeaNet, a directory and database network providing information on the marine environment and the relevant laws, policies and management processes associated with it.

The SeaNet database and directory has been researched, written, and built and is now available online. The website-based database and directory (and its CD and hard copy counterparts) are now helping community and environmental groups and the public participate in the management of the marine and coastal environment, and to have input into policies and decision-making. The plain English explanations and simple website format are designed for ease of navigation and to save public agencies many inquiries.

www.seanet.org.nz

www.eco.org.nz

Community Partnership funding is helping to develop Upstage (a web-based venue for online performance) software to allow communities to develop their own content, including performances, art and stories.

UpStage version 2 was launched with great celebration on 28 June 2007. The second version of the software includes new features, enhancements to existing tools and overall increased stability. The launch also opened Puppets to Pixels - an interactive exhibition for children of all ages, featuring the work of puppeteer Rebekah Wild in the UpStage environment. More than 400 people visited the exhibition and had a hands-on experience of the magic and fun of UpStage. The second UpStage Festival of live online performances will take place on 8 August 2008. Last year, the 070707 festival featured 13 performances created in UpStage by artists around the world, without a (visible) hitch. Audiences were online, on site at the Film Archive and also for one of the performances, at a building site in London. 

http://upstage.org.nz/blog

Community Partnership funding for the digitisation of iwi radio recordings. The content is historical recordings of Kuia and Kaumatua - korero of local history, whakapapa, hui and events.  Recordings contain different dialect and kupu (words) which have changed over the years.

http://www.irirangi.net

Community Partnership funds for the development of data model software for the cataloguing of music and to digitise the collection of content.

The new SOUNZ website was launched late last year at events in Auckland and Wellington. This ‘third generation’ of the site incorporates many new innovations including faceted searching, digital samples, downloads and full e-commerce facilities. Influenced by the work of colleagues at the Australian Music Centre the site’s music data is underpinned with FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records), a conceptual model developed by the International Federation of Library Associations. The site and functionality were built by Catalyst IT Ltd. and the design was done by Springload Web Design.

www.sounz.org.nz

Community Partnership funding towards Whanau Link - an internet-based service connecting Hospice patients and their whanau and friends, enabling them to communicate quickly and easily, and to attend to personal and business affairs.

Funding was also received to create an ICT hub at the Secret Level Youth Centre, providing access to ICT under the supervision of volunteer staff. It is intended to focus on use for homework, CV's, art and access to health information.  

The CPF enabled the Whanau Link system installed and trialled at Mary Potter Hospice to be extended to six more hospice sites: Te Omanga Hospice Lower Hutt, Te Omanga Masterton, Mary Potter Kapiti, Wanganui Hospice, and Te Rangimarie New Plymouth and a site in Hawera. Planning is also in progress to extend the service to all hospices in New Zealand.

www.wgtn2020.org.nz

The e-Rider Project - managed by the Wellington Region 2020 Communications Trust, provides technical support to the not for profit and voluntary organisations in the wellington area.

http://www.wgtn2020.org.nz

Are you a Community Group, Not-for-Profit Organisation, Sports Club or Small Business based in or serving Hutt City? Now you can have a presence on the Internet, absolutely free of charge. Huttcity.com is an online space for your small business or community group, that you can manage yourself without the hassles and cost of professional web design or technical hosting agreements.

http://www.huttcity.com/