Te Ara Hiko

Te Ara Hiko (the digital pathway) is the newsletter from the Encyclopedia team. We hope that it will keep our writers and stakeholders up to date with progress and news about the project. If you would like to be added to (or removed from) our address list, please send an email message to janette.hart@mch.govt.nz.

Te Ara: What’s the story?

A catchy brand and arresting designs make for a unique identity.

The name Te Ara and the tagline ‘What’s the story? / He aha te kōrero?’will ‘brand’ the Encyclopedia’s online identity. The name will also have a distinctive and flexible visual design. You’ll see the graphic and our tagline used increasingly on communications and publicity material from the project from now on.

We chose ‘What’s the story? / He aha te kōrero?’ for its informal Kiwi flavour and its common use in both English and Māori. It also reflects our undertaking to provide explanations and narratives about New Zealand.

The visual design indicates some of that informality, in the hand-made look of the logo and its boldness. Its many variations provide fresh looks on different web pages and in other contexts.

The wide colour range suggests some of the tones of the land, the bush, the sea and the sky, with some unanticipated hues adding further energy and surprise. We have decorated the Encyclopedia project offices with colourful prints of the brand design, and ‘mood-board’ graphics from our web designers which develop some of the ideas. It’s an arresting look, and we’re in no doubt that it will be seen as both stylish and provocative.

The first theme: ‘Peoples’

‘Peoples’ is intended to introduce everyone in New Zealand to everyone else. We have now received over half the 90 entries and the team is hard at work preparing them for online publication.

Thirty-six entries will cover the major iwi of New Zealand. There will also be eight entries giving context to the migration and settlement by Māori.

Another 39 will deal with the various immigrant groups who have migrated and settled here – from larger, well-established groups like the English and the Dutch, to smaller communities such as the Greeks and the Dalmatians, and on to more recent arrivals such as the Koreans, Africans and Thais. An overview of the history and process of immigration will be presented in seven entries.

Some contributions are being researched and written in-house, but a good many are being prepared by members of iwi and immigrant groups themselves.

Once we have checked a new entry, the resource team follow up the authors’ suggestions and search for appropriate images and video, film or sound clips to bring the text to life. We write captions and produce a short summary aimed at junior users. The entries are then edited and the iwi entries translated into te reo Māori. At this point the content is returned to the writer for approval and any final comment.

To cater for users who may feel disappointed that there is not yet a complete encyclopedia, there will be two additional resources. The full content of A.H. McLintock’s 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand will be online and fully searchable. In addition there will be a section on ‘New Zealand in Brief’ (working title), summarising the history, natural environment, economy and other major themes that will eventually be covered in detail.

We hope that this fascinating first package – ‘Peoples’, the 1966 Encyclopaedia and ‘New Zealand in Brief’ – will go live in the first half of 2004.

Reminder for contributors: if you are writing an entry for the Encyclopedia, we would really appreciate receiving it by (or even before!) the due date, so we can meet our demanding production schedules for the first theme.

A sense of place: entries on the regions

Each of the 16 regions of local government will be covered in entries of around 10,000 words. There will also be accounts of four ‘regions of heart and history’ – Wairarapa, Thames/Coromandel, King Country and Rotorua/Taupo.

The regional entries will be in two parts: one giving general coverage, the other on specific places.

The scope of the first part will be: people, land and environment, history and economy, communications, creative arts, popular culture, and government. As with all the Encyclopedia entries, maps, images and sound clips will bring the text to life, forming an alternative information trail.

Specific places will be chosen for their historical, geographical or iconic significance. Contemporary and historical images, quotes and diary extracts, oral histories and local stories will add the colour and quirkiness that have made these places unique.

Links to biographies from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography will add to the sense of local character. To keep the site accurate, lively and topical, we’ll be regularly updating statistics and encouraging community involvement.

Our aim is to present comprehensive and engaging material that will be perceived as the best source of information on the regions. Users from each region should also see it as representing ‘our region – our place’. This is an exciting challenge, particularly given the limited word count (a total of 200–250,000 words). However it will be achievable with the rich visual resources, the links to other sites and, for each region, an associated entry from the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.

The present plan is to produce three or four entries a year, including one on a major centre of population. We’re starting from the top, with the Northland entry nearing completion, and Auckland – a big one – to follow!

The Encyclopedia road show

The search is on for images, sounds, moving images, and documents to enhance the text.

Institutions and individuals all over New Zealand are keenly supporting the Encyclopedia road show. Beginning in the Taranaki region, Jock Phillips and Shirley Williams presented Te Ara to groups of heritage professionals and enthusiasts. The road show has visited the Waikato, Auckland, Southland, parts of Canterbury and Otago, Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast. Presentations are planned for the remainder of 2003 and early 2004.

Our aim is to tap into the collective knowledge of these groups and obtain the best resources from around the country. We have sent the list of entries for the ‘Peoples’ theme to a wide range of institutions, in the hope that they will have significant relevant collections of material for up to six entries. This will help our researchers prioritise their work and open up possibilities for small exhibitions on particular topics.

The team would like to thank all those who have offered their support to meetings around the country, especially those who have given their time to bring groups together. We look forward to presenting the project to other regions over the next few months.

Behind the scenes

Technology and web design: keeping track of the workflow and making the material work online.

In May 2003 we signed a contract with web communications and design company Shift Ltd to develop the online design and technical deployment of systems to support Te Ara. Shift have subcontracted Optimation Ltd for technical services. The solution uses Microsoft technology.

The first stage was a series of workshops and other meetings to define and document the Encyclopedia’s requirements. A document management system was then designed to manage the structure of entries, images and other media. In addition, the system helps move a completed entry through its editorial stages to the final version, structured to work on the web and ready for publication.

We have also been conducting user surveys. Focusing on senior high school students – one of our key target audiences – Shift devised a card-sorting exercise to examine and validate the assumptions we made when drafting Te Ara’s thematic structure. We also consulted kōhanga reo and university honours students. Work is proceeding on the schematic design of the various parts of the site.

Although the website’s visual design will not be developed for some time yet, some steps have been taken. We have commissioned a brand design from designworks, through Shift. Work has begun on defining the online presentation of the brand and its influence on the site’s distinctive visual identity. We’re confident it will be eye-catching, thought-provoking and inspiring.

Te Ara Wānanga: The Māori Advisory Committee

Te Ara Wānanga – meaning ‘the path of knowledge’ – is a group of individuals assisting the project. Although they do not presume to represent all Māori interests, they are widely acknowledged as leaders in their own fields.

This committee met on 23 July. The Encyclopedia’s main advisory committee will be meeting on 18 September, and we’ll be reporting on that in the next newsletter.

The members of the committee are: Chairperson Ranginui Walker (Te Whakatōhea), Te Wharehuia Milroy (Ngāi Tūhoe), Edward Ellison (Ngāi Tahu), Hōne Sadler (Ngā Puhi), Charles Royal (Ngāti Raukawa), Ngapare Hopa (Tainui), Keri Kaa (Ngāti Porou), Mere Whaanga (Rongomaiwahine / Ngāti Kahungunu), Monty Soutar (Ngāti Porou), Piri Sciascia (Ngāti Kahungunu), Mason Durie (Rangitāne), Rawiri Taonui (Ngāti Maniapoto / Ngā Puhi).

Most major iwi have an entry summarising their history, along with their main figures and events. Te Ara Wānanga has confirmed the list of iwi entries and assisted in the search for appropriate writers. Some members have agreed to write entries on their own iwi.

More recently they have looked at the branding exercise. Most were impressed with the samples presented by designworks.

The committee is aware of the Encyclopedia’s potential to support the revitalisation of the Māori language. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography’s Māori language biographies have been used in bursary examinations – a testimony to the quality of the language used. It is expected that the Encyclopedia’s Māori language entries will help to address the paucity of quality online Māori language available to kura kaupapa Māori students and others.

The ‘peoples’ of the Encyclopedia

In keeping with Te Ara’s first theme, we asked the Encyclopedia team to describe their role and their ethnic background.

Details on our Staff page.