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19 August 2002
New Zealand ICT Project Finalist in Stockholm Challenge Award
Living Heritage, a bilingual initiative aimed at capturing and preserving
the nation’s heritage online, has been chosen as the sole New Zealand
finalist in the Stockholm Challenge, the prestigious global awards programme
that rewards best practice in information technology (ICT).
Living Heritage was established in 2001 with seed funding from the National
Library, 2020 Communications Trust, Sun Microsystems and The Learning Centre
Trust of New Zealand, who developed and manage the web site.
"Living Heritage is a remarkable and culturally significant initiative"
explains Trust chairman, David Copeland, "which provides the opportunity
for our young people to uncover, research and tell the stories of their local
community, activities, families and whanau in their own unique way."
"We have included a self-publishing web environment to ensure that young
people can publish their discoveries themselves, and share them with local and
international audiences via the World Wide Web. In this way, we can all celebrate
and preserve New Zealand’s unique heritage and taonga and encourage young
people to become local historians and storytellers in themselves."
"I’m delighted that there are now close to ninety schools involved
in the project, five of whom have already published projects on the web site."
"The Living Heritage project is very exciting" says National Library’s
Geraldine Howell. "We see this as an opportunity for young people to create
a digital record of the historic, present and future heritage of New Zealand
which the Library can showcase and from which we can establish a permanent collection
for the benefit of future generations."
Project manager, Lucy Ryan, describes Living Heritage as a way to ensure that
young people’s work across New Zealand will be preserved forever. "It’s
a way for their stories, voices and their perceptions of what their world is
like, to remain available and to live on. For example, the story of a recycling
project carried out by an Auckland school may not seem like heritage now, but
in 50 years time it could well provide fascinating insights into how we lived
our lives today. People might look back and think that what we were recycling
in 2002 was quite strange and might even think that we were an incredibly wasteful
generation. We’re creating a unique collection of perspectives that look
both back in time and to the future."
Recently awarded NetGuide’s Site of the Month, the Living
Heritage web site is available at www.livingheritage.org.nz
and includes information about the project and its participants,
the treasures/taonga, with links to the education curriculum. The
site can be viewed in both English and Māori.
The Stockholm Challenge is an annual awards programme for pioneering information
technology projects in areas where there is a great impact on people’s
lives. Over 600 projects were entered this year, each aiming to show in practice
how information technology can be applied to bridge the gap between rich and
poor.
The Living Heritage project was entered in the Challenge’s Cultural section.
The winners will be announced in the Stockholm City Hall on 10 October 2002.
The event will be streamed live via the Internet at www.challenge.stockholm.se.
For more information about the Living Heritage project, please contact:
David Copeland
Chairman, Learning Centre Trust
Phone: +64 4 382 6500
Email: david@cwa.co.nz
Schools wishing to join the Living Heritage project should contact:
Lucy Ryan
Project Manager
Phone: +64 4 802 3474
Email: lucy@tki.org.nz
For more information about The Stockholm Challenge Award:
Visit the website www.challenge.stockholm.se
or contact Maria Hinas, Information Manager
The City of Stockholm Economic Development Agency
E-mail: maria.hinas@challenge.stockholm.se
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