Speeches 

Speech to launch the Digital Content Strategy,Parliament, 6 September 2007

Digital content comes from all sources, from all over the world and in many different ways. The challenge for us as 21st Century New Zealanders is how we access and adopt that content.

The Digital Content Strategy aims to chart a course for a content-rich, digital New Zealand, where New Zealanders are actively engaged in creating, discovering, sharing and using content in a digital form.

Digital content also plays a critical role in ensuring our unique heritage and national identity remains strong, visible and available.

I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the key projects from the Strategy that will enable New Zealanders to better access their digital content.

DigitalNew Zealand: Announced in this year’s Budget, Digital New Zealand is about making collections of New Zealand digital content more accessible to New Zealand communities. It will do this by making our content easier to discover, better connected, and sustainably managed. We’re investing $3.3 million in this over the next four years.

Digital Archives Preservation Strategy: In a few years there will be a whole generation of young adults who have grown up in the digital age – the digital natives. They are the MySpace kids, the YouTube, Facebook and texting generation.

We need to ensure our content works for them, and their children. The government has already led the way with the building of the National Digital Heritage Archive, a $24 million project which will be fully up and running in 2009.

The Digital Content Strategy helps complete this work, with $8.5 million for Archives New Zealand to properly archive digital born government records.

Aotearoa New Zealand Peoples Network: An issue raised in the Strategy is exclusion in the digital age. We need to make sure all our people and communities can participate in, and benefit from the digital technology and digital content. An exciting initiative to connect the Haves and Have Nots is the Aotearoa New Zealand People’s Network.

The People’s Network will provide broadband Internet services across libraries so all New Zealand citizens can learn how to use the Internet. We want all New Zealanders to benefit from creating, accessing and experiencing digital content.

World Internet Project: In looking to our digital future, it’s important we have a good view of how we use and understand digital technology. To do this we are joining an international survey, the World Internet Project, which aims to uncover national attitudes and behaviour in relation to information and communication technology. The survey is being undertaken by the Auckland University of Technology.

David Cunliffe talked about some of the areas of commonality across the submissions. One that interested me was the consideration of Mâori cultural property rights and traditional knowledge in a digital content context. Protecting cultural property and traditional particularly where ownership is collectively held, creates challenges, and this strategy addressed them.

Te Mana Taumaru Mâtauranga - the Intellectual Property Guide for Mâori organisations, which was released recently, is part of an initiative in the Strategy to identify how we can retain traditional Mâori knowledge and cultural property by both its creators and bearers in the digital realm. This guide aims to balance Intellectual Property legislation and Mâori needs and is a contribution towards ensuring respect for the cultural heritage of this country.

The Digital Content Strategy forms part of an package under the New Zealand Digital Strategy spanning the three Cs, content, connection and confidence. It also provides the basis for how the business, community and government sectors can work co-operatively to capitalise on New Zealand content.

I am very proud to be here tonight launching the Digital Content Strategy and would like to thank the large group of people and organisations who helped us put this Strategy together.

It’s the first of many steps.

I would now like to ask Penny Carnaby, CE of the National Library to speak and close tonight’s speaking part of the event.

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