Nelson Central School – stars at DigitalNZ launch

Stars of the show! The audience at the DigitalNZ launch enjoying the video presentation by Room 5, Nelson Central School.

Digital NZ, a nation-wide project to help make NZ digital content easier to find, share and use, was launched at the National Library of NZ on 3rd December, 2008.

Among the list of speakers was a video presentation by the children from Room 5, Nelson Central School.

The children of Nelson Central School were one of the first to create and share digital content using the ‘Memory Maker’ tool from DigitalNZ. They shared their stories of that experience by producing a video which was broadcast at the event.

Evie, Room 5, Nelson Central School said, “I loved making my own movie at home and I was very excited when Digital NZ asked us if we could make a video to show at their launch.”

The ‘Memory Maker’ tool was one of two on-line experiences released by DigitalNZ to mark the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day.

Working with members of the National Digital Forum to collect special and unique NZ content relating to the end of the First World War, Digital NZ built a search widget (the Coming Home search) that lets people explore this content, and a video remix tool (the Memory Maker) that lets them create and share a multi-media clip using video, music, still images and more.

Thomas, Room 5, Nelson Central School said, “I think it’s clever how children can learn about World War 1 by having fun with the ‘Memory Maker’ on the DigitalNZ site. It took me a few goes to get my part of the video right but it was worth it in the end. It was fun being involved in it.”

A primary aim of the Digital NZ project is to increase the amount of NZ digital content available on-line. About two thirds of NZers access the internet and 84 per cent browse the web using search engines.

Ease of use and ease of discovery is crucial to web browsers: content that can’t be easily found won’t be used.

Digital NZ will be working with content creators (including government, the education sector, cultural institutions, community groups and more) to help them get their content online in a form that can be easily found and used by web users.

Fiona Rigby, DigitalNZ project manager says: “We are delighted to see the work of DigitalNZ uncovering digital treasures… to have schools like Nelson Central School using the ‘Memory Maker’ to create their own digital content and share that with a wider audience is just fantastic.”

The 3rd December launch marked the official unveiling of the website DigitalNZ.org
The website underpins several important parts of the project:

• Organisations and individuals can get expert advice on creating, sharing and preserving digital content on the website.

• Web developers can access the Digital NZ API (an Application Programming Interface that makes digital content contributed by owners available to people who want to use it to build new online tools and experiences).

• The public can access search tools and online experiences that use NZ digital content.

Digital NZ is a collaborative project, led by the National Library and funded by the government, which aims to test new ways to create digital content, collect and share existing digital content and build smart, freely available search and discovery tools.