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The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.
"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."
Te Puni Kōkiri - Ministry for Māori Development presented a paper at the Māori Economic Summit in January that provided a snapshot of and highlighted the key risks to the Māori economy in order to inform further work to mitigate these risks. The paper also outlines the key drivers for future change and how some Māori businesses may be placed to take advantage of these trends.
/communitycentre/news/national/maorirecession.htm
Entries are now open for the 2009 New Zealand Post Group Local Government Excellence Awards. One of this year's categories is Council-Community Relationships. This award recognises projects that demonstrate excellence, innovation or sector leadership in engaging with communities. This category covers a wide range of activities in your local authority and projects that have community engagement as a key aspect may enter.
/communitycentre/news/national/localgovtawards.htm
After a very successful film festival in 2008, now is your chance to enter in the Amateur Surf Film Festival 2009. An opportunity for amateur film makers and surfers alike to have a go at hitting the big screen. Submit a 3 minute home video of you and your mates... and win!!! There is a $10 submission fee and all proceeds go to Surf Aid International.
/communitycentre/news/national/surffest.htm
The 'See the Difference' programme was launched on 24 May with a TV campaign starring Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) member, Sarndra Tamepo. The programme calls on New Zealanders to help guarantee the vital services the Foundation provides to its 11,700 members. It costs the Foundation about $26 million each year to deliver its services and See the Difference is the new way New Zealanders can support the Foundation's work with a monthly donation of $20 - less than a dollar a day.
/communitycentre/news/national/seethedifference.htm
Whether in difficult or prosperous economic times, every business in New Zealand looks for a competitive edge. An outstanding competitive advantage is there for the taking – the talents and leadership abilities of women at board level. This is the conclusion of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, which has developed the report 'Women on Boards: Why women on company boards are good for business' with the support of Business New Zealand and the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.
/communitycentre/news/national/womenonboards.htm
This Innovative Practice Report by the Families Commission shares Palmerston North-based Te Aroha Noa Community Services' theory of change and provides an approach to understanding ways in which families and whānau embark upon and sustain themselves through ambitious change journeys. The spinafex plant provides a central metaphor for expressing the theory of change at Te Aroha Noa. The report provides a brief overview of a two-year process of reflection, critique and practice development, and highlights some of the key practice learning from this project.
/communitycentre/news/national/spinafexeffect.htm
The first stage of The Māori Legal Project is to be launched today - the Legal Māori Archive - and will be the initial step towards producing New Zealand's first Legal Māori Dictionary. The first stage has involved the collection of more than 14,000 pages of 19th century documents that illustrate the bi-lingual nature of New Zealand's legal history. The Archive has been created in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington's New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC) which has digitised the documents and made them available as fully searchable text. The Legal Māori Archive is freely available to the public and can be accessed via the NZETC website.
/communitycentre/news/national/maoriarchive.htm
The 2008 NGO-DHB Contracting Environment publication by community mental health and addictions service sector network, Platform, is the third of its NgOIT series providing a snapshot of the contracting environment in which Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are operating. The report describes the District Health Board contracting environment from the perspective of mental health and addiction community organisations and paints a disturbing picture of some poor contracting, stifling of innovation, and the erosion of the purchaser/provider split that has been fundamental to health purchasing.
/communitycentre/news/national/ngoitreport.htm
Christchurch Community House - Te Whakaruruhau ki Otautahi has two affordable office spaces available to lease to community organisations. Your own office with subsidized rent in a well-managed, central city community facility. To view these offices and collect an application form please contact Mike Asmussen, Phone (03) 365-3139 Email manager@cch.org.nz .
/communitycentre/news/national/officespace.htm
The nationwide search for a charity partner for online portal, Flossie.com, has ended, with Endometriosis New Zealand announced as the winner to receive a significant boost in publicity and financial support. Launched in February this year, the initiative, dubbed “Flossie’s Preferred Charity”, asked New Zealand charities to register online, then the public and a select panel of judges voted for the charity they thought would fit with Flossie and benefit the most from the relationship. Endometriosis New Zealand was chosen from the 130 charities that registered to be in the running. As part of the package, Endometriosis New Zealand will receive over $100,000 worth of advertising across the Flossie Network over a 12 month period and will also receive the proceeds from a Smart Car fundraiser which will be given away on Flossie.com to a lucky person who donates to Endometriosis New Zealand. In addition to this, Endometriosis will get its own website on the Flossie Network.
/communitycentre/news/national/flossiecharity.htm
Endometriosis Waikato congratulates Endometriosis NZ for being named Flossie’s Charity Partner this week. Annette Evans from Endometriosis Waikato said “We are delighted with the announcement and hope that the resulting publicity will reach the many thousands of NZ women who remain undiagnosed and unaware of this significant condition.” Endometriosis is very common, affecting an estimated one in five women and teenage girls and can dramatically impair quality of life. The most common symptom of endometriosis is painful periods, characterised by taking pain relief, bed rest and time off work or studies. Endometriosis is also a leading cause of fertility problems.
/communitycentre/news/national/endowaikato.htm
Sharisa Joy Kochmeister is starting a new magazine called "The Voices and Choices of Autism". Sharisa is on the autism spectrum and uses keyboards to communicate. She is an advisor to the Autism Society of America, President of the Autism National Committee, and a member of the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council Executive Board. The mission of the magazine is to expand understanding and acceptance of autism, people on the spectrum and the idea it is isn't a disease to be cured but a way of living and being that should be understood and supported as needed. If you're interested in receiving the magazine, or know anyone who would be, subscription is free.
/communitycentre/news/national/autismmag.htm
The UK's National Council for Voluntary Organisations has created a 'Recession resources' section of its website. The section is designed as a guide for voluntary and community organisations on surviving the recession, from key advice to crisis management. While the information and advice is aimed at UK-based organisations, New Zealand community groups should find it useful.
/communitycentre/news/national/recessionresources.htm
BP New Zealand has been running its BP Vouchers for Volunteer programme since 2006, and applications are currently open for 2009. The scheme donates thousands of fuel vouchers to volunteer organisations that use vehicles to get people to essential services or bring them the provisions they need. An authorised member of a volunteer organisation (eg: Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary) can make an application. For more information and to complete an application form online visit the BP New Zealand website.
/communitycentre/news/national/vouchers4volunteers.htm
Budget 2009 allocated $1.2 million to strengthen local networks and give a voice to community groups that are often not heard in government processes. In her media release announcing the funding, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Tariana Turia said: "In a tight economic environment, finding local solutions to cross-community issues is vital and stronger networks will help us to achieve that." The $400,000 annual initiative over three years, beginning in 2009/10, will involve refreshing the membership of the Community Sector Taskforce (CST), which has experience in working with and building local community networks. The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS) is now working with the CST to agree on a programme of work for the 2009/10 year. This will include identifying some local regions to focus on during the first 12 months.
/communitycentre/news/national/communityvoice.htm
At a Promoting Generosity communities-of-interest meeting last week, Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS) Policy Analyst James King presented new data on how income levels and ethnicity impact on the giving of time, money and in-kind donations. The research is a supplement to the How Do New Zealanders Give? report, released last year. The data show that income and ethnicity do not make a substantial difference to whether people give, but they do affect what causes and organisations they give to, and how they give. Together with two new Generosity discussion papers, the research will help inform the work of the Promoting Generosity project.
/communitycentre/news/national/givingresearch.htm
The Charities Commission is urging people thinking of volunteering to check the Charities Register for inspiration and information about charities they might wish to support. Charities Commission chief executive Trevor Garrett says that publicity for Volunteer Awareness Week (14 - 20 June) has prompted many more people to think about joining the estimated one million New Zealanders who already volunteer, and that the Charities Register is a great place to start. The Register holds information about charities that the public can browse, or search by name (or key word), officers, sector, activities, beneficiaries, or area of operations. You can also see each registered charity’s contact details, their rules (governing document), their application for registration, and their Officers’ certifications.
/communitycentre/news/national/charitiesregister.htm
Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at:www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.
SurfAid International is a non-profit humanitarian organisation, working to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing.
http://www.surfaidinternational.org
Everything you need to know about the Auckland harbourside suburb of Devonport in one place. History, Photos, News and Links.
http://devonportnz.blogspot.com
The Sustainability Trust is a Wellington based non-profit charitable trust which supports local communities in addressing sustainability related issues. Our project portfolio is currently focused on energy efficiency, waste minimisation, transport, climate change and community.
http://www.sustaintrust.org.nz/
Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga – The National Network of Stopping Violence Services is a network of community organisations working to end men’s violence to women and children across Aotearoa/New Zealand. In working to achieve our mission of ending all forms of violence, abuse and oppression we are guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and recognise Māori as Tangata Whenua.
http://nnsvs.org.nz/
The work of Refugees As Survivors is vital in helping bridge the vast gap between the danger and suffering of an old life and a bright new future as a New Zealander. Our mission is to ensure refugees and people with related backgrounds have access to quality, culturally-responsive mental and general health services to assist positive resettlement in New Zealand.
http://www.rasnz.co.nz/
Soroptimist International is a world wide organisation for women in management and the professions, working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. The Upper Hutt Club is a part of Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific which has 3000 members in 150 clubs.
http://www.upperhuttcommunity.net/soroiuh/
Soroptimist International (SI) is a world wide organisation for women in management and the professions working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. Soroptimists work at all levels of civil society, local, national and international, and are involved with a wide spectrum of women's concerns. SI South West Pacific (SISWP) is one of four Soroptimist Federations globally, and currently includes New Zealand, Australia and 10 other countries in the Asia Pacific Region.
http://www.siswp.org/
The New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA) is a wholly independent body that since its establishment in 1974 has sought to encourage the spread of knowledge about Asia, its history, its culture and its role in international affairs.
http://www.nzasia.org.nz/
Community groups, clubs and organisations are an important part of making the South Waikato a great place to live. This website is a tool to help the development of community organisations and their activities and to help people within the community connect with groups and organisations whether it be for the purpose of recreation, support or services.
http://www.communityconnect.org.nz/
Te Rōpū Whakahau is an organisation which unites Māori librarians and information specialists in Aotearoa New Zealand. We aim to teach, strengthen and unite us all no matter where we are, and to advocate for the improved management of Māori workers, Māori materials and Māori clients.
http://www.trw.org.nz/
The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organization based at the University of Auckland. Founded in 1892, the Society’s aim is the scholarly study of past and present New Zealand Māori and other Pacific Island peoples and cultures. It has pursued this aim primarily through the Journal of the Polynesian Society, a quarterly publication begun at the Society’s inception and enduring to the present.
http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/departments/index.cfm?P=9144
The Whatsit is here to help community groups and businesses increase their knowledge of cyberspace and cybersafety. The Whatsit, from cybersafety education body NetSafe, can provide managers with simple tools to help write ICT policies and use agreements, and give all staff access to simple but comprehensive education to upskill them in the safe use of the IT at their disposal.
http://www.thewhatsit.org.nz/
Poutama is a nationwide business development organisation that fosters the growth of Māori-owned micro and small businesses. Poutama seeks to enhance sustainable economic development opportunities through investment in and support of Māori business innovation and entrepreneurship.
http://www.poutama.co.nz/
Te Ao Hou website lets you search and browse all 76 issues of the magazine Te Ao Hou - The New World. Te Ao Hou was published from 1952 to 1976 by the Māori Affairs Department in New Zealand Aotearoa. According to its first editorial, Te Ao Hou aimed "to provide interesting and informative reading for Maori homes … like a marae on paper, where all questions of interest to the Maori can be discussed." Te Ao Hou features bilingual content, with articles in both English and te Reo Māori.
http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/journals/teaohou/index.html
up2date is a nationwide consultancy service focused on the needs of the disability sector in New Zealand. up2date consultants have extensive knowledge and experience in the health and disability sector both as professionals and as service users and recipients. They provide a wide range of services around the country as well as providing an online community for the interaction and sharing of information by disabled people, older people and their families.
http://www.up2date.co.nz/
Platform is an organisation that connects, champions and celebrates a robust community mental health and addictions service sector. Platform provides a national network for providers, encourages collaboration and provides a contact point for nationwide feedback on issues relating to mental health and addiction NGOs.
http://www.platform.org.nz/page/5-Platform-Home
Kaitangata - "Black Gold Town" is the website for the Kaitangata & Districts Community Development Programme. The programme promotes community identified priorities, developments and projects that contribute to a sustainable, economically sound future and social benefits for all residents.
http://www.kaitangatablackgold.co.nz/
Business Professional Services Ltd is fully dedicated to the management of non-profit organisations including professional and trade associations, and charitable trusts. As an association management company with 22 years experience in the industry, Business Professional Services is specialised in the areas that can help grow your organisation, such as executive and governance management, accounting, sponsorship and fundraising, member services, event management and more.
http://www.bpsl.co.nz
The Mangere East Community Centre website keeps the community informed about the wide range of quality services and activities at the centre, and issues impacting our community. The Mangere East Community Centre comprises the Mangere East Learning Centre and After School, Samoa Ati'ae, and the Mangere Peoples Centre which offers medical and dental services.
http://www.mangereeastcommunity.org.nz/
Paula's Literacy Charitable Trust works hard to create new educational resources for schools nationwide and promote literacy for children and adults. The Trust supports school-age children, special needs children, children needing support with English, reading, writing and spelling skills, adult foreign students and ESOL students.
http://ketehamilton.peoplesnetworknz.info/site/topics/show/129-paulas-literacy-charitable-trust
The Waikato Migrant Resource Centre provides a range of specialist services to support people who have moved to the region from other countries. However, as a Community Centre, it also provides a place for people from all cultures and backgrounds where both newcomers and locals can come and interact.
http://www.wmrc.org.nz/
Matariki is the Māori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or The Seven Sisters; and what is referred to as the traditional Māori New Year. Matariki means celebrating the unique place in which we live and giving respect to the land we live on. The Matariki Muriwhenua website features events and information about the celebrations in Muriwhenua - the Far North.
http://www.farnorthmatariki.co.nz/
The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre provides music therapy for special needs children of school age and younger. It is New Zealand's first music therapy centre and is owned and operated by the Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust - a registered non-profit charitable trust.
http://www.rmtc.org.nz/
You'll find these and more links at:www.community.net.nz/links.
These Events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/events.
These Training events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/training.
Maybe your Arabic's rusty. How about your Latvian, Korean or Galician? Google Translate can help.
One of the most wonderful aspects of space sci-fi is that somehow in the future we have some kind of 'universal translator' that perfectly renders Jem'Hadar into English and vice versa. Yeah, right!
In today's real world you may sometimes find yourself looking at a web page in a language you don't understand so well. Or maybe you can't read that language at all.
Google Translate has made enormous progress in the last few years in automating translations. It now includes around 40 languages.
While those translations are unlikely to be perfect, they can usually help you out quite a lot.
As an example, I picked an interesting looking article written in Arabic: newsforums.bbc.co.uk/ws/thread.jspa?forumID=9181. I don't know any Arabic at all, but from the picture I guessed it was about women wearing the burqa — a subject under discussion in France at the time of writing.
I took the address of the page and visited Google Translate. There I pasted the page address into the text box, set the drop-down menus to 'Detect Language' and 'English', then clicked the 'Translate' button.
Moments later an acceptable English language page appeared. The topic was indeed what I had suspected.
If you visit that English translation you'll see that it is far from perfect, especially if you browse the comments.
Still, I don't know anyone in my circle of acquaintance who could have conveyed the gist of the page to me, and now I have a fairly good idea of what it says.
Google Translate can handle whole web pages, or just chunks of text copied from an email, web page or other source.
Next time you find yourself confronted with a language you don't read, or don't feel confident in, see if Google can translate it for you.
Auf wiedersehen, meine Freunde. Bis später!
Why do you have a website? Does it achieve that goal? How do you know?
When I discovered recently that most visitors to one of my websites, MacTips.info, arrived from a search engine, stayed less than a minute then left immediately, I was shocked.
I was shocked by every element of that short statement.
Most visitors came from search engines? 90% or more of them? What about my loyal readers?
Visitors stayed less than a minute? One minute? You can't read much in one minute.
And then most left without going any further on my website? What about all my carefully crafted, valuable articles?
That particular website contains hundreds of tips for using Apple products: Macs, iPods and so on. I add a new Tip each week. As I thought about it, I realised I've created a reference archive, rather like an encyclopaedia (only not as lofty). People dip into encyclopaedias; they don't usually read them intensively.
In that case it's not too surprising that people search for information, end up at my site, read what I have to say in one article and then leave again.
They don't stay long, so I hope that means that my writing is clear and concise, and effective.
Still, I wasn't happy with the stats I saw so I made some changes. In the 4 weeks after I made the changes the number of visitors increased by around 33%, and numbers have been steadily increasing ever since.
In brief, I changed the site to give visitors a broader overview of what is on offer and to more prominently list other articles that may be related to the one they were reading.
Good statistics were crucial for increasing visits to my site. They are crucial to your work too.
I installed the free Google Analytics on my site. It involves adding a small amount of code to every page. Google make it easy and tell you exactly what code to add and where to add it.
Google Analytics can tell you amazing detailed things about your visitors, such as how many pages they visit, how long they stay, what cities and countries they come from, how they reached your site, which pages they arrived at, and which they left from.
Google Analytics can tell you so much I could write several entire articles just listing everything.
Compare the information about your visitors with the goals of your site and you can quickly see what's working and what's not, and maybe see ways to improve what you offer.
For example: if you target Kiwis, but most visitors arrive from Australia how can you change that, or turn it to your benefit?
Your website probably cost you a lot of money. But I'm afraid the costs don't stop with that initial creation. For a website to earn its keep you need to monitor visitors and tune-up the website regularly. I'm afraid you'll need to keep that web developer around a bit longer.
If your website already has a sophisticated stats program like Google Analytics installed then check the stats regularly and look for ways to improve what your website offers.
If it doesn't yet include such a package then ask your web developer to install Google Analytics. The software costs you nothing, and once installed should need no upkeep. For many well-crafted websites adding the code should be no more than 15 minutes work.
Watch the Google Analytics Product Tour video for further information. Don't get too hung up on words such as 'customers', 'conversions' and 'AdWords'. Although the video assumes the viewer has a business selling products, the concepts apply equally to community organisations.
Panui tips contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://knowit.co.nz .
Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.
In June 2009 there were 53,052 visits (May 51,428).
Last month, 85 new community items were published.
Send in your free community notice or advertisement at:
www.community.net.nz/about/submit.
There were 10,402 files downloaded (May: 6,380). The most popular file download in June was the Sample Board Policies section of the Governance and Management How-to Guide (890 downloads). In May this was also the Sample Board Policies section of the Governance and Management How-to Guide (950 downloads).
Find CommunityNet statistics at: www.community.net.nz/about/website/statistics.htm.
Remember: please forward the complete Panui to others who'll find it useful.
Nick Stanley, Web Content Writer.
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