PANUI Issue #66, September 2007

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PANUI Issue #66, September 2007.

The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.

"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."

Contents.

  1. Panui News
  2. Community News
  3. New Community Sites
  4. CommunityNet Events: Events coming up soon.
  5. CommunityNet Tip: Flocking to the pictures.
  6. Web Tip of the Month: Tune in with Twitter.
  7. What's Hot on CommunityNet

Panui News

Community News

Maori Language Interface Packs available for Microsoft Windows XP and Office.

The 2005 World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WiPCE) set an appropriate stage for the launch of reo Maori Language Interface Packs for Microsoft® Windows XP® and Microsoft® Office applications in November 2005. Language Interface Packs (LIPs) are free software downloads that provide computer users with the ability to adapt their copy of Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office Standard applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) to display many commonly used features in reo Maori. The LIPs cover most of the User Interface such as menus, dialogs and error messages of the most commonly used elements of Microsoft’s Windows and Office software.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/maori-language-packs.htm

Applications Open for Community Internship Programme.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2007/08 Community Internship Programme (CIP). The Programme, which is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs Local Government and Community Branch, involves a person temporarily leaving their permanent workplace to become an intern for a community organisation for a period of up to 6 months. The aim is that all involved benefit from the arrangement.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/community-internship-programme.htm

Violence Intervention Programme on MOH website.

The Violence Intervention Programme (VIP) supports health sector family violence programmes throughout New Zealand. The new Family Violence section of the MOH website includes a wide range of resources, guidelines and reports, questions and answers, and related links.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/violence-intervention-programme.htm

Charities required to register for tax exemptions.

After 1 July 2008, organisations must be registered with the Charities Commission to remain eligible for the exemption from resident withholding tax (RWT) that Inland Revenue (IRD) allows for organisations that have a charitable purpose.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/charities-tax-exemptions.htm

Timetable released for Unitec 2008 Graduate Diploma in Not-for-Profit Management.

Unitec has published the full 2008 timetable of courses for its Graduate Diploma in Not for Profit (NFP) Management across NZ and Pacific centres.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/2008-timetable-nfpm.htm

The Couch survey explores work/life balance.

Many families are active in their communities and are careful to factor this into their work-life balance, according to a survey done through the Families Commission Couch.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/work-life-survey.htm

Participate in survey about the costs of volunteering.

Victoria University and Volunteering NZ are conducting research to find out the financial costs of volunteering incurred by volunteers and the organisations they volunteer for, where some or all of these costs are reimbursed. The information gained will help provide a better understanding of how personal costs have an impact on volunteering and whether they are preventing some people from volunteering.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/volunteering-costs-survey.htm

Funding information now more accessible.

A growing number of ways to access funding information is making it easier for community groups to apply for funding.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/volunteering-costs-survey.htm

Trustpower regional Community Award winners.

Trustpower has announced the regional award winners for its Community Awards in Clutha District, Waipa District, Tauranga, the Western Bay of Plenty, and Nelson.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/trust-power-award-winners.htm

OCVS work programme focusing on key issues.

The OCVS team is currently considering how its 2007/08 work programme can best respond to issues raised by community and voluntary organisations about their relationship with government.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/ocvs-work-programme.htm

Dept. of Corrections consulting on volunteer policy.

The Department of Corrections has undertaken a comprehensive review of its existing volunteer policy. The Review of Volunteer Policy - Consultation Document includes 42 recommendations, and the Department is seeking feedback from a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, and the wider community.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/corrections-volunteer-policy.htm

Bilingual Internet in .NZ.

New Zealand Maori Internet Society are proposing that the existing un-moderated .nz domain name hierarchy for .nz is made available bilingually to represent that Aotearoa/New Zealand is a legally bilingual country and to support its indigenous people’s cultural and linguistic requirements. We are asking that the existing .nz DNS is made available in both of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s officially spoken languages Maori and English.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/nz-bilingual-internet.htm

New report milestone for voluntary sector.

A new report revealing that non-profit institutions and their volunteers contribute a massive $6.95 billion to the New Zealand economy has been welcomed today by the Statistics Minister Clayton Cosgrove and the Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Luamanuvao Winnie Laban.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/non-profit-satellite-account.htm

Volunteering Canterbury's Youth Awards.

These awards provide recognition of the ways young people help to build supportive communities. They promote the concept of volunteering and the value of working without pay for the common good.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/volcan-youth-awards.htm

Subsidised registrations available for Australasian Mental Health Outcomes Conference.

30 subsidised registrations are available for He Kakano - Planting the Seeds: Australasian Mental Health Outcomes Conference 2007. Through this subsidy, successful applicants will receive $350 off the conference registration fee.

http://www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/conference-subsidy.htm

Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at:
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.

New Community Links

Kaitaia People's Centre Nga Hoa Awhina.

Kaitaia People's Centre Nga Hoa Awhina Inc is a non-profit organisation that provides a free, confidential and unbiased service of advocacy to the community of the Far North.

http://www.kaitaiapeople.co.nz

Whanganui Rivercity Young Maori Wardens Assn Inc.

Nga Rangatahi Watene Maori o Te Awa o Whanganui offers youth/community awareness education programmes for schools, parents, local and wider communities. Includes behaviour modification, preventative programmes, and anger management programs with a difference.

http://www.maoriwardens.com

Local Councils New Zealand.

Wherever you live, your local council is working with your community to enhance social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being, now and for the future. Your local council can work even better for your community with your participation and feedback. The LocalCouncils website provides a variety of information such as how local government works, how you can participate in local government decision-making processes, and presents statistical profiles of each council.

http://www.localcouncils.govt.nz

yMedia Group.

The yMedia Group is an initiative to help bridge the gap between young people and their communities. Instead of forcing Generation Y to leave their digital space and get into communities, we need to help get our communities into the digital space and engage with Generation Y.

http://www.ymediagroup.org

Turning Point Trust.

A mental health recovery centre providing day activities and vocational support, with a focus on community participation and steps to employment for tangata whai ora/people with experience of mental illness.

http://www.turningpoint.org.nz

Groupings.

Webguide: using communications technology to activate community groups and non-profits. This Webguide blog is for community groups, iwi groups, and not-for-profit organisations. The purpose is to help improve practices, and to share news and information about technologies that can help them do their work. It especially focuses on how community groups are already using technology in interesting and creative ways.

http://webguide.net.nz/blog

KiwiSaver.

KiwiSaver is a voluntary work-based savings initiative that's designed to make it easier to save for your future. The KiwiSaver website provides information so individuals and employers can learn more about the scheme and its providers.

http://www.kiwisaver.govt.nz

Talent Finders Ltd.

Talent Finders is a small business focused on organisational development and governance best practice. Its main focus is on boards in the not-for-profit sector. Where possible, Talent Finders likes to work alongside the entire board assisting them to implement the Policy Governance model developed by Dr John Carver in the USA. Sandy Brinsdon - a principal of Talent Finders - has been accepted to attend this academy in October 2007.

http://www.policygovernance.co.nz

Home Storytellers.

Try something new. Employ a storyteller! This nationwide referral service nutures a love of story telling, poetry and books. Suitable for children of any age: after-school programmes, school holiday programmes, birthday parties, hospital visits, or one-on-one in the home.

http://www.homestorytellers.co.nz

Maniototo Ice Rink.

Community based and run outdoor skating/ice hockey/curling rink. The rink caters for schools and has a youth ice hockey club, barbeque facilites, and a public lounge.

http://www.nasebyicesports.co.nz

WebStock NZ.

Webstock is a range of web-related events with the aim of improving how websites are built through inspiration, education, insightful analysis and practical application. Whether you're a web designer, developer, analyst, content-editor, information/solution architect or a decision maker from the corporate, government, non-government organisation or education sector in NZ or from further afield - there'll be something motivating, exciting and immensely valuable for you.

http://webstock.org.nz

You'll find these and more links at:
www.community.net.nz/links.

CommunityNet Events: Events coming up soon

Events

These Events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at:
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/events.

  • Community Tree Planting, Waitakere and Manukau Cities.
  • Environmental Life Cycle Assessment course, Christchurch.
  • Mid-winter Refuel, Rotorua.
  • Depression or Expression workshop, Christchurch.
  • Social Service Providers Aotearoa Inc. Annual Conference, Palmerston North.
  • Waikato Health and Disability Expo, Hamilton.
  • Do You Have Clutter? workshop, Christchurch.
  • Diabetes Breakfast at Bromley Community Centre, Christchurch.
  • Mental health competencies consultation hui, Nationwide.
  • Finding and keeping board members workshop, Christchurch.
  • Clean Up Avon Riverbank, Christchurch.

Training

These Training events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at:
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/training.

  • Governance - a guide for Board Members of Not-For-Profits, Christchurch.
  • Developing Strengths-Based Organisations, Palmerston North.
  • Law in our Communities Education Programme, Auckland.
  • Workshop: Websites - Maximising the Potential for Community Organisations, North Shore City.
  • Community Funding course, Wellington.
  • Legal Education for Everyone, Hamilton.
  • Legal Lunchbox: Spring seminar series, Wellington.

CommunityNet tip: Flocking to the pictures.

Flock is a really good web browser, and it has some very special features.

http://flock.com

Flock is a derivative of Firefox, so there's ruggedness, quality and security, but Flock's real selling point is the way it helps you work with the *new* web: the social web.

Perhaps you followed the recent Full Code Press Challenge, where two teams of professional web designers competed to build a quality website for a non-profit organisation --- in just 24 hours. (The Code Blacks won, by the way, with their site for the Grampians disAbility Advocacy Association.)

http://fullcodepress.com

Volunteers at the event published a constant stream of photos, videos, blog posts, and Twitter 'tweets'. Flock was a great way to spectate at the competition.

Flock's Media Bar (View > Minibar > Media Bar) lets you subscribe to feeds from Flickr and YouTube and see thumbnails from all the photos and videos in a strip across the top of the window. It's easy to refresh the Media Bar and keep up with what's new, without needing to visit the YouTube or Flickr pages separately.

Perhaps you wanted to email the address of the page to a friend. At the right-hand end of Flock's Address Bar is an 'envelope' icon. Click that and Flock opens your email program, makes a new message, puts the title of the web page in the Subject and the URL for the page in the body.

Or maybe you'd like to blog about the post you're reading? Select some text and click the Blog Post icon on the Flock toolbar. A blog post box opens up containing the text you selected and a title. Edit it as you wish and click Publish. Your new post is now on your blog.

Or perhaps you'd like to add the page to your Del.icio.us (or Magnolia) bookmarks. Click the Star (Add to Favorites) beside the Address Bar and choose the service you want to send to.

Or how about just saving a snippet of the text or an image? Click the clipboard icon (Display the Clipboard) in the Flock Toolbar. A sidebar opens. Select the text or image and drag it into the sidebar. Click on the View link below the item in the sidebar to see what's in the clipping.

Dealing with RSS feeds? Click the RSS icon in the Address Bar to see what feeds are available for that page. A list pops up. Select the one you want. The window changes, the RSS feed sidebar opens and you can click the Subscribe button if you wish to add the feed to your other feeds. Click the Save link below an item to Save it --- it'll be available from the Feed sidebar when you need it.

Need to upload photos to a service such as Flickr? Click the upward arrow (Uploader) in the Flock toolbar. A window opens into which you can drag photos from your computer. Edit titles, descriptions and so on if you wish, then click Upload. Choose the correct photo account and click Upload. Flock handles the upload for you.

Honestly, just try it! And, buy the way, you can see the screenshots I made for this article at my Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tikouka/tags/flock/show

Panui tip contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://mactips.info/

Website tip: Tune in with Twitter.

Let's face it, developing a website is normally done over months behind closed doors, and most people would probably rank its entertainment value right next to "watching paint dry". But some impassioned volunteers, Flickr, YouTube, blogs, RSS feeds and especially Twitter turned that around recently.

In August 2007 something special happened for two community groups: in an event akin to a 'Geek Olympics' two teams of web professionals competed to show off their skills in developing a free website --- in 24 hours!

The websites they developed were for the Grampians disAbility Advocacy Association and The Ripple Effect, both non-profit organisations in Australia.

The event was called Full Code Press. It took place in Australia where one team from New Zealand (The Code Blacks) and one team from Australia took up the challenge. Read all about it at:

http://fullcodepress.com

Non-profit organisations in both New Zealand and Australia applied to win a free website. The organisations had about 4 weeks to prepare after being selected. The web teams discovered who their clients were only minutes before they began work.

By the end of 24 hours each community organisation had a full, working website that met their needs and into which they had full input. Although developing a website (which normally takes months, not hours) is hardly a spectator sport, still the event brought an audience along with it.

At first glance Twitter looks like a totally trivial waste of time, but it has an interesting value. In the [slightly edited] words of the Full Code Press news release:

"In the 24 hours of the event, dedicated volunteers took hundreds of photos --- over 330 of which were quickly edited and pumped onto Flickr.

These volunteers also wrote and posted 122 blog posts, allowing us to give minute by minute descriptions of the unfolding events.

The volunteers also videoed, edited, top and tailed (adding intros and sponsor logos) and then uploaded 17 amazing videos to YouTube --- while the event unfolded.

There were 175 official twitter posts (not counting the mass of twitter posts that were done by people from their own twitter accounts). Twitter turned out to be the hook that drew many people in to the event. The speed and frequency of posts as well as the immediacy and quickness of the comments allowed those away from the event to get a feeling for what was going on --- in real time."

Have you investigated Twitter yet?

http://twitter.com

Keep an eye open for the next Full Code Press challenge in February 2008. This time it will be an international event, held in Wellington. If you apply, your group could win a free website.

Watch for details on Groupings, the new Webguide blog for community groups, iwi groups, and not-for-profit organisations. The blog focuses on how community groups are using Internet technology in interesting and creative ways:

http://webguide.net.nz/blog

Panui tip contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://mactips.info

Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.

What's Hot on CommunityNet

Web statistics.

In August 2007 there were there were 30,515 visits (July: 28,785).

Last month, 77 new community items were published.

  • 15 news articles.
  • 11 links to new websites.
  • 22 jobs advertised.
  • 22 events advertised.
  • 07 training courses or resources.

Send in your free community notice or advertisement at:

www.community.net.nz/about/submit.

File downloads.

There were 8,216 files downloaded (July: 7,357). The most popular file download in August was the ‘Sample charitable trust deed and guide to its clauses’ with 315 downloads: in July this was also the top with 292 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.

Notes

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