Updates from DigitalNZ

Related items and other design changes

Posted on 01 July 2022 by Kelly

In the renewal spirit of Matariki, DigitalNZ released several design changes across digitalnz.org last week with the aim of making the collections and content even easier to use, and to increase clarity and consistency in some areas.

We have worked with designers from our vendor Boost on this and used user feedback to inform it — thanks Emma and Maryam! The tīma is very excited to present these changes and keen to... Read more


New content partners and collections — March 2022

Posted on 25 March 2022 by Kelly

New content partners

Nau mai, haere mai! Welcome to our latest new content partners and collections — Teviot District Museum, Canterbury Stories from Christchurch City Libraries, Central Hawke’s Bay Museum, Thames Museum, The Dowse Art Museum, Eketahuna & Districts Early Settlers Museum Society, Woodville Art and History, Cambridge Museum, and Te Hikoi Museum.

The Dowse Art Museum

A framed artwork made of sisal and red, brown and black wool.

Image: Framed Fibre... Read more


New content partners and collections — December 2021

Posted on 17 December 2021 by Kelly

New content partners

Nau mai, haere mai! We are pleased to welcome six new content partners — Awarua Communications Museum, FloraScales.com, Glentunnel Museum, Middlemarch Museum, PrideNZ, Te Toi Uku Crown Lynn and Clayworks Museum — and a new collection, VietnamWar.govt.nz from Manatū Taonga, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.

We welcome you to the DigitalNZ whānau.

VietnamWar.govt.nz from Ministry of... Read more


Happy birthday DigitalNZ!

Posted on 17 December 2021 by Kelly

Earlier this month we celebrated our 13th birthday. On 3 December 2008 digitalnz.org was officially launched with an API designed to make NZ's digital content available via a single search. This picture of our homepage was archived by the National Library when we were only 3 months old.

Screenshot of DigitalNZ.org homepage.

Image: Screenshot of the DigitalNZ homepage, 2009. Archived by the National Library of New Zealand.


Accessing the DigitalNZ API

Posted on 13 December 2021 by James Robertson

We have recently made two changes to the way people authenticate with the DigitalNZ API.

Keyless entry

The first, and hopefully the most impactful change, was to remove the requirement for an API key (secret ID) to access public data. This means that anyone can query our API and retrieve structured, open data for individual records or a collection of records (search).

We hope that this change will further lower the barrier to... Read more


New content partners — September 2021

Posted on 24 September 2021 by Kelly

Nau mai, haere mai! We're thrilled to welcome four new content partners to DigitalNZ — The Coconet TV, New Zealand Outdoor Art, Tairāwhiti Museum Te Whare Taonga o Tairāwhiti , and Te Awamutu Museum.

It's wonderful to point to your collections from digitalnz.org and welcome you to the DigitalNZ whānau.

The Coconet TV

A yellow coloured drink in a glass with a straw, four emojis including the Tongan flag and a palm tree, and the text 'Mangi otai'.

Image: Mango Otai. Video from The CoconetTV.

Te Awamutu Museum

A cast iron printing press.

Image: Te Hokioi... Read more


Updated API documentation

Posted on 10 February 2021 by Dan

One of the strongest pieces of feedback from last year’s API survey was that we needed to improve our API documentation and support. This didn’t come as a surprise and was already on our backlog of work — but it was good motivation to finally get it done.

New OpenAPI specification on SwaggerHub

This is the most comprehensive set of API docs we’ve ever had! It includes fields, tips, and tricks that never made it into the original... Read more


Upload your own images to DigitalNZ

Posted on 10 November 2020 by Admin

We're excited to let you know that you can now upload your personal whakaahua/images to stories, where they will appear alongside items available on DigitalNZ.

What whakaahua/images should I upload?

You can upload any image that helps tell your story. For example, you could upload an image of your whānau, an image of your rohe, or an image of an interesting historical event. Maybe you’d like to compare a contemporary... Read more


Findings from our API survey

Posted on 29 October 2020 by Dan

What was the API Survey?

Seeking to better understand the needs of people using DigitalNZ’s API, we sent out a brief survey on 30 June to a few hundred DigitalNZ accounts that had activity on their API keys. We were hoping to hear directly from people using the API service so that we could identify and prioritise changes to help people achieve their goals.

How did it go?

We received 20 responses, mostly positive or satisfied,... Read more


Printing stories and other site changes

Posted on 14 July 2020 by Admin

We’ve recently made a small change to DigitalNZ stories that will make it easier for teachers and other users to turn a digital resource into a physical one.

How to print a DigitalNZ story

Stories are the way in which people bring together interesting items on DigitalNZ and keep them in one useful place. Now, when you make a story you can print it out and it will keep its tidy formatting and look the same as it does... Read more


June 2020 newsletter

Posted on 09 June 2020 by Thomasin

Four times a year we send out a newsletter where we share any updates on www.digitalnz.org, research we're working on, staff comings and goings, new content partners, and other tidbits of interest.

The newsletter currently goes out to all our wonderful content partners, but if you're interested in our work, you're most welcome to have a read here:

June 2020 newsletter.

The June 2020 edition features:


DigitalNZ for our new visitors

Posted on 06 May 2020 by Thomasin

Our analytics show us that we’re receiving a lot of first-time visitors at the moment, so if you’re new to DigitalNZ, this blog post is for you, to briefly explain what DigitalNZ is and how it can be used.

Accessing online resources from home

While many people across the world are working, learning, and teaching at home, we’re hoping DigitalNZ will be a useful website to find relevant digital material — images, videos, audio,... Read more


March 2020 newsletter

Posted on 12 March 2020 by Admin

Each quarter we send out a newsletter where we share any updates on www.digitalnz.org, research projects we're working on, staff comings and goings, and other tidbits of interest.

The newsletter currently goes out to all our wonderful content partners, but if you're interested in our work, you're most welcome to have a read here:

March 2020 newsletter.

The March 2020 edition features:


New te ao and te reo Māori collections

Posted on 09 January 2020 by Admin

In our December Newsletterto our content partners, we announced a range of new partners and collections to DigitalNZ. In amongst these, we particularly wanted to highlight three exciting new collections full of material in te reo Māori and related to te ao Māori.

Bishop Selwyn Collection of Early Māori Documents (University of Waikato)

Written between 1842 and 1872, this collection of letters between New... Read more


December 2019 newsletter

Posted on 18 December 2019 by Admin

Each quarter we send out a newsletter where we share any updates on www.digitalnz.org, research projects we're working on, staff comings and goings, and other tidbits of interest. The newsletter currently goes out to all our content partners and we'll soon have a place where anyone who's interested can sign up.

In the meantime, you can have a read of our December 2019 newsletter.

In this edition we feature:


September 2019 newsletter

Posted on 01 October 2019 by Admin

We send out a quarterly newsletter where we share any updates on www.digitalnz.org, research projects we're working on, staff comings and goings, and other tidbits of interest. The newsletter currently goes out to all our content partners and we'll soon have a place where anyone who's interested can sign up.

In the meantime, you can have a read of our September 2019 newsletter.

In September's edition we talk about:


New Collection: Torpedo Bay Navy Museum Medal Display

Posted on 28 August 2019 by Thomasin

We're delighted to welcome the Torpedo Bay Navy Museum as a content partner, with their Medal Display Collection now available via DigitalNZ.

This collection of over 180 images shows how they were worn by their recipient, arranged and mounted in the order they were received. Not only do the images tell a story of each recipient - Torpedo Bay Navy Museum's online archive provides detailed text information on each... Read more


July 2019 newsletter

Posted on 16 July 2019 by Thomasin

We send out a quarterly newsletter where we share any updates on www.digitalnz.org, research projects we're working on, staff comings and goings, and other tidbits of interest.

The newsletter currently goes out to all our content partners and we'll soon have a place where anyone who's interested can sign up.

In the meantime, you can have a read of our July 2019 newsletter.

In July's edition we talk about:


New content partners

Posted on 22 May 2019 by Thomasin

It’s always exciting to add new content partners to the DigitalNZ whānau and we’ve been working with some wonderful institutions recently to make their collections discoverable on our site.

National Army Museum

The National Army Museum in Waiouru has an extensive collection of personal photo albums of NZ soldiers in World War I which they've been working to make available online. This collection uncovers the personal side of war... Read more


March 2019 newsletter

Posted on 19 March 2019 by Thomasin

We send out a quarterly newsletter where we share any updates on www.digitalnz.org, research projects we're working on, staff comings and goings, and other tidbits of interest.

The newsletter currently goes out to all our content partners and we'll soon have a place where anyone who's interested can sign up.

In the meantime, you can have a read of our March 2019 newsletter.

In this edition we talk about: