Updates from DigitalNZ
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:
the new look for... Read more
Te Puni Kōkiri
Posted on 14 March 2019 by Thomasin
We are delighted to welcome Te Puni Kōkiri as our newest content partner. Te Puni Kōkiri are the principal adviser on Māori-Crown relations and responsible for a range of areas, including te reo Māori, the environment and natural resources, as well as cultural and social issues.
One of DigitalNZ's key content priorities is "content created by and relating to Māori communities and in te reo Māori". So we are delighted to now be... Read more
A fresh new look
Posted on 28 February 2019 by Thomasin
You may have recently noticed some changes on DigitalNZ. We've been working on the individual item pages on the site and have improved both the design and the way information is worded and expressed alongside each item.
We've redesigned the pages so that the item information on DigitalNZ is more succinct and clear. The biggest change you'll see is in how copyright information is expressed. DigitalNZ's goal has always been... Read more
Newsflash: DigitalNZ reveals bold new moves
Posted on 21 August 2017 by Admin
Kia ora koutou,
Today we have some fabulous news, and most likely you’re reading this having already spotted our very new look – how could you not?DigitalNZ is the same, but different. We’ve been in the process of adding features, improving our accessibility and as always making things easier for you to find. As you’ll see the site is looking fresh, bright and clean. You may be in shock, you may feel you’ve landed in... Read more
These are the people in your neighbourhood
Posted on 24 February 2017 by Thomasin
DigitalNZ is expanding all the time, constantly adding wonderful content partners and their collections to our search. Our content partners are the lifeblood of our work, without the varied and stimulating New Zealand content we share we wouldn’t be the aggregator we are. And, in order to stay relevant, and to keep up with the new digital collections being developed constantly, we’re always on the look-out for new... Read more
DigitalNZ wins at the NZ Open Source Awards
Posted on 01 November 2016 by Thomasin
On 25 October, a cluster of our DigitalNZ team, present and past, arrived at Te Papa for the Open Source Awards. We were finalists for the third time, and hopeful of a win.
Image: DigitalNZ's trophy at the NZ Open Source Awards at Te Papa.
The awards began their life in 2007, and are a biennial celebration of innovative open source projects that are licensed for reuse – a natural fit with DigitalNZ’s... Read more
Introducing beta.digitalnz.org
Posted on 23 September 2016 by Fiona
Today beta.digitalnz.org says 'Kia ora world!' and takes a little bow. We're very pleased to introduce you to the work we've been undertaking over the last months and encourage you to have a click around and explore our new site.
This is the first small step in the journey that is refreshing and upgrading the digitalnz.org search site. You will see that the beta is a basic version of the current ... Read more
Update on DigitalNZ’s big year of renovations
Posted on 06 September 2016 by Fiona
As we mentioned back in March, we've got a whole lot going on this year. We're continuing to work hard on our renovation of the DigitalNZ site and services. As with many renovation projects a lot of hard work has been done “back of house”. We've been getting DigitalNZ’s infrastructure ready for the expanded functionality and we've been working on the wireframes - a blueprint that outlines the... Read more
Dunedin City Council Archives and the public domain
Posted on 14 June 2016 by Thomasin
At DigitalNZ, we're always keen to see online collections with clear and consistent licensing, and we're especially interested in those collections that apply open licenses.
The Dunedin City Council Archivesis home to many fascinating records about Dunedin's history, some of which they have been digitising and uploading to Flickr over the last couple of years. We're lucky to work with them... Read more
Changes afoot in 2016
Posted on 29 March 2016 by Fiona
It's April already. How did that happen? 2016 is a big year for us. We are making changes to www.digitalnz.org which will include exciting features, as well as the addition of existing National Library services into DigitalNZ. We're thinking of it as a bit of a house renovation!
Malcolm and Wendy Ackerley in kitchen of their Petone home. Photograph taken by Phil Reid. Further negatives of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref:... Read more
Supplejack and Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Posted on 02 December 2015 by Lisa
One of the most exciting things about working on an open source project is seeing other people make use of things you've made. For the last few months Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision have been using DigitalNZ’s Supplejack data harvesting and search platform to bring together their various data sources and build a new online catalogue. Last week I caught up with Ellen Pullar, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s Digital... Read more
The DigitalNZ Day
Posted on 18 November 2015 by Fiona
On 15 October, over 40 people gathered at the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington, to take part in DigitalNZ Day. This day was a forum for people to share their thoughts on the future of DigitalNZ and talk about how DigitalNZ could work more collaboratively.
In the first part of the day the DigitalNZ team presented on our progress in 2015, with a deep dive into some key pieces of our work:
values research
people concepts
and the... Read more
Gifs, libraries, and digital literacies
Posted on 05 November 2015 by Thomasin
Over the last couple of months, I've had the pleasure of spending some time with the good folk at public libraries (and a couple of clubhouses) across New Zealand.
Alongside the GIF IT UP challenge that we are currently running, I developed a bunch of different animated gif-making workshops, so that librarians could learn how to make animated gifs. The sessions are designed to support participants to run their own... Read more
Introducing the DigitalNZ Concepts API
Posted on 06 October 2015 by Thomasin
Update, November 2023: DigitalNZ no longer supports the Concepts API service. Links on this page no longer work.
Linked data experiments
At the 2013 National Digital Forum we shared our initial linked dataexperiments. During the intervening period we have continued to explore these ideas. Today we release the first proper iteration of our Concepts API and we are very excited!We want this data service to be simple and... Read more
How to create an animated GIF using GIMP software
Posted on 08 September 2015 by Admin
1. Find an image
Before making our GIF, we need to make sure the content we are animating is copyright-free. Using search services such as DigitalNZ, the Digital Public Library of America, Europeana, and Trove, are easy ways to access copyright-free photographs, videos, and huge range of other material. These services will also allow you to search by usage, so you know that you are only returning results... Read more
How to make an animated GIF from a stereograph
Posted on 07 September 2015 by Thomasin
Stereographs were a type of photograph popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were initially created by taking a photograph, slightly shifting the camera, and taking another photograph of the same scene. When viewed through a stereoscope, a special device for viewing these images, the two photographs create the illusion of depth. Today, we can recreate the trompe l’oeil 3D effect of the... Read more
How to make a simple animated GIF with free software
Posted on 07 September 2015 by Thomasin
1. FIND AN IMAGE
Before making our GIF, we need to make sure the content we are animating is copyright-free. Using search services such as DigitalNZ, the Digital Public Library of America, Europeana, and Trove, are easy ways to access copyright-free photographs, videos, and huge range of other material. These services will also allow you to search by usage, so you know that you are only returning results... Read more
Content wrap-up: April–July 2015
Posted on 01 July 2015 by Ting
Over the last few months we have welcomed more great content partners to DigitalNZ. We now have a total of 186 content partners with over 29 million searchable items on www.digitalnz.org. This quarter we were really excited to work with a number of New Zealand museums, a family collection of WW1 photographs, a major international partner, and we have also brought in additional collections from existing content partners.
Content wrap-up: Jan–March 2015
Posted on 07 April 2015 by Thomasin
What’s new on DigitalNZ? Well, we’re glad you asked. This year we thought we’d post a quarterly content wrap-up to let you know what excellent new collections we’ve been working with and what new content you can find on DigitalNZ.
New content in the first quarter of 2015 was varied: videos, research papers, data, and artwork.
It’s not every day we are approached to harvest content entitled ‘Burlesque Brain’! But we were... Read more
Creative reuse and digital collections
Posted on 13 February 2015 by Thomasin
Here at DigitalNZ we’ve been circling the problem of creative reuse of digital collections for a number of years now. Needless to say, it’s a tricky one.
We’ve run competitions to encourage and celebrate the reuse of openly licensed content: Mix & Mash, and most recently, GIF IT UP, a GIF-making competition we ran with the Digital Public Library of America. Whilst these have been successful and people have made... Read more