Indigenous voices

Digital technology and preserving Indigenous cultures

What role can digital technology play in the preservation of Indigenous cultures in a postcolonial world?

See Dr Rachael Ka’ai-Mahuta talk about why digital preservation is imperative to ensure that the knowledge and information that is shared digitally by indigenous communities be collected, preserved and made accessible to future generations.

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDocFXLhOCI

Te Reo Petition 40th Anniversary

From a Wellington regional Māori language day to 2016’s Māori language week (Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori). Things have come a long way since the te reo petition was first taken to parliament in 1972.

Here some of the original Te Reo Maori Society members attend a commemorative reception for the 40th anniversary of the presentation of the Māori Language petition to Parliament in 1972. They are posing in front of parliament holding a photograph of the historic 1972 event, a t-shirt, campaign poster, and a photocopy of the petition.

Acquiring born digital photographs is a regular part of the Library’s business and new material is offered to the Library each month. We hold around 100,000 items, forming almost 5% of the Photographs collection and have been adding born-digital photographs to the collections since the early 2000s. In 2011 the Library collected its first collection of photographs that were taken on a mobile phone: a set of photographs taken by a rugby fan during the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Dylan Owen regularly donates his photographs to to Library. His photographs are amongst the earliest digitally born images the Library holds. He is a dedicated documentary photographer who covers many subjects, including events in Wellington that the Library would not otherwise get photographs of. Because of the range and the quality of his images, they are in frequent demand by Library users.

More born digital collections

Tymar Lighting — photographs of mostly New Zealand bands and musicians, performing mainly in Wellington, taken December 2009 to March 2014.

Damer Farrell — photographs of the West Coast, includes sport, community and work related events.

Tony Hurst — photographs of a GNS Science trip to Antarctica by Jonathan Adie and Tony Hurst.

Becker Fraser Photos — photographs relating to the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

What do you want to keep forever?

What have you been making that you want to keep safe? Digital publications should be sent to the Library's Legal Deposit team, and the Turnbull would love to see anything you'd like to donate.

Submit your digital publications under Legal Deposit
Donate your digital items to the Turnbull