Outcome Area 5: Digital content is understood
Overarching Goal: New Zealanders are well informed about the role and potential of digital content in our digital future
In our digital future:
- Connected digital devices will be as familiar as the radio, television and telephone are today
- Broadband and wireless networks will be utilities every household and business naturally expects to have
- Our children will grow up knowing digital content as a predominant means of producing, recording and accessing their culture
Why is understanding digital content important for a digital New Zealand?
Having an overview of our digital environment
Until recently in New Zealand, there has been little information available about how New Zealand is reacting to the changing digital environment, and how that reaction may be different from or similar to other parts of the world.
In the same way that geographical factors –distance from markets and a small, dispersed population – uniquely affect our ability to do business with the rest of the world, technological factors are affecting the way New Zealand is growing and developing in the digital space. New Zealand’s broadcasting environment, for instance, is unlike almost any other in the world – we need to anticipate how our country is likely to respond to a fully digital broadcast environment in order to make better investment decisions now.
Since 2006, a number of benchmarks and key statistics have begun to emerge, such as the annual benchmarking report on the comparative performance of our telecommunications regime29, and the biennial Household Use of Information and Communication Technology Survey, first published in April 2007. However, we need to better understand the digital environment, and in particular digital content, in the same way that nations such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and Malaysia already do.
Without that kind of understanding, we cannot plan for sustainable growth, track our progress to date, or identify characteristics and potential barriers important to technology markets or social participation.
“There is a real need to take a much broader perspective and record the social impact of the Internet and how it affects all of us. It is essential that we recognise how our society is changing as a result, what new challenges lie ahead in the digital age and whether further assistance or support is required for various groups. Research opportunities to see where New Zealand is positioned alongside the rest of the world should not be missed.”
– submission, draft NZ Digital Content Strategy discussion document, 2006
Connecting the digital enablers
If New Zealand is to be a leader in innovative digital content, become known for its access, use and sharing of content in digital form, and have world-class management and preservation practices for digital content and heritage, it needs a population that is aware of and understands the connections between digital content, digital technology and digital literacy, and how important it is to ensure all three of these dimensions are addressed in creating a digital New Zealand.
The process of developing the Digital Content Strategy provided, perhaps for the first time, an avenue for the consideration of information and communications technologies from the perspective of New Zealanders – individuals, communities and businesses that create, use and share content in digital form, and that are eager to explore and adapt to the possibilities of what digital technology has to offer.
This work however has not concluded with the publication of the strategy. There remains the need to deepen the future engagement of the strategy’s challenges with the business sector and, in particular, the digital content industry – including broadcasters, other media, web designers, the Nextspace cluster and New Zealand’s other leading content businesses.
The government needs to confidently embrace a future focus for digital content across a range of connected activity, including leveraging current funding focused on content production to support digital content; linking and addressing convergence issues in the broadcasting, telecommunications, IT and content sectors; and identifying ways to further develop the commercial content industry and enhance business productivity through smarter use of digital content.
Opportunities also need to be created to promote and publicise successes, encourage and assist small business and community groups to adopt digital technologies and make use of digital content, and generate a public enthusiasm for creating, protecting, using, sharing and preserving content through digital technologies. Preparing for our digital future means finding these digital opportunities in our present.
“The essential requirement of a government strategy such as this is the positive affirmation of the public interest and common good. Content is not ‘future neutral’, and we must provide ways of communities participating in the emerging future that strongly enables local democracy, community voice, and brings together all the content that supports them in making informed and wise choices.”
submission, draft NZ Digital Content Strategy discussion document, 2006
Researching New Zealand perspectives on digital content
During the development of the Digital Content Strategy, research reports were commissioned to help fill in some of the gaps in available New Zealand information. Two of these reports are described below.
Valuing Digital Content: Economic Perspectives was commissioned to help establish an economic and policy context for the strategy. The paper identifies the makeup of the digital content sector, international trends, different international approaches to digital content, industry connections between the digital content sector and other sectors, potential future approaches to measuring the contribution of digital content to the New Zealand economy, and opportunities and obstacles for growing the digital content sector and competing in the global marketplace.
Barriers to Accessing and Sharing Content Digitally: Discussions With Users outlines barriers to accessing and sharing content digitally that were identified during discussions with users of digital content. Interviews were conducted with over 100 participants from a range of organisations involved in architecture and design, business, education, health, history and genealogy, legal, Mäori, not-for-profit and the sciences. The barriers identified by these participants fell into areas of availability, affordability, literacy, behaviours and attitudes.
The Challenges ahead
- Drawing together New Zealand research and data to establish a view of our environment: We need to better connect the data we do have and generate research for data we do not have in order to track and plan our progress to a digital New Zealand.
- Raising awareness and deepening engagement between communities, business and government: Opportunities are needed to generate understanding and enthusiasm for digital content matters, deepen engagement with digital content challenges, and provide a future digital content focus across a range of connected activity.
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