Canterbury

Community Partnership funding to create an open access, interactive online educational curriculum about spinal injury.  Widely anticipated use for those with SCI, their families, providers and the wider public. 

The project has generated a huge amount of interest from both New Zealand and overseas. As well as providing the infrastructure for self-paced learning, the use of an online Learning Management System will allow for ongoing communication amongst the SCI community.

www.nzspinaltrust.org.nz

Community Partnership funding will enable the provision of an email counselling service likely to benefit those with disability (e.g. hearing impaired), those with other barriers - for example - geographical, financial, childcare, and work commitments.

The email counselling service is now available, enabling individuals to connect with a counsellor, which for some has been a unique experience. People have also been able to use the service for self-help purposes by accessing resources and support online, for some these resources were not readily available to them previously due to locality or circumstances. Our email service has also given clients the opportunity to contact their counsellor between face-to-face sessions or when they are away from home.

www.homeandfamily.net.nz

Community Partnership funding for an ICT Audit of local Pasifika communities, creating multilingual e-learning centre and digital Pasifika content and online communities.

Phase One of the Pasifika Digital Navigators Project is now completed.  The research plan for the ICT audit has been developed in collaboration between Core Education, an organisation that specialises in educational action research, and Canterbury Pasifika Limited. The audit is designed to inform the development of a Pasifika relearning Centre, and is contributing toward a Christchurch Pasifika eStrategy.

www.canterburypasifika.org.nz

Community Partnership funding is being used to develop ARScope (binoculars to view virtual content).

An ARScope installation has been confirmed and content designed to make good use of the space and the artefacts within it. Content development is going well. Certain characteristics of the space and needs of people administering it have prompted some revisions of hardware and software. A functional prototype of hardware and software has been built and demonstrated to the collaborators which has highlighted a number of things to address for version 2. Collaboration has taken place with approximately 30 people, two presentations have been given, and five Australasian companies have benefited from the research where appropriate. Finding reliable, affordable, practical sensor solutions has proved challenging, but a workable solution is in place and ideas to improve it further are being investigated. Stereo panoramas have been successfully recorded, requiring the building of a dedicated rig.

www.mindspacesolutions.com

Community Partnership funding will be used to implement an ICT needs assessment for the Muslim Community in Canterbury.

The first phase of three in the wider project has been completed and the need for a website to support the Muslim community has been identified.

www.core-ed.net

Community Partnership funding will be used to create a web-based clearing house 'Mediascape NZ' for NZ Media information and research managed by the NZ Broadcasting School.

The Mediascape website is now live, specialising in sharing information, research and views about the media in New Zealand. Mediascape intends to become an archive of best practice that can inform creative linkages between the government, media industry, ITC agencies, media researchers, families and young people. The site has been endorsed by National Commission for Unesco Associated with the National Association of Media Educators.

www.cpit.ac.nz/schools/broadcasting

Community Partnership funding has increased the functionality of the Balance NZ website to enable better access to information (incorporating more regional groups), host peer support forums and run training for clients. The advantage of using ICT as users remain anonymous which avoids the stigma associated with mental health.

The site includes online support groups and a range of online courses and interactive learning opportunities. Creating HOPE (Health through Online Peer support and Education) seeks to create an online community for those affected by bipolar disorder or depression so that can readily access peer support.

www.balance.org.nz

Canterbury Development Corporation

Community Partnership funding was granted to develop the Community Chest - an online interactive training tool targeted to NFPs professional development programmes, including fundraising, financial management and governance.

The Community Chest Project (TC2) was successfully launched at the end of October 2007. The Steering Group for the development of TC2 was formed, and the Terms of Reference for that body were agreed. A concept plan for the TC2 site itself was generated and distributed for comment to those who expressed an interest, or had appropriate expertise in such areas as online learning, related technologies, or an understanding of the community sector and its needs. The concept plan met with considerable approval and was transposed into a full set of functional specifications. The site itself is now being developed by Catalyst IT. 

www.cdc.org.nz

Canterbury Communications Trust

Community Partnership funding to establish a public issues forum in Canterbury using a model developed by E-democracy.org which has been used successfully in the USA and UK.

The Canterbury Online Public Issues Forum was launched in April 2007 and by October 2007 it had over 200 members, receiving over 250 posts per month from around 60 different authors. Participants in the forum discuss issues like local government elections, traffic and public transport, water management, and problems with cats. With many elected officials still members, the forum has the potential to increase accountability and engagement between local government, and citizens. The forum is overseen by a volunteer steering team, who support the Forum Manager, and ensure that the forum is run in a non-partisan manner. The steering team is governed by the Canterbury Communications Trust.

canterburyissues.org.nz