PUBLICITY RELEASE
FOR RELEASE WEEK MON MAY 30 TO SUN JUNE 5
Online and On To It on Maori Television
An award-winning young Maori web designer, online banking, the workings of the Huntly Power Station, Big Game hunting
and technology for trainee surgeons are thrown into a mixed bag of technological wonders featured on CYBERWORLD, this
Monday May 30 at 6.00 PM.
Hosted by Mana Epiha and Oriini Kaipara, CYBERWORLD is a 13-part series that showcases all the latest technology,
invention, ingenuity and internet news on both the Maori and English languages every Monday at 6.00 PM on Maori
Television.
This week, the duo kicks off by seeking out ingenuity at its finest through an interview with Auckland Medical School
doctor and lecturer Phil Blyth. Dr Blyth gives a run down on the X-Box / Playstation-type ‘game’ or simulation training
that has been designed to help trainee surgeons with routine surgical procedures. The software enables students to read
x-rays and simulate an operation by choosing the points at which they will drill, the angle at which it would be
inserted, as well as cut and dress the skin.
“The operation I’ve simulated is to help trainee surgeons with one of the operations they perform each week. In their
early training, they haven’t had to read off two x-rays with a 3D approach. Simulation is a form of training that is
going to increase and we’re starting to enter the era when computers and simulators are going to provide essential
training. It’s going to be used for any orthopaedic operation that’s going to require the x-ray machine to guide your
screw placement. So, some types of back surgery, broken wrists and broken thigh bones are all applicable.”
From the operation table to an operating genius, CYBERWORLD then visits with Che Tamahori (Ngati Porou), who is the
creative director for internet design company Shift. With offices located in Auckland and Wellington, Shift is the
creative force behind a range of superb websites, including Tourism New Zealand, Housing New Zealand Corporation,
Wellington’s Victoria University, Montieths and more internet leaders.
Che obtained a Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design from Wanganui Polytechnic and went on to win several awards for his
design work, including first prize in the 1996 TUANZ Internet Cook-Off and the 1997 Australian ATOM awards in three
sections. Further more, in 1998 he received a silver medal in I.D. magazine's New Media Review.
With sound advice for burgeoning graduates, Che says the first pit stop is passion. “I love working on lush looking
sites. My first love is design – creating something that looks beautiful. But, my other passion is to create things that
are useful for people to use. The HYPERLINK "http://www.purenz.com" www.purenz.com site that we work on has 10,000 pages
in six languages, so you need to be organised.”
He adds that his current projects capturing his imagination includes a nine-year project to create a new online
encyclopaedia about New Zealand’s geography and people and a separate project about the significance and history of the
haka.
CYBERWORLD also checks out the power behind the Huntly Power Station, introduces new Maori technological words and
reviews Cabela’s new high-end game, Big Game Hunter. And, the series’ regular ‘cyber angel’ Te Aroma More leads viewers
through the convenient and cost-effective world of internet banking.
CYBERWORLD screens this Monday May 30 at 6.00 PM.
Ends