Tuesday 15 October 2002 Media Statement

Online Encyclopedia calls for technology partners

Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Judith Tizard said that this week’s call for technology partners represented an important stage in the development of the online Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage, which is developing the project, has sought registrations of interest in the project. The Ministry is asking technology partners to provide web design, a content management system, and hosting for the site.

Judith Tizard said that the Encyclopedia will provide an online multimedia introduction to the natural environment, history, culture, and peoples of this country, and will be free to users. It will combine short essays with photographs, sounds, moving images, documents, graphs and maps in an exciting, entertaining and instructive way. It is intended that the Encyclopedia will be available in both Maori and English.

“The Encyclopedia will be a hugely significant resource for all New Zealanders and will have a particular relevance in schools and in the Maori community,” Judith Tizard said.

The Encyclopedia will be published online progressively over a nine-year period, and access to the website will be free of charge.

Registration of interest closes on November 8; and short-listed organisations will then be asked to prepare detailed tenders. More information can be obtained from the Ministry’s website www.mch.govt.nz; or by emailing enzpm@mch.govt.nz.

ENDS

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