Monday, 7 May 2007

New Zealand Edge goes daily


Greetings nzedge.com friends throughout NZ and in 86 countries.
After eight years of semi-regular publishing, we have moved daily.

Nzedge.com has enjoyed consistent and sometimes exponential growth in visitors and pageviews, and in the first part of 2007 we've experienced an acceleration of sign-ups.

The primary purpose of nzedge.com is storytelling about New Zealand and its role and initiatives in the world. Kevin Roberts and I started the idea of a New Zealand Diaspora (ie that we are a nation of five million people), and we have widely seeded the metaphor of “edge” to define our “reason for being”.

New Zealand has a complex and unique set of issues, and some simple opportunities. We seem a troubled country that is lacking a big picture. Despite our obvious blessings and many efforts, we are not a happy place, certainly not a resolved or aligned one, nor graced with a clear sense of articulated purpose. Cohesion is yet to be realized. We seem to be at our best when we're "winning the world from the edge" but too often we're stuck in the paradigm of small/distant/isolated/remote/irrelevant/dislocated. We need be none of these things, so how do we break free from domestic incrementalism, and put it all together in a global big picture way?

Since 1998, nzedge.com has sought to embroider a radically optimistic pathway to the New Zealand character, addressing the matters of big ideas, stellar individual and group performance, international connectedness, empowering the margins, and tapping energy from the past and the present. There are many other people and collectives focused on this in their own way. People have liked what we've created, we've grown globally and locally, and know we can be more engaging and indeed edgy if we publish more frequently.

Enter http://www.nzedge.blogspot.com/. Blogging is a fast and fun way to get stuff done. It’s personal, collaborative, and the interactive potential is rampant. Here’s how it will work:
• everyday we’ll publish something new or from our archive
• you can access this by going direct to the blog
• or you can register on the blog for the daily content to be sent to you direct by email or RSS
• each week we’ll send you a summary of what we have published
• if the frequency of publishing is too great for your appetite, you can delete or unsubscribe, and access the site at a more leisurely pace

There will be guest contributors; we will be tangentially topical; we will draw on the vast archive we have built over the past eight years; and on Sundays we will publish only pictures.

We open today with the latest entry in our “Heroes” gallery, the story of Ettie Rout, “guardian angel of the Anzacs” - a “scandalous woman” who was infamous for breaching social mores in sexual health and practice. A story from the edge. By Paul Ward and Ingrid Horrocks with thanks to Jane Tolerton. 1700 words.

In addition, we catch up with an early 2007 column in the Nga Kupu Aroha/Words of Love series by social innovator and activist Denis O'Reilly, this about Parihaka in Taranaki - the history, and the recent Festival. It's titled Arohamai (Forgive Me).

Rounding out is post by Kevin Roberts on the challenges facing New Zealand rugby (top two priorities are the on field performance of the All Blacks, and the legacy of the All Black reputation and character).

Please visit nzedge.blogspot.com now, and register for a daily supplement of inspirational news, insights, and provocations.

Brian Sweeney
Producer, New Zealand Edge
http://www.nzedge.com/
brian@nzedge.com

2 comments:

JP Henderson said...

Cheers guys

Great work setting up the blog.
Its a big step being able to get feedback on articles/posts directly. Im looking forward to a stories evolving with the comments added.

I feel that it is important to
bring together the million or so kiwis who just happen to not be in NZ at the moment.In particular, give them a location to voice what they feel. Even though we are not present there are issuses happening in NZ that determine when(/if) we return, and what we return to.

10 years ago, to bring together this scattered group of opinions would have been an impossible task. Now it is possible, and it would be amazing to say if that what we write/reply/comment would have some influence on what happens back home.

Regards

Sapporo, Japan

Anonymous said...

Congrats; I prefer RSS to e-mail newsletters. I'd be interested to read an expansion of your thoughts above; as a recently-returned citizen I'm trying to understand what it really means to be a NZer.

What exactly are our issues? Which opportunities are simple? In what way are we troubled? We're not happy? (Perhaps Wellington is different from the rest of the country?) What is not resolved/ aligned/ cohesive? I understand your words, but not their meaning. How about posting "An introduction to NZ on the edge" for people who have been away a while?