Today I sent email to, and got replies from, the acting CEO of New Zealand On Air, and the general editor of Te Ara (the Encyclopedia of New Zealand). I love that these people are so accessible.

Today’s accomplishments: moved the dead cars out of our garage so the emptying of the house can begin in earnest; planted more plants; cleaned windows. I’m throwing myself more into this house and property than I have ever done with any house before. I think feel this one is important.

I learned that New Zealand has a Digital Strategy, which fittingly has its own website. There are some interesting case studies there, including Te Ara and CommunityNet Aotearoa (a kind of civic action site). I eventually found Matapihi, a single search box that queries a lot of digital archives. There’s a big push as part of the Digital Strategy to get interop between all the archives of cultural artifacts, which is nice to see. Check out the Dublin Core metadata in a representative page (view source to see the DC.* elements).

PS: I love the LazyWeb! Reader Graeme Merrall sent in a link to the song that William’s singing. I wonder: if I mention the grass is getting long, will he whip around and mow it for me? :-)