Out Of Interest
FAQ about the Institute - Sophia Faure asks eleven questions

FAQ about the Institute – Sophia Faure asks eleven questions

Below is a series of questions posed to me by Sophia Faure as part of an assignment for her Government and Public Policy paper. Sophia is studying a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Politics at the University of Otago. I think they are excellent questions that get to the heart of what...
Remember What Is Important to You This Anzac Day

Remember What Is Important to You This Anzac Day

I took this picture early Tuesday morning on the way to work. I had turned to read the chalked text to find not only some great words left by some clever person but also a terrific sunrise, with all my follow companions walking towards me. It somehow captured Anzac Day for me – looking back...
Yo Future Now Showing

Yo Future Now Showing

Yo Future, an exciting new show directed by Jo Randerson, opened in Auckland last night and will be running until 25 October. The show is being put on by the production company Show Pony, who describe it thus: ‘Yo Future is an ensemble of Auckland’s young people exploring their thoughts, fears, and hopes for the future through...
Green Apple’s 100% renewable energy plans extend to hydro power

Green Apple’s 100% renewable energy plans extend to hydro power

Apple has turned a green leaf by committing to a goal of running all its facilities on 100% renewable energy. They are close to achieving this goal; having reached 75% of worldwide facilities to date. This is impressive considering the explosion of cloud based data storage in the last few years, and the additional power...
Predicted rise in new cancer cases worldwide

Predicted rise in new cancer cases worldwide

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialized agency of the United Nations World Health Organization has recently released the World Cancer Report. The report has predicted a rise in new cancer cases worldwide; to 22 million up from 14 million within the next 20 years. Fatality rates are also expected to rise from 8.2...
Christian Silver's TEDxYouth talk

Christian Silver’s TEDxYouth talk

Christian Silver has recently given a talk in Auckland at the independently organised TEDxYouth event. Christian spoke about his Decode system, which aims to promote programming amongst youth and to help people understand how they can make the most out of new technologies. Christian was a participant at both StrategyNZ and EmpowerNZ and you can read more about his project on...
Patriotism verses Corporatism

Patriotism verses Corporatism

A lot can be learnt about the America’s Cup experience, not just about boat design but about kiwis. I am proud Dean Barker and his crew did not crow too early and did not complain at the end. There is nothing harder than falling from a great height, so to carry this off with such...
A third of environmental promises are being broken, says researcher

A third of environmental promises are being broken, says researcher

The Institute recently came across an interesting investigation revealing that more than a third of environmental promises are being broken by resource consent holders in New Zealand. We caught up with University of Waikato PhD candidate Marie Brown to find out more about her the results of her investigation. Marie studied science and law at...
Young programmer tells us about his new project: Decode

Young programmer tells us about his new project: Decode

Decode is a New Zealand based project aimed at promoting programming in the youth of the world. Our concerns lie in what we call the rising consumerism in technology, where people are just consuming the world’s most powerful development and not actually making good use of it. If this goes on for too long, our...
We should be able to do better than this!

We should be able to do better than this!

This is the entrance to Bowen House – the 22-storey office building on the corner of Lambton Quay and Bowen Street in Wellington home to many members of Parliament and parliamentary support staff. I was there yesterday vising an MP and was stuck by how unceremonious the entrance way to this building is. There should be...
Forest and Bird includes aquaculture in latest Best Fish Guide

Forest and Bird includes aquaculture in latest Best Fish Guide

Today Forest and Bird launched their 2020-14 Best Fish Guide. For the first time the guide includes farmed fish (aquaculture) as well as wild fisheries. The guide aims to promote sustainable fisheries. Forest and Bird’s marine scientists assess a wide range of environmental effects and use a ‘traffic light’ system to rank species according to its...
VIDEO: How geeks opened up government in the UK

VIDEO: How geeks opened up government in the UK

For anyone interested in open government, data management and development of digital services, we recommend you check out this video from the Guardian. As the description notes: ‘An elite team of digital experts has sparked a radical shake-up in the way the government does its business. Some of the UK’s best designers and developers are working...