Dame Susan Devoy was recently appointed Race Relations Commissioner, amidst some controversy. Like many, I was surprised by the appointment – I’d expected someone to be appointed to the position had some experience in the field, and was known to practitioners. It’s a done deal now – the appointment has been made, and I think…
Continue reading →In case you missed it, fellow Klezmer Reb David Weinstein and I were on National Radio on 12 July talking about Klezmer music, and why it’s popular in New Zealand. You can listen to the programme in its full glory, thanks to Radio New Zealand.
Continue reading →I was recently interviewed about why we invested in Lightning Lab, New Zealand’s first digital accelerator. Here’s the YouTube clip: We’d been wanting to start an accelerator for the last few years in Wellington, and when CreativeHQ pulled together the key players, we quickly jumped on board. So why did we invest in the accelerator…
Continue reading →Today is Commonwealth Day, which celebrates the establishment of the Commonwealth of Nations whose values as expressed by the Commonwealth Charter include the promotion of democracy, human rights, international peace and security, tolerance respect and understanding, freedom of expression, the rule of law, good governance, sustainable development, protecting the environment, access to health eduction food…
Continue reading →A decade is a very long time in the startup universe. For New Zealand, the real opportunity and challenge is going to be to capitalise on the weightless economy, moving from more traditional physical commodities to producing valuable software, content, games, and other digital products. That involves getting more closely connected on a person-to-person and…
Continue reading →Last night, the Klezmer Rebs performed for the Hanukah party in Wellington’s Civic Square. I felt particularly elated to be playing Klezmer music in the main square of my home town, a thriving multicultural city that has gone from strength to strength in the thirty years that I’ve called it home. Props to our Mayor…
Continue reading →After my stint on Radio New Zealand Saturday Morning with Kim Hill this morning, I was asked to provide a list of the attributes of what I consider to be a good startup. You can listen to or download the audio: Here’s my shopping list of criteria for good startups: 1. Market a) Global b)…
Continue reading →InternetNZ held NetHui this year, a multistakeholder conference in which we tried to take the Internet out of the server room and to the nation. After all, just about everybody is a stakeholder in the Internet, and there are big opportunities to be uncovered in getting together to discuss how the Internet is governed and…
Continue reading →This year’s NetHui conference was full of unexpected delights, but this gave me the biggest (if shortest) shock – Yes, I had finally achieved my lifelong ambition of being popular, even if only for fifteen seconds. Thank you, tweeps.
Continue reading →The Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) went live today at http://nzsl.vuw.ac.nz/ This online dictionary is the culmination of over twenty years of work, and I’m proud to say that I’ve been involved since the beginning. The dictionary is an extensive resource for people who use or want to learn NZSL. Videos accompany…
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