Connected: Inglewood High School Students accessing the Taranaki Information Network.
An award-winning technology project is turning Taranaki people on to their own history.
The Taranaki Information Network (TIN) links 38 schools, four district libraries and one visitor information centre to the wealth of resources at Puke Ariki - the region's new combined library, museum and visitor information centre in New Plymouth.
"It may seem hard to believe, but we are giving these places a free computer and a JetStream connection," says TIN project manager Simon Pickford.
Each TIN computer is dedicated to www.pukeariki.com, a website that allows people to access library information, what's on in Taranaki, along with details about Puke Ariki, its resources and galleries.
And, most important of all, it features the Taranaki Stories - the tales that have helped sculpt the New Zealand region into the shape it is today.
"We are giving people a chance to find out about their roots," says Simon.
But the stories go beyond Taranaki. "This region has been at centre stage many times in New Zealand's history," he says.
"You can learn about the start of the New Zealand land wars, uncover a highwayman, find out about national sporting heroes, remarkable women and inventors.
"You can also read about inspiring Maori, including the leaders of Parihaka, Te Whiti and Tohu. Parihaka - the struggle for peace is our latest temporary exhibition, so you can do some background reading and then visit Puke Ariki to learn more."
These stories, many told here for the first time, are written in a magazine style. "Our aim is to make history a pleasure to read," says Simon.
And make them accessible to students. "The beauty of the TIN project is that teachers can simply download these stories and use them as teaching tools in their classrooms," says Simon.
The Resources section of www.pukeariki.com offers teachers curriculum-based worksheets and activities. The worksheets are based around one or more of the Taranaki Stories, and are written to extend students' understanding of their environment. These worksheets can be found in the on-site Teachers' Centre.
The other major resource is the weekly TreasureLink. This fun, but educational teaching tool focuses on a fresh Taranaki Story each week.
Where possible, the story chosen will have a topical relevance to events that have been in the news the week leading up to its Wednesday publication.
TreasureLink also links to the artefact collection at Puke Ariki, challenging youngsters to work out the use of a mystery object.
Not only can teachers download TreasureLink, they can also become subscribers. This means it will turn up in their mailbox each week, all ready to print out.
Sacred Heart Girls College history teacher Charles Gill says the Taranaki Stories are filling a gap in educational material.
"The resources available on local history are very sparse. I have been discouraged by the difficulty that students have in finding information."
He has also found the writing style of many history books is too heavy going for young people. "It puts kids off history to be frank. It's too dense and written at the wrong level."
The Taranaki Stories address this problem.
"The sort of thing you are doing is so much better. Yours are easily digestible by senior students. They are very easy to read."
The TIN project, funded by the Taranaki Electricity Trust, aims to expand knowledge both regionally and globally, Simon Pickford says.
"We wanted to take Taranaki to the world and the world to Taranaki and I think we've achieved that," Simon says.
"We receive emails from all over the world commenting on the stories and the cross-links that we have been able to provide with the library, museum and visitor information."
The TIN project is now receiving national praise.
In September, the project won the innovative technology prize at the NZ Post-sponsored Society of Local Government Managers' Awards.
In October, New Zealand internet and website specialist Paul Reynolds gave www.pukeariki.com rave reviews on National Radio's "Nine to Noon" programme.
"...not only is the writing beautiful and it's written for the web and that is a bit of an art form," Paul said.
"There's a whole institution looking at 'how can we use our skills as curators, as librarians and also as tellers of tales to draw this in together into a compelling piece of web writing and web scholarship' and I just think it's brilliant.
"It's cognitively coherent ... it's not just eye candy ... it is for researchers, it's for schools and it's just ... it's perfect," Paul said.
Stratford librarian Heather Taylor says the TIN computer is being well used by customers.
"There's definitely people on there every day. Younger people more so, but it's not limited to that – we have some older customers spending a considerable amount of time on it."
Access for all: Stratford librarian Heather Taylor guides a customer through the Puke Ariki website on the TIN computer.
And users have given the Puke Ariki website the thumbs up. "The ones we have helped out have spoken very highly of it; they just think it's wonderful that it's down here and they don't have to travel up (to New Plymouth) for it. They rabbit on about it and they just shower it with praise."
Fun and games are turning kids on to history at both the Inglewood and Waitara Library and Service Centres.
"The children think it's wonderful because they like the interactive games," says Waitara team leader Jane Waite.
These can be found by clicking on Resources, then Teachers' Centre and calling up the multi-media section.
So far, there are seven educational interactives on www.pukeariki.com, covering Mount Taranaki (the legend, geology and the icon), building a pa, packing a waka, packing a trunk, how a Turnstyle Rotary Cowshed works, Land Wars Battle: The Battle of Puketakauere, and Voices and Images from the First Taranaki War. A Taranaki timeline is still being worked on.
Jane says people are slowly learning about the TIN computer and how simple it is to access the Taranaki Stories and the resources at Puke Ariki.
Download the Taranaki Information Network User Guide by clicking on the PDF icon below:
