Business & management:
•If you’re having difficulty understanding how US subprime mortgage borrowers could be having such an impact on global credit, the Financial Times now has a web section dedicated to the “global credit squeeze”.
•AucklandPlus (Auckland Regional Council) has released “Bringing the world to Auckland”, a regional visitor strategy that includes the recommendation to start an expanded regional visitor agency.
•Grey Power has highlighted statistics from the Household Economic Survey and the Energy Data File, to show that low income households are definitely suffering from “energy poverty”, due to the proportion of their income spent on energy.
Environment & sustainability:
•Liveable cities and urban planning were included in the UN Climate Conference in Bali in the Local Government Climate Sessions, and a report was also released: “Liveable Cities: The Benefits of Urban Environmental Planning”, which showcases 12 examples of cities around the world.
Health & wellbeing:
•Women in the UK will be able to get the contraceptive pill on demand from pharmacies, without the need to visit a GP or family planning clinic.
•UNICEF has released a statistical report on how well the world is doing in meeting its commitments for the world’s children, “Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review”.
•The Dept of Labour has published a new guide for employers: “Managing shift work to minimise work place fatigue”.
•NZers are increasingly using the Internet to research medical conditions and pharmaceuticals before they visit their GP, and also to challenge medical opinions.
Law & Government:
•The latest Local Government Connection newsletter has been released by Statistics NZ, containing statistics such as the subnational population projections (estimates were released in the previous newsletter), information and technology, and unpaid work.
•An asset transfer programme is being trialled in the UK – public owned assets such as heritage buildings or community centres are handed over to community-led organisations to run and use for the benefit of the local communities.
•Concern has been expressed by the NZ Council for Infrastructure Development about the the 10-year ban on thermal generation proposed by the government. The Council believes the thermal generation ban may actually lead to an increase in emissions, rather than a decrease.
•The Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) will be in Auckland for the first time, on the 20th-24th of January 2008, for the 16th annual meeting at which up to 27 countries will attend.
People, culture & diversity:
•Recent studies in Europe have highlighted a “lifestyle divide” between men and women, with women becoming “locked” into lower paid jobs.
•The government in the UK is to shift funding for the elderly and young disabled living at home, so that means-tested amounts are paid into their bank accounts, and they are able to make their own choices about the social services on which they choose to spend their money. The move is partly due to the ageing “baby boomer” generation.
•”Older Adults' Experience of family life: linked lives and independent living” is a Blue Skies funding report from the Families Commission that shows that while older people want to retain their independence, they also want to feel like they are contributing.
Science, technology & transport:
•Contactless smart cards are the new trend in public transport systems in cities around the world – Melbourne is introducing one, and a number of US cities use them. The new technology results in an increased number of riders and an increase in rider loyalty, and the latest automatic contactless payment systems could also increase patronage due to ease of use.
•A revamped Google Maps ™ NZ service has been launched, that provides business information, driving instructions and is also available via mobile.
•The International Telecommunication Union has announced the first set of global standards for Internet Protocol TV (IPTV).
And last but not least……..
•Radio New Zealand has negotiated with Warner Music & Split Enz Management, to be able to make the 10-part Enzology documentary series covering the history of Split Enz available as a series of podcasts from this Saturday until the end of February. An RSS feed will keep you up-to-date with the series as each new part is released, so that you can listen to them online or download them. The series will be available online for at least 12 months.
•2008 has been declared the International Year of the Potato – and the Asia Pacific region, surprisingly, is the region with the largest production of potatoes. A range of varieties are grown in NZ commercially, and there also older varieties available from producers of heritage plants and seeds, including our colourful Maori potatoes – great for getting some more of those important coloured foods into our diet!
•They have always had great travel pages, but now the AA have expanded their accommodation services by buying into and creating a joint venture with Bookabach.co.nz.
This is the final posting for 2007 - I hope you all have a relaxing and happy holiday, whether short or long, and the first posting for 2008 will come out some time after 7th Jan.
From the LOGIS desk.
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 11/12 ):
Business & management:
•Flexible working will come into force in NZ from the 1st of July 2008, but in the UK, government ministers are being told that flexible work should be extended to all employees, not just those who need to provide care for others. There is concern that not having the right to flexibility will create divisions in the workplace between those with the right, and those without.
•Businesses in NZ believe that there are more economic opportunities available as a result of climate change, rather than less.
•The 4th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change and Business Conference will be held in Auckland in August 2008. The Government will be sponsoring the conference.
•As a result of research on employment relationship problems, the Government is intending on a series of improvements, including the development of a Code of Employment Practice and the review some provisions in the Employment Relations Act.
•The New Zealand Pacific Business Council will be hosting the Pacific Trade Expo in Waitakere City in March 2008.
Education
•3 new schools in the Auckland region will be designed with both education and the environment in mind. 2 of the schools will be in Flat Bush in Manukau City (their designs aim to achieve sustainability in energy and water consumption), and one will be in the Stonefields development in Mt Wellington (where the emphasis is on pedestrians, walking and public transport, and the school is only 10 minutes walk from the furthest house – thus cutting down on vehicle emissions).
•Business NZ believes that more work needs to be done on improving the literacy and numeracy skills of NZers, before we can become a knowledge economy.
•NZEI is concerned that University of Auckland restrictions on undergraduate enrolments could contribute to the “tight” supply of teaching staff available.
Environment & sustainability:
•International visitors to NZ are mostly happy that the country lives up to its green image, but are becoming increasingly demanding in their view of what’s green and what’s not – for example, 79% of them said that recycling facilities should be available at tourism activities.
•Beacon Pathway is a NZ research consortium of companies and organisations (including Waitakere City Council) looking for ways to make NZ homes more sustainable. They have recently released a report “National value case for sustainable housing innovations”, which contains recommendations to Government. The report indicates that NZ homes are on average 6°C colder than the WHO recommended winter minimum, 45% of homes are mouldy, and while people on low incomes suffer from living in the poorest housing, affluent households use more water and more energy to heat inefficiently designed homes.
Health & wellbeing:
•There is concern in the UK about the high rate of skin cancer. About 65,000 cases of skin cancer are reported in the UK each year (population 60.6 million – about 0.1%), whereas NZ had about 2000 cases of skin cancer registered in 2004 (population 4.2 million – about 0.047%). In the UK, there are coin-operated and/or unstaffed tanning salons commonly available to the public.
•Brain fitness is not just something for old people, and a new industry is growing up around the concept. “Sharp brains” is a website that can provide you with information, mental exercises and tests to help you understand the wide range of influences on our brain fitness – stress, physical exercise, education and nutrition, and how all of these can improve your memory, cognition, mental acuity, etc. If you’re sceptical about the value to you, start by reading how 10 brain fitness myths are debunked.
•The Lowdown is a NZ government-sponsored website aimed at helping to reduce our youth suicide rates and provide support for youth with depression. Although suicide rates are improving, young people still have higher rates of depression than the general population.
•26% of all child homicide victims in NZ are under the age of 1, and 60% of the victims are under the age of 5. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner has published a book “Lives cut short: child death by maltreatment” as part of an effort to understand this difficult topic.
•The Wellnomics paper that surveyed 95 organisations globally on how their workers use computers and raised concerns that computers may be more ergonomically harmful than we realise (“Byting us where it hurts” NZ Herald), is available in full.
•New research from the University of Otago indicates that over 90% of people in their 20s who have drinking problems, don’t seek help.
•Also from the Otago Wellington campus, a study shows that during the debates in 2000-2005 over smoking in bars and clubs, some MPs used tobacco industry versions of research on second-hand smoking, and a number did not believe that it is harmful.
Law & Government:
•In the UK, there are a range of home ownership schemes promoted by government, designed to enable people on low incomes to eventually pay off a mortgage and own their own homes. The new HomeBuy scheme has a “staircase” aspect to it, which allows people to gradually buy back the equity stake in their property originally provided from the government and from the associated private lender.
•”Walkable urbanism” is the term for urban or suburban areas that provide living, working and entertainment within an area that can be reached easily by pedestrians. Recent research in the US by one of the trend experts, Christopher B. Leinberger, has shown that people in Generation X are pushing the market demand for more US city areas that can provide this lifestyle – influenced he believes, by TV series like “Cheers”, “Seinfeld”, “Friends”, and “Sex in the City”, where city living is seen as hip.
People, culture & diversity:
•On International Volunteers Day last week (5thDec), the Youth Affairs Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, talked about the important role the young play in volunteering, and pointed out that 270 million hours are contributed annually by volunteers.
•More from the Unisys Security Index – “Kiwis are very uncomfortable providing personal information on online social networking sites like MySpace, FaceBook and Bebo, prompting calls for people to take more personal action to protect their private information.”
Science, technology & transport:
•In recent research in Europe, it’s been shown that almost one fifth of the households use mobiles as their only form of telephone. And it’s the newer countries in the EU, that tend to have the highest numbers of “mobile-only” homes.
•And a recent telecoms survey here suggests that more NZers will give up their traditional home phone line, and move to alternatives such as mobile of Voice over IP, while the telecoms market is predicted to slow down.
•A new report in the UK on the carbon footprint of the IT industry, shows that computer servers are at least as great a threat to the climate as SUVs or the global aviation industry. The warning comes from “An Inefficient Truth”, a report from Global Action Plan.
•”Blueprints for sustainable infrastructure” is a conference to be hosted by the NZ Society for Sustainability Engineering and Science at the University of Auckland in December next year as part of a joint venture between Cambridge University and the NZ Society.
•Flexible working will come into force in NZ from the 1st of July 2008, but in the UK, government ministers are being told that flexible work should be extended to all employees, not just those who need to provide care for others. There is concern that not having the right to flexibility will create divisions in the workplace between those with the right, and those without.
•Businesses in NZ believe that there are more economic opportunities available as a result of climate change, rather than less.
•The 4th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change and Business Conference will be held in Auckland in August 2008. The Government will be sponsoring the conference.
•As a result of research on employment relationship problems, the Government is intending on a series of improvements, including the development of a Code of Employment Practice and the review some provisions in the Employment Relations Act.
•The New Zealand Pacific Business Council will be hosting the Pacific Trade Expo in Waitakere City in March 2008.
Education
•3 new schools in the Auckland region will be designed with both education and the environment in mind. 2 of the schools will be in Flat Bush in Manukau City (their designs aim to achieve sustainability in energy and water consumption), and one will be in the Stonefields development in Mt Wellington (where the emphasis is on pedestrians, walking and public transport, and the school is only 10 minutes walk from the furthest house – thus cutting down on vehicle emissions).
•Business NZ believes that more work needs to be done on improving the literacy and numeracy skills of NZers, before we can become a knowledge economy.
•NZEI is concerned that University of Auckland restrictions on undergraduate enrolments could contribute to the “tight” supply of teaching staff available.
Environment & sustainability:
•International visitors to NZ are mostly happy that the country lives up to its green image, but are becoming increasingly demanding in their view of what’s green and what’s not – for example, 79% of them said that recycling facilities should be available at tourism activities.
•Beacon Pathway is a NZ research consortium of companies and organisations (including Waitakere City Council) looking for ways to make NZ homes more sustainable. They have recently released a report “National value case for sustainable housing innovations”, which contains recommendations to Government. The report indicates that NZ homes are on average 6°C colder than the WHO recommended winter minimum, 45% of homes are mouldy, and while people on low incomes suffer from living in the poorest housing, affluent households use more water and more energy to heat inefficiently designed homes.
Health & wellbeing:
•There is concern in the UK about the high rate of skin cancer. About 65,000 cases of skin cancer are reported in the UK each year (population 60.6 million – about 0.1%), whereas NZ had about 2000 cases of skin cancer registered in 2004 (population 4.2 million – about 0.047%). In the UK, there are coin-operated and/or unstaffed tanning salons commonly available to the public.
•Brain fitness is not just something for old people, and a new industry is growing up around the concept. “Sharp brains” is a website that can provide you with information, mental exercises and tests to help you understand the wide range of influences on our brain fitness – stress, physical exercise, education and nutrition, and how all of these can improve your memory, cognition, mental acuity, etc. If you’re sceptical about the value to you, start by reading how 10 brain fitness myths are debunked.
•The Lowdown is a NZ government-sponsored website aimed at helping to reduce our youth suicide rates and provide support for youth with depression. Although suicide rates are improving, young people still have higher rates of depression than the general population.
•26% of all child homicide victims in NZ are under the age of 1, and 60% of the victims are under the age of 5. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner has published a book “Lives cut short: child death by maltreatment” as part of an effort to understand this difficult topic.
•The Wellnomics paper that surveyed 95 organisations globally on how their workers use computers and raised concerns that computers may be more ergonomically harmful than we realise (“Byting us where it hurts” NZ Herald), is available in full.
•New research from the University of Otago indicates that over 90% of people in their 20s who have drinking problems, don’t seek help.
•Also from the Otago Wellington campus, a study shows that during the debates in 2000-2005 over smoking in bars and clubs, some MPs used tobacco industry versions of research on second-hand smoking, and a number did not believe that it is harmful.
Law & Government:
•In the UK, there are a range of home ownership schemes promoted by government, designed to enable people on low incomes to eventually pay off a mortgage and own their own homes. The new HomeBuy scheme has a “staircase” aspect to it, which allows people to gradually buy back the equity stake in their property originally provided from the government and from the associated private lender.
•”Walkable urbanism” is the term for urban or suburban areas that provide living, working and entertainment within an area that can be reached easily by pedestrians. Recent research in the US by one of the trend experts, Christopher B. Leinberger, has shown that people in Generation X are pushing the market demand for more US city areas that can provide this lifestyle – influenced he believes, by TV series like “Cheers”, “Seinfeld”, “Friends”, and “Sex in the City”, where city living is seen as hip.
People, culture & diversity:
•On International Volunteers Day last week (5thDec), the Youth Affairs Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, talked about the important role the young play in volunteering, and pointed out that 270 million hours are contributed annually by volunteers.
•More from the Unisys Security Index – “Kiwis are very uncomfortable providing personal information on online social networking sites like MySpace, FaceBook and Bebo, prompting calls for people to take more personal action to protect their private information.”
Science, technology & transport:
•In recent research in Europe, it’s been shown that almost one fifth of the households use mobiles as their only form of telephone. And it’s the newer countries in the EU, that tend to have the highest numbers of “mobile-only” homes.
•And a recent telecoms survey here suggests that more NZers will give up their traditional home phone line, and move to alternatives such as mobile of Voice over IP, while the telecoms market is predicted to slow down.
•A new report in the UK on the carbon footprint of the IT industry, shows that computer servers are at least as great a threat to the climate as SUVs or the global aviation industry. The warning comes from “An Inefficient Truth”, a report from Global Action Plan.
•”Blueprints for sustainable infrastructure” is a conference to be hosted by the NZ Society for Sustainability Engineering and Science at the University of Auckland in December next year as part of a joint venture between Cambridge University and the NZ Society.
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions(ending 4/12):
Business and management:
•The EU is looking at dropping GDP as a measure of a nation’s wealth and wellbeing, and developing another tool that will take environmental and social indicators into account.
•The ”Babies and bosses….” synthesis report from the OECD on work and family life is available – it is a synthesis report of the previous 4 volumes published between 2002 & 2005. Vol 3 which contains the report on New Zealand can still be browsed online.
•UK readers of the Daily Telegraph have voted NZ as the best holiday destination worldwide. 30,000 readers are questioned about their travel habits.
•The NZ Institute of Economic Research is predicting modest growth of the economy over the next 2 years, in their December issue of Quarterly Predictions.
•Identity theft and credit card fraud are of most concern to NZers, according to the December Unisys Security Index. The Index covers national, financial, internet and personal security issues. Across all issues considered by the Index, the group consistently showing greatest concern in New Zealand was the 18-34year olds.
•Business NZ has just launched a new book “A Stable Climate for Business”, which explains the key facts on the climate change debate and makes recommendations to both business and Government about opportunities and policies. (Look on the right of the home page, under “Commentaries”.)
•The Economic Development Minister, Peter Hodgson has released a Cabinet Paper, “Advancing Economic Transformation”, which will have a big impact on Auckland. There are 6 main priorities in the paper, one of which is “Making Auckland a world-class hub of innovation and internationalisation.”
•The World Bank has released on their “Doing Business” website, the “Paying Taxes 2008” ranking report – NZ ranks 9th out of 178 countries for its business tax regime (up 1 place from the previous year).
Health and wellbeing:
•Prompted by the release of 'Monitoring the Health of New Zealand Children and Young People; A Literature Review and Framework Development', the Public Health Association wants all social sectors to work together to address the much poorer health of Maori and Pacific children and young people.
Environment and sustainability:
•The PM attended the Commonwealth Heads Of Government (CHOGM) meeting last week, and one of the outcomes was the Commonwealth Climate Change Action Plan. The plan is intended to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
•The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is looking for partners to deliver interest free loans and grants to homeowners for energy efficiency and heating solutions.
•At the Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Japan, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern that the water situation within the Asia-Pacific region is especially worrisome, and that water scarcity undercuts environmental sustainability, impedes efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight targets to slash poverty, hunger and other ills by 2015 – and could set off wars and conflict.
Law & Government:
•Local government workforces in the UK face issues similar to our own in NZ: a tight labour market, skill shortages, the ageing population and increasing demands for modernisation, efficiency and excellence. There, a workforce planning toolkit has been created to help local government produce workforce development plans.
•As the result of a White Paper released in May in the UK (Planning for a Sustainable Future), the government there has put forward a new Planning Bill and associated documentation.
•A conference on privacy held in Montreal in October, emphasised the way in which rapid changes in and spread of technology are challenging the principles of privacy protection.
•Remember that old urban myth about Auckland being the size of Los Angeles? If you want a better idea of sizes check out the UK website ranking of the size of urban areas,. Los Angeles is 12th and Auckland is 354th.
•Also at CHOGM last week, NZ was elected onto the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which was established to deal with serious or persistent violations of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values. Other members of CMAG are Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ghana, and Namibia.
People, culture and diversity:
•On the 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders, New Zealand ranks 15th out of 169 countries. The first 14 countries are all within Europe - Canada ranks 18th, Germany 20th, the United Kingdom 24th, Australia 28th, Japan 37th, the United States 48th, and Fiji 107th.
•Having time to play with your kids during the week is being squeezed out by our busy Kiwi lifestyles, according to a recent survey sponsored by Anchor.
•Methodist Mission Northern have just published “Homelessness in New Zealand: a discussion & synthesis of research findings.”
Science, technology & transport:
•Stagecoach in Scotland is going to trial an initiative whereby passengers trade in their used cooking oil for reduced fares. The oil will be recycled to power 8 biodeisel buses.
•The creators of Second Life, Linden Labs, are collaborating with IBM to attempt to create a universal avatar, that will be able to travel between virtual worlds, so that people will only need to create their avatar once. 2 years ago, only 9 virtual worlds existed – now there are over 30.
•And speaking of Second Life, some council staff will have seen how this virtual world works at the Digital Summit in Auckland last week – but did you discover that the island in Second Life known as “Auckland City” is owned by Launchsite, a virtual reality reselling company?
•At another conference on virtual worlds in London, concern was expressed that all virtual worlds teach children, is that they are first and foremost, consumers. A keynote speaker urged creators to build more moral virtual worlds.
•And in the Netherlands, a Dutch teenager was arrested this month for allegedly stealing virtual furniture.
•Saga Zone is a new internet social networking site designed for the over-50s. So far 13,000 people have signed up, and the oldest user is 87.
•A UK government-backed campaign group is warning that a quarter of the 11 million Britons using social networking sites, may be leaving themselves open to identity fraud.
Education
•The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares 15-year-olds in the principal industrialised countries once every 3 years, shows NZ teenagers rank 7th out of 57 countries in science in the report “PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World”.
•The EU is looking at dropping GDP as a measure of a nation’s wealth and wellbeing, and developing another tool that will take environmental and social indicators into account.
•The ”Babies and bosses….” synthesis report from the OECD on work and family life is available – it is a synthesis report of the previous 4 volumes published between 2002 & 2005. Vol 3 which contains the report on New Zealand can still be browsed online.
•UK readers of the Daily Telegraph have voted NZ as the best holiday destination worldwide. 30,000 readers are questioned about their travel habits.
•The NZ Institute of Economic Research is predicting modest growth of the economy over the next 2 years, in their December issue of Quarterly Predictions.
•Identity theft and credit card fraud are of most concern to NZers, according to the December Unisys Security Index. The Index covers national, financial, internet and personal security issues. Across all issues considered by the Index, the group consistently showing greatest concern in New Zealand was the 18-34year olds.
•Business NZ has just launched a new book “A Stable Climate for Business”, which explains the key facts on the climate change debate and makes recommendations to both business and Government about opportunities and policies. (Look on the right of the home page, under “Commentaries”.)
•The Economic Development Minister, Peter Hodgson has released a Cabinet Paper, “Advancing Economic Transformation”, which will have a big impact on Auckland. There are 6 main priorities in the paper, one of which is “Making Auckland a world-class hub of innovation and internationalisation.”
•The World Bank has released on their “Doing Business” website, the “Paying Taxes 2008” ranking report – NZ ranks 9th out of 178 countries for its business tax regime (up 1 place from the previous year).
Health and wellbeing:
•Prompted by the release of 'Monitoring the Health of New Zealand Children and Young People; A Literature Review and Framework Development', the Public Health Association wants all social sectors to work together to address the much poorer health of Maori and Pacific children and young people.
Environment and sustainability:
•The PM attended the Commonwealth Heads Of Government (CHOGM) meeting last week, and one of the outcomes was the Commonwealth Climate Change Action Plan. The plan is intended to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
•The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is looking for partners to deliver interest free loans and grants to homeowners for energy efficiency and heating solutions.
•At the Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Japan, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern that the water situation within the Asia-Pacific region is especially worrisome, and that water scarcity undercuts environmental sustainability, impedes efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight targets to slash poverty, hunger and other ills by 2015 – and could set off wars and conflict.
Law & Government:
•Local government workforces in the UK face issues similar to our own in NZ: a tight labour market, skill shortages, the ageing population and increasing demands for modernisation, efficiency and excellence. There, a workforce planning toolkit has been created to help local government produce workforce development plans.
•As the result of a White Paper released in May in the UK (Planning for a Sustainable Future), the government there has put forward a new Planning Bill and associated documentation.
•A conference on privacy held in Montreal in October, emphasised the way in which rapid changes in and spread of technology are challenging the principles of privacy protection.
•Remember that old urban myth about Auckland being the size of Los Angeles? If you want a better idea of sizes check out the UK website ranking of the size of urban areas,. Los Angeles is 12th and Auckland is 354th.
•Also at CHOGM last week, NZ was elected onto the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which was established to deal with serious or persistent violations of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values. Other members of CMAG are Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ghana, and Namibia.
People, culture and diversity:
•On the 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders, New Zealand ranks 15th out of 169 countries. The first 14 countries are all within Europe - Canada ranks 18th, Germany 20th, the United Kingdom 24th, Australia 28th, Japan 37th, the United States 48th, and Fiji 107th.
•Having time to play with your kids during the week is being squeezed out by our busy Kiwi lifestyles, according to a recent survey sponsored by Anchor.
•Methodist Mission Northern have just published “Homelessness in New Zealand: a discussion & synthesis of research findings.”
Science, technology & transport:
•Stagecoach in Scotland is going to trial an initiative whereby passengers trade in their used cooking oil for reduced fares. The oil will be recycled to power 8 biodeisel buses.
•The creators of Second Life, Linden Labs, are collaborating with IBM to attempt to create a universal avatar, that will be able to travel between virtual worlds, so that people will only need to create their avatar once. 2 years ago, only 9 virtual worlds existed – now there are over 30.
•And speaking of Second Life, some council staff will have seen how this virtual world works at the Digital Summit in Auckland last week – but did you discover that the island in Second Life known as “Auckland City” is owned by Launchsite, a virtual reality reselling company?
•At another conference on virtual worlds in London, concern was expressed that all virtual worlds teach children, is that they are first and foremost, consumers. A keynote speaker urged creators to build more moral virtual worlds.
•And in the Netherlands, a Dutch teenager was arrested this month for allegedly stealing virtual furniture.
•Saga Zone is a new internet social networking site designed for the over-50s. So far 13,000 people have signed up, and the oldest user is 87.
•A UK government-backed campaign group is warning that a quarter of the 11 million Britons using social networking sites, may be leaving themselves open to identity fraud.
Education
•The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares 15-year-olds in the principal industrialised countries once every 3 years, shows NZ teenagers rank 7th out of 57 countries in science in the report “PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World”.
Monday, 26 November 2007
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 24/11):
Business and management:
•”Green collar” jobs are seen as having a huge impact on the American economy over the next 20 years.
•According to Statistics NZ, the property and business services industries now have the highest employment figures, surpassing the manufacturing industry as the biggest employer for the first time.
Health and wellbeing:
• A UK study for the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation called “It’s Time” shows that women’s fitness in the UK is in “crisis”, with 80% of women doing too little exercise, girls being encouraged to be thin rather than fit, negative experiences of sport in school & low body confidence putting women off exercise, and social pressures portraying sport as unfeminine.
•There is a worrying trend in Australia of increasing numbers of children under 5 years of age being diagnosed with food allergies. Some academics are not sure that excluding foods from either the mother or child’s diet is of any help, and other research is starting to look at the value of “good bacteria” in reducing allergy problems.
•A snapshot report of the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy to 2015 has been released, indicating that good progress is being made and research into occupational health is ongoing.
•Professor Lucilla Poston of Kings College, London presents a public lecture tonight at the University of Auckland, called “Eating for two ” in which she talks about how a mother’s diet in pregnancy is a determinant of the immediate and life long health of her child, and our public health policies should begin with attention to the earliest stages of life. (A new Public Health Bill was introduced in the NZ Parliament last week.)
•Average suicide rates in NZ between 2003-2005 have dropped about 19% from a peak rate in 1996-1998, according to a recent report from the Ministry of Health.
Environment and sustainability:
•While Heather Mills is backing a pro-vegan campaign against global warming, saying that no one should eat meat or dairy products if they call themselves environmentalists, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Britain is concerned that campaigns like the one on “food miles” could risk destroying communities in Africa that are dependent on the trade in food.
Government, local and central:
• The Core Cities Summit for 2007 was held this month in Nottingham – the UK core cities form the economic and urban cores of wider surrounding territories, and are the economic drivers of their regions.
•A Justices of the Peace Best Practice Manual has been released, spelling out the standards expected of JPs.
•The 5th International Conference of Information Commissioners is taking place in Wellington this week and the conference will be attended by information commissioners and ombudsmen from all over the world. The conference also marks the 25th anniversary of NZ’s official information legislation, which is seen as leading edge by some countries, due to the availability in NZ of cabinet papers and public submissions on websites.
People, culture and diversity:
•In the UK, the government has set up an action plan to combat violent extremism called “Preventing Violent Extremism - Winning hearts and minds”. As part of the action plan, the Dept for Communities & Local Government has committed to the development of forums that would provide a focus for specific groups whose voices aren’t always heard, such as the National Muslim Women's Advisory Group. They will meet as an independent informal group advising on issues to empower Muslim women and increase their participation in civic, economic and social life.
Science, technology & transport:
•Radio New Zealand International has won the prestigious International Radio Station of the Year Award at the Association for International Broadcasting ( AIB ) Media Excellence Awards announced in London last week, including the Most Innovative Partnership category.
•InternetNZ has responded to Telecom's draft operational separation plan with a submission that shows serious deficiencies in Telecom’s proposals.
From the LOGIS desk.
•”Green collar” jobs are seen as having a huge impact on the American economy over the next 20 years.
•According to Statistics NZ, the property and business services industries now have the highest employment figures, surpassing the manufacturing industry as the biggest employer for the first time.
Health and wellbeing:
• A UK study for the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation called “It’s Time” shows that women’s fitness in the UK is in “crisis”, with 80% of women doing too little exercise, girls being encouraged to be thin rather than fit, negative experiences of sport in school & low body confidence putting women off exercise, and social pressures portraying sport as unfeminine.
•There is a worrying trend in Australia of increasing numbers of children under 5 years of age being diagnosed with food allergies. Some academics are not sure that excluding foods from either the mother or child’s diet is of any help, and other research is starting to look at the value of “good bacteria” in reducing allergy problems.
•A snapshot report of the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy to 2015 has been released, indicating that good progress is being made and research into occupational health is ongoing.
•Professor Lucilla Poston of Kings College, London presents a public lecture tonight at the University of Auckland, called “Eating for two ” in which she talks about how a mother’s diet in pregnancy is a determinant of the immediate and life long health of her child, and our public health policies should begin with attention to the earliest stages of life. (A new Public Health Bill was introduced in the NZ Parliament last week.)
•Average suicide rates in NZ between 2003-2005 have dropped about 19% from a peak rate in 1996-1998, according to a recent report from the Ministry of Health.
Environment and sustainability:
•While Heather Mills is backing a pro-vegan campaign against global warming, saying that no one should eat meat or dairy products if they call themselves environmentalists, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Britain is concerned that campaigns like the one on “food miles” could risk destroying communities in Africa that are dependent on the trade in food.
Government, local and central:
• The Core Cities Summit for 2007 was held this month in Nottingham – the UK core cities form the economic and urban cores of wider surrounding territories, and are the economic drivers of their regions.
•A Justices of the Peace Best Practice Manual has been released, spelling out the standards expected of JPs.
•The 5th International Conference of Information Commissioners is taking place in Wellington this week and the conference will be attended by information commissioners and ombudsmen from all over the world. The conference also marks the 25th anniversary of NZ’s official information legislation, which is seen as leading edge by some countries, due to the availability in NZ of cabinet papers and public submissions on websites.
People, culture and diversity:
•In the UK, the government has set up an action plan to combat violent extremism called “Preventing Violent Extremism - Winning hearts and minds”. As part of the action plan, the Dept for Communities & Local Government has committed to the development of forums that would provide a focus for specific groups whose voices aren’t always heard, such as the National Muslim Women's Advisory Group. They will meet as an independent informal group advising on issues to empower Muslim women and increase their participation in civic, economic and social life.
Science, technology & transport:
•Radio New Zealand International has won the prestigious International Radio Station of the Year Award at the Association for International Broadcasting ( AIB ) Media Excellence Awards announced in London last week, including the Most Innovative Partnership category.
•InternetNZ has responded to Telecom's draft operational separation plan with a submission that shows serious deficiencies in Telecom’s proposals.
From the LOGIS desk.
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions:
Business and management:
•Horticulture New Zealand is reminding consumers not to assume that the fruit and vegetables they buy were grown in NZ – of the $2 billion-worth of food imported into NZ last year, about a quarter was fruit and vegetables, either fresh or processed.
•The 3rd NZ Conference on Culture & Leadership held this month, presented Culture Transformation Awards to NZ companies who have successfully transformed their workplace cultures.
•According to a global enterprise data warehousing company, an important component in the difference between leading and average companies is business intelligence (BI) technology.
Health and wellbeing:
•University of Otago research: The National Children’s Nutrition Survey research shows Pacific Island children have a high incidence of extreme obesity; research on the smoke-free policy shows public support for smoke-free children’s playgrounds; the National Centre for Lifecourse Research (NCLR) which has just been launched, will study New Zealanders “from the cradle to the grave”; and the New Zealand Index of Socio-economic Deprivation has just been updated from Census data.
•OECD countries show improvements in health care, but still have a long way to go, especially with regard to chronic diseases.
Environment and sustainability:
•The UNEP is calling for an international agreement to curb the spread of the poisonous heavy metal mercury, which occurs naturally in coal, meaning that it spreads easily through air pollution.
•Four local councils have received government support to set up recycling bins in public places.
•The Year 3 Progress Report of the Packaging Accord 2004-2009 has been released, with progress to 57%overall of packaging being recovered.
Law:
•63% of adults support the ban of fireworks sales to the general public, and only allowing organised public displays of fireworks
•The Employers and Manufacturer’s Association (Northern) believes that the new minimum wage law effectively removes minimum wages for 16 & 17 year olds entering the work force – the opposite of the law’s intention.
•The Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association says the government admits its new vehicle emission rule will increase car prices, drive up the average age of the vehicle fleet and may even worsen air pollution in NZ, so it’s planning a $300 000 campaign to have the rule changed in such a way as to reduce air pollution without increasing the cost of vehicles to families.
Government, local and central:
•The latest issue of Statistics NZ’s online newsletter “Local government connection” is now available. These include a reminder that the Subnational Population Estimates are now available. (Subnational Population Projections will be available in December, area unit projections in 2008, and ethnic and family & household projections due to appear in 2008-9.)
•The Office of the Auditor-General has released the performance audit report “Liquor licensing by territorial authorities”.
People, culture and diversity:
•The Office of the Auditor-General has released the report: “Implementing the Māori Language Strategy”, which presents the 25-year strategy to co-ordinate and prioritise government action in the area of Māori language revitalisation.
•The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2007, places NZ 5th in the world. NZ is 8th on Economic Participation and Opportunity (33rd on Wage Equality for Similar Work); 19th on Educational Attainment (55th in the ranking for enrolment in primary education; 67th on Health and Survival (85th on Healthy Life Expectancy); and 9th on Political Empowerment (25th on Women in Ministerial Positions).
Science, technology & transport:
•Due to concerns about security post 9/11, pilots and officials want the US government to re-open its UFO investigations, although the Air Force says that since the closure of Project Blue Book, nothing has occurred that would support a resumption of UFO investigations.
•Pacific Blue’s handling of online flight bookings for disabled passengers has angered a blind frequent flyer.
•Victoria University of Wellington hosted a seminar that examined our dependence on carbon-intensive transport systems (for which papers are now available) followed by another hosted by a UK researcher on transport policy, which looked at climate change and transport.
•The Digital Futures Summit next week will provide a forum for discussing NZ’s digital future, and in order to provide a stronger unified voice for the ICT sector and community ICT interests, the government is looking at establishing a new digital advisory body.
From the LOGIS desk.
•Horticulture New Zealand is reminding consumers not to assume that the fruit and vegetables they buy were grown in NZ – of the $2 billion-worth of food imported into NZ last year, about a quarter was fruit and vegetables, either fresh or processed.
•The 3rd NZ Conference on Culture & Leadership held this month, presented Culture Transformation Awards to NZ companies who have successfully transformed their workplace cultures.
•According to a global enterprise data warehousing company, an important component in the difference between leading and average companies is business intelligence (BI) technology.
Health and wellbeing:
•University of Otago research: The National Children’s Nutrition Survey research shows Pacific Island children have a high incidence of extreme obesity; research on the smoke-free policy shows public support for smoke-free children’s playgrounds; the National Centre for Lifecourse Research (NCLR) which has just been launched, will study New Zealanders “from the cradle to the grave”; and the New Zealand Index of Socio-economic Deprivation has just been updated from Census data.
•OECD countries show improvements in health care, but still have a long way to go, especially with regard to chronic diseases.
Environment and sustainability:
•The UNEP is calling for an international agreement to curb the spread of the poisonous heavy metal mercury, which occurs naturally in coal, meaning that it spreads easily through air pollution.
•Four local councils have received government support to set up recycling bins in public places.
•The Year 3 Progress Report of the Packaging Accord 2004-2009 has been released, with progress to 57%overall of packaging being recovered.
Law:
•63% of adults support the ban of fireworks sales to the general public, and only allowing organised public displays of fireworks
•The Employers and Manufacturer’s Association (Northern) believes that the new minimum wage law effectively removes minimum wages for 16 & 17 year olds entering the work force – the opposite of the law’s intention.
•The Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association says the government admits its new vehicle emission rule will increase car prices, drive up the average age of the vehicle fleet and may even worsen air pollution in NZ, so it’s planning a $300 000 campaign to have the rule changed in such a way as to reduce air pollution without increasing the cost of vehicles to families.
Government, local and central:
•The latest issue of Statistics NZ’s online newsletter “Local government connection” is now available. These include a reminder that the Subnational Population Estimates are now available. (Subnational Population Projections will be available in December, area unit projections in 2008, and ethnic and family & household projections due to appear in 2008-9.)
•The Office of the Auditor-General has released the performance audit report “Liquor licensing by territorial authorities”.
People, culture and diversity:
•The Office of the Auditor-General has released the report: “Implementing the Māori Language Strategy”, which presents the 25-year strategy to co-ordinate and prioritise government action in the area of Māori language revitalisation.
•The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2007, places NZ 5th in the world. NZ is 8th on Economic Participation and Opportunity (33rd on Wage Equality for Similar Work); 19th on Educational Attainment (55th in the ranking for enrolment in primary education; 67th on Health and Survival (85th on Healthy Life Expectancy); and 9th on Political Empowerment (25th on Women in Ministerial Positions).
Science, technology & transport:
•Due to concerns about security post 9/11, pilots and officials want the US government to re-open its UFO investigations, although the Air Force says that since the closure of Project Blue Book, nothing has occurred that would support a resumption of UFO investigations.
•Pacific Blue’s handling of online flight bookings for disabled passengers has angered a blind frequent flyer.
•Victoria University of Wellington hosted a seminar that examined our dependence on carbon-intensive transport systems (for which papers are now available) followed by another hosted by a UK researcher on transport policy, which looked at climate change and transport.
•The Digital Futures Summit next week will provide a forum for discussing NZ’s digital future, and in order to provide a stronger unified voice for the ICT sector and community ICT interests, the government is looking at establishing a new digital advisory body.
From the LOGIS desk.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions:
Business and management:
•The average weekly rent in Auckland has reached a record high.
•House prices in New Zealand are generally considered to be sky-high these days, and the future first New Zealand woman to go into space is a real estate agent. (The first New Zealand man booked on a space flight is a Christchurch businessman.)
•The Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Report indicates that New Zealand’s financial system is sound, and has been reasonably resilient in a volatile world market.
•The Green Party expect that the Flexible Working Arrangements Bill could become law by the end of this year.
•The New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 was launched last week, with sustainability as a strong theme.
•The Manufacturers and Exporters Association has released its second Outlook Report “Assets, Tax and Productivity” – their previous Outlook Report “Research and Development” is also still available.
•A nationwide survey shows that over half of business people in NZ support the idea of emissions trading.
Health and wellbeing:
•The “2 nations, 10 cultures” conference of combined Australasian drug & alcohol agencies has been covering the wide-ranging effects of drug & alcohol abuse on society – amongst other discussions have been these: regular cannabis use affects the mental and physical health of teenagers; many young drinkers don’t realise the damage binge-drinking does until it’s too late; moderate drinking may not be so good for your heart; and should alcohol be classified as a high-risk drug, given its impact?
Environment and sustainability:
•A pilot website for what is intended to become the world’s most complete online repository for information on building sustainable cities has been launched by a partnership of UN-HABITAT and the University of British Columbia – the new website will be known as the UBC / UN-HABITAT Archives and will be at www.chs.ubc.ca/archives (At the time of writing, the pilot website was not available.).
•A public seminar in Wellington tomorrow will debate whether electric vehicles can help with New Zealand’s transport problems.
•Zero Emissions Ltd, the company which has the only emissions testing system used in NZ, believes that vehicle emissions may be worse than the government thinks.
Government, local and central:
•A world expert from the UK has been in NZ this month, talking about private public partnerships (PPPs) with local and central government officials. In the UK, 10-15% of finance in public service related infrastructure comes from PPPs or private finance.
People, culture and diversity:
•The Dept of Conservation has released a discussion document on the use of whalebone, from the point at which it is removed from the beach after a whale stranding, to its trade or use within NZ. (International trade in whalebone is covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) and is controlled by a separate permit system.) The proposed new system is intended to simplify the current process.
•An online game designed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 2 years ago in Swedish is now available in an English language version on a US website. Called “Against All Odds”, the game is intended to give young people an idea of what it is like to be a refugee. The game was awarded the Austrian Multimedia and E-Business State Prize in the category for "Knowledge and Learning" in 2006.
Science, technology & transport:
• Land Transport NZ has launched a website providing motorists with information on safe, clean and fuel efficient vehicles.
•Google has launched an operating system called “Android” – an open platform for mobile devices, which contains all of the software necessary to make a mobile phone work, and is offering $10M to developers to build applications.
•The Foundation for Research Science and Technology provides investment support to NZ companies – for Wellington company Surveylab, this has meant that the company has been able to develop into a global company marketing a unique point-and-shoot handheld tool, which combines GPS, compass, inclinometer, laser distance meter and digital camera into a GPS based database.
•New Zealand’s ranking for broadband services among OECD countries has risen recently, but InternetNZ feels we can do better. The OECD maintains a dedicated broadband webpage providing statistics on the ranking of countries against a range of broadband criteria.
•The first National Energy Research Institute conference will be held in Auckland this month to discuss most aspects of energy in New Zealand (including transport issues) and the New Zealand Geothermal Workshop will be taking place just before, both hosted at the University of Auckland.
Education:
•The Ministry of Education has launched the new NZ education curriculum, with increased emphasis on learning a second language, statistics (within mathematics), and the recognition of NZ’s 3 official languages – English, Maori & NZ Sign Language.
•The Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill has been voted to select committee – the bill provides for a new type of tertiary institution that would aim to improve research and development, and workplace skills in the trade and vocational education sectors.
From the LOGIS desk.
•The average weekly rent in Auckland has reached a record high.
•House prices in New Zealand are generally considered to be sky-high these days, and the future first New Zealand woman to go into space is a real estate agent. (The first New Zealand man booked on a space flight is a Christchurch businessman.)
•The Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Report indicates that New Zealand’s financial system is sound, and has been reasonably resilient in a volatile world market.
•The Green Party expect that the Flexible Working Arrangements Bill could become law by the end of this year.
•The New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 was launched last week, with sustainability as a strong theme.
•The Manufacturers and Exporters Association has released its second Outlook Report “Assets, Tax and Productivity” – their previous Outlook Report “Research and Development” is also still available.
•A nationwide survey shows that over half of business people in NZ support the idea of emissions trading.
Health and wellbeing:
•The “2 nations, 10 cultures” conference of combined Australasian drug & alcohol agencies has been covering the wide-ranging effects of drug & alcohol abuse on society – amongst other discussions have been these: regular cannabis use affects the mental and physical health of teenagers; many young drinkers don’t realise the damage binge-drinking does until it’s too late; moderate drinking may not be so good for your heart; and should alcohol be classified as a high-risk drug, given its impact?
Environment and sustainability:
•A pilot website for what is intended to become the world’s most complete online repository for information on building sustainable cities has been launched by a partnership of UN-HABITAT and the University of British Columbia – the new website will be known as the UBC / UN-HABITAT Archives and will be at www.chs.ubc.ca/archives (At the time of writing, the pilot website was not available.).
•A public seminar in Wellington tomorrow will debate whether electric vehicles can help with New Zealand’s transport problems.
•Zero Emissions Ltd, the company which has the only emissions testing system used in NZ, believes that vehicle emissions may be worse than the government thinks.
Government, local and central:
•A world expert from the UK has been in NZ this month, talking about private public partnerships (PPPs) with local and central government officials. In the UK, 10-15% of finance in public service related infrastructure comes from PPPs or private finance.
People, culture and diversity:
•The Dept of Conservation has released a discussion document on the use of whalebone, from the point at which it is removed from the beach after a whale stranding, to its trade or use within NZ. (International trade in whalebone is covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) and is controlled by a separate permit system.) The proposed new system is intended to simplify the current process.
•An online game designed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 2 years ago in Swedish is now available in an English language version on a US website. Called “Against All Odds”, the game is intended to give young people an idea of what it is like to be a refugee. The game was awarded the Austrian Multimedia and E-Business State Prize in the category for "Knowledge and Learning" in 2006.
Science, technology & transport:
• Land Transport NZ has launched a website providing motorists with information on safe, clean and fuel efficient vehicles.
•Google has launched an operating system called “Android” – an open platform for mobile devices, which contains all of the software necessary to make a mobile phone work, and is offering $10M to developers to build applications.
•The Foundation for Research Science and Technology provides investment support to NZ companies – for Wellington company Surveylab, this has meant that the company has been able to develop into a global company marketing a unique point-and-shoot handheld tool, which combines GPS, compass, inclinometer, laser distance meter and digital camera into a GPS based database.
•New Zealand’s ranking for broadband services among OECD countries has risen recently, but InternetNZ feels we can do better. The OECD maintains a dedicated broadband webpage providing statistics on the ranking of countries against a range of broadband criteria.
•The first National Energy Research Institute conference will be held in Auckland this month to discuss most aspects of energy in New Zealand (including transport issues) and the New Zealand Geothermal Workshop will be taking place just before, both hosted at the University of Auckland.
Education:
•The Ministry of Education has launched the new NZ education curriculum, with increased emphasis on learning a second language, statistics (within mathematics), and the recognition of NZ’s 3 official languages – English, Maori & NZ Sign Language.
•The Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill has been voted to select committee – the bill provides for a new type of tertiary institution that would aim to improve research and development, and workplace skills in the trade and vocational education sectors.
From the LOGIS desk.
Friday, 9 November 2007
Some recent LOGIS books
The drag-and-drop, click-to-add features are an aspect of Blogspot I’m enjoying, because I like new techie toys as much as the next Kiwi, but I’m not into the nitty gritty of programming. So a nice feature that I’m going to use on a semi-regular basis, is the Link List option. If you look on the left, you’ll see that there's a new bit to the sidebar showing books on “Urban design”. It's rather taken over the top of the sidebar, since there've been a few bought on this subject in the last few months, and I’m using that term fairly widely to cover urban design, city planning and anything else that seems to fit into the category.
New subjects will appear as future Link Lists, replacing this one - sustainability books are an obvious choice for an upcoming one, but I’m happy to put one together if any of you want to know what LOGIS has in its book collection on a particular topic of your interest. I just can't guarantee how many recent ones there'll be on your topic!
Of course, your suggestion could result in me having to search out some more titles to order, but that’s all to the good – suggestions for new book titles that I may have missed are always welcome.
From the LOGIS Desk.
New subjects will appear as future Link Lists, replacing this one - sustainability books are an obvious choice for an upcoming one, but I’m happy to put one together if any of you want to know what LOGIS has in its book collection on a particular topic of your interest. I just can't guarantee how many recent ones there'll be on your topic!
Of course, your suggestion could result in me having to search out some more titles to order, but that’s all to the good – suggestions for new book titles that I may have missed are always welcome.
From the LOGIS Desk.
Monday, 5 November 2007
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions:
Business & management:
•The 2007 Business Budget Summit held recently to discuss health, the skills shortage and tax reform and provide recommendations to government. Background papers and surveys, speeches and a list of recommendations can be found at the Summit website.
•New Zealand has dropped from 21st to 24th in ranking, on the World Economic Forum’s 2007/08 Global Competitiveness Index.
•Big investors, foundations and advocacy groups are beginning to show their strength in influencing the way companies do business around environmental and ethical issues –the US Securities and Exchange Commission is being asked to require publicly traded companies to provide information about their risk from climate change in their formal reporting statements, and a charitable trust has removed their investment from a large publisher, because of an exhibition for the arms trade.
• A recent US survey has found that 92% of young people want to work for an environmentally friendly companies, or in a job that has a positive impact on the environment.
Health & well-being:
•The Ministry of Health has just released the 2007 edition of An indication of New Zealanders’ health – it’s a snapshot of the health of the nation, and “includes 71 different health and health-related indicators relating to key issues affecting the health status of New Zealanders”.
•The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs has opened a new office intended to utilize space technologies to respond to disasters globally. The office will carry out the aims of the UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response UN-SPIDER, and workshops were held recently.
•In the UK, big changes are going on in the way local government there handles its social care functions. A recent Guardian article outlines the way local government is partnering with different parts of the NHS to change their local services.
•At the same time as the NZ Drug Foundation wants NZers to talk more about the issues around cannabis use/misuse, the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NZ Inc included a news item on its website from the UK, indicating that Home Office statistics show that among 16-24 year old users in the UK , marijuana use has dropped since possession became a non-arrestable offense.
•The World Cancer Research Fund’s report on diet, exercise and cancer can be found online as well as continuous updates since publication.
•Downloads of information are available on the Commonwealth Fund’s International Health Policy Survey in Seven Countries (which includes NZ).
•Results of a survey in NZ on ethnic differences in drug and alcohol use will be released at a conference today, but key findings from the last 12 months are already available.
Environment & sustainability:
•The first hybrid-only taxi company Matakabs started business in the Matakana region in July 2007.
•The UK Housing & Planning Minister has announced an ideas competition to develop and set the design standards for 10 new eco-towns. Judging will include a citizen’s panel & ideas resulting from the competition will be drawn together to help inform local authorities and developers.
•The US Conference of Mayors has just met in Seattle for a Climate Protection Summit.
People, culture and diversity:
•The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is warning of the possibility of an increase in sexual violence and trafficking of women, as the rise in prenatal son selection in Asian countries results in the birth of fewer girls.
•Lonely Planet has just released the 2008 annual from its Bluelist website, with several NZ attractions making some of the top ten lists.
Science, technology & transport:
•The wireless and broadband conference Convergence Oceania 2007 will be on in Auckland next week, showcasing leading technologies in the industry.
•Consumer’s latest ISP survey reveals a lot of dissatisfaction with internet and broadband services in NZ.
•The 2007 Business Budget Summit held recently to discuss health, the skills shortage and tax reform and provide recommendations to government. Background papers and surveys, speeches and a list of recommendations can be found at the Summit website.
•New Zealand has dropped from 21st to 24th in ranking, on the World Economic Forum’s 2007/08 Global Competitiveness Index.
•Big investors, foundations and advocacy groups are beginning to show their strength in influencing the way companies do business around environmental and ethical issues –the US Securities and Exchange Commission is being asked to require publicly traded companies to provide information about their risk from climate change in their formal reporting statements, and a charitable trust has removed their investment from a large publisher, because of an exhibition for the arms trade.
• A recent US survey has found that 92% of young people want to work for an environmentally friendly companies, or in a job that has a positive impact on the environment.
Health & well-being:
•The Ministry of Health has just released the 2007 edition of An indication of New Zealanders’ health – it’s a snapshot of the health of the nation, and “includes 71 different health and health-related indicators relating to key issues affecting the health status of New Zealanders”.
•The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs has opened a new office intended to utilize space technologies to respond to disasters globally. The office will carry out the aims of the UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response UN-SPIDER, and workshops were held recently.
•In the UK, big changes are going on in the way local government there handles its social care functions. A recent Guardian article outlines the way local government is partnering with different parts of the NHS to change their local services.
•At the same time as the NZ Drug Foundation wants NZers to talk more about the issues around cannabis use/misuse, the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NZ Inc included a news item on its website from the UK, indicating that Home Office statistics show that among 16-24 year old users in the UK , marijuana use has dropped since possession became a non-arrestable offense.
•The World Cancer Research Fund’s report on diet, exercise and cancer can be found online as well as continuous updates since publication.
•Downloads of information are available on the Commonwealth Fund’s International Health Policy Survey in Seven Countries (which includes NZ).
•Results of a survey in NZ on ethnic differences in drug and alcohol use will be released at a conference today, but key findings from the last 12 months are already available.
Environment & sustainability:
•The first hybrid-only taxi company Matakabs started business in the Matakana region in July 2007.
•The UK Housing & Planning Minister has announced an ideas competition to develop and set the design standards for 10 new eco-towns. Judging will include a citizen’s panel & ideas resulting from the competition will be drawn together to help inform local authorities and developers.
•The US Conference of Mayors has just met in Seattle for a Climate Protection Summit.
People, culture and diversity:
•The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is warning of the possibility of an increase in sexual violence and trafficking of women, as the rise in prenatal son selection in Asian countries results in the birth of fewer girls.
•Lonely Planet has just released the 2008 annual from its Bluelist website, with several NZ attractions making some of the top ten lists.
Science, technology & transport:
•The wireless and broadband conference Convergence Oceania 2007 will be on in Auckland next week, showcasing leading technologies in the industry.
•Consumer’s latest ISP survey reveals a lot of dissatisfaction with internet and broadband services in NZ.
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions
These LOGIS alerts vary in the way they arrive to me. This week's list doesn't include anything from my RSS feeds - I haven't had time to look at them - what you see below is definitely just a selection of the amount of information that rolls in every week. If you want to check to see whether anything interesting may have come in via RSS, check out my Bloglines blogroll on the left. Apologies for the layout of this - still learning to tinker with the templates.
Business and management:
Wellington-based company Axo Shredders have taken their Mobile Shredding Trucks concept into the global marketplace and are providing businesses with the means to have secure document, CD, clothing or computer tape destruction onsite at their offices rather than needing to send materials out, thus minimising security risks for companies.
The Ministry of Economic Development has released reports in its Occasional Papers series, on topics such as “HR practices and firm performance”, “Just how innovative are NZ firms?”, “Practice makes profit: business practices and firm success”, and a number of reports around supporting innovation.
The Auckland division of an international finance and accounting firm Robert Half, is warning employers about losing their staff to overseas employers, as a result of their 2007 Auckland Salary Guide.
Health and wellbeing:
The Ministry of Health has released The Health and Independence Report 2007, providing a progress report on the government’s New Zealand Health Strategy, 39 Headline Indicators of health system performance and 10 national Health Targets.
The World Health Organisation has published a new standard for documenting the health of children and youth. This is the first internationally agreed upon classification code for assessing the health of children and youth in the context of their stages of development and the environments in which they live.
Statistics NZ has just released a report indicating that workers over 65 have the highest rate of work-related injuries.
Environment and sustainability:
NZ has its first purpose-built green office buildings with a 5-star rating from the NZ Green Building Council – Meridian Energy’s head office on Wellington’s waterfront, and Auckland’s 80 Queen Street BNZ Multiplex.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, has called the converting of food into biofuel a “crime against humanity”. You can hear a report from UN Radio.
At least 4 new species were discovered during Wellington’s recent Marine Bioblitz, the world’s first.
Law:
Thomson Brookers is presenting a seminar in November, Environmental Law: Top Cases of 2007. Either register online or contact the Thomson Brookers Events Team on 09 360 3712.
Government, local and central:
For those of you who don’t subscribe to the Local Government Online newsletter (see the What’s New box on the right), the Resource Management Law Association has made an award to the Kapiti Coast District Council and consultants Urbanism Plus for their Best Practice Subdivision Guidelines. The judges described the guidelines as an "outcomes focused approach to integrated resource management".
Statistics NZ has released its latest Local Government Connection newsletter. See the bottom of each newsletter if you want to subscribe to the listserv to be regularly alerted. This newsletter includes the latest National Population Projections – Subnational (ie at territorial authority level) are still to come. (Look out for a list of electronic newsletters that could be of interest to council staff, so that people can decide for themselves whether to subscribe – possibly on Citynet, rather than here.)
Research New Zealand has released the results of a recent poll, indicating that there are more NZer’s backing the government to spend its surplus on public works, than on tax cuts.
People, culture and diversity:
The first World Indigenous Television Broadcasting Conference will be held in Auckland in March 2008, with the theme “Reclaiming the future”, hosted by Maori Television.
The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development has released the results of a survey on overcoming NZ’s skill shortage, that indicates that NZer’s are happy to welcome migrants here but see low pay as a contributor to the skill shortage.
Transport:
David Engwicht, in his opening address to the Injury Prevention Network of Aotearoa New Zealand (IPNANZ) conference in Napier, said that when drivers perceive a situation as 'unsafe', they tend to take more care. Therefore we should get rid of road safety controls that make drivers feel safe.
From the LOGIS desk.
Business and management:
Wellington-based company Axo Shredders have taken their Mobile Shredding Trucks concept into the global marketplace and are providing businesses with the means to have secure document, CD, clothing or computer tape destruction onsite at their offices rather than needing to send materials out, thus minimising security risks for companies.
The Ministry of Economic Development has released reports in its Occasional Papers series, on topics such as “HR practices and firm performance”, “Just how innovative are NZ firms?”, “Practice makes profit: business practices and firm success”, and a number of reports around supporting innovation.
The Auckland division of an international finance and accounting firm Robert Half, is warning employers about losing their staff to overseas employers, as a result of their 2007 Auckland Salary Guide.
Health and wellbeing:
The Ministry of Health has released The Health and Independence Report 2007, providing a progress report on the government’s New Zealand Health Strategy, 39 Headline Indicators of health system performance and 10 national Health Targets.
The World Health Organisation has published a new standard for documenting the health of children and youth. This is the first internationally agreed upon classification code for assessing the health of children and youth in the context of their stages of development and the environments in which they live.
Statistics NZ has just released a report indicating that workers over 65 have the highest rate of work-related injuries.
Environment and sustainability:
NZ has its first purpose-built green office buildings with a 5-star rating from the NZ Green Building Council – Meridian Energy’s head office on Wellington’s waterfront, and Auckland’s 80 Queen Street BNZ Multiplex.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, has called the converting of food into biofuel a “crime against humanity”. You can hear a report from UN Radio.
At least 4 new species were discovered during Wellington’s recent Marine Bioblitz, the world’s first.
Law:
Thomson Brookers is presenting a seminar in November, Environmental Law: Top Cases of 2007. Either register online or contact the Thomson Brookers Events Team on 09 360 3712.
Government, local and central:
For those of you who don’t subscribe to the Local Government Online newsletter (see the What’s New box on the right), the Resource Management Law Association has made an award to the Kapiti Coast District Council and consultants Urbanism Plus for their Best Practice Subdivision Guidelines. The judges described the guidelines as an "outcomes focused approach to integrated resource management".
Statistics NZ has released its latest Local Government Connection newsletter. See the bottom of each newsletter if you want to subscribe to the listserv to be regularly alerted. This newsletter includes the latest National Population Projections – Subnational (ie at territorial authority level) are still to come. (Look out for a list of electronic newsletters that could be of interest to council staff, so that people can decide for themselves whether to subscribe – possibly on Citynet, rather than here.)
Research New Zealand has released the results of a recent poll, indicating that there are more NZer’s backing the government to spend its surplus on public works, than on tax cuts.
People, culture and diversity:
The first World Indigenous Television Broadcasting Conference will be held in Auckland in March 2008, with the theme “Reclaiming the future”, hosted by Maori Television.
The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development has released the results of a survey on overcoming NZ’s skill shortage, that indicates that NZer’s are happy to welcome migrants here but see low pay as a contributor to the skill shortage.
Transport:
David Engwicht, in his opening address to the Injury Prevention Network of Aotearoa New Zealand (IPNANZ) conference in Napier, said that when drivers perceive a situation as 'unsafe', they tend to take more care. Therefore we should get rid of road safety controls that make drivers feel safe.
From the LOGIS desk.
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Launching LOGIS into the Blogisphere
I’ve been sitting on the idea of starting this blog for about a year now, as a new way of providing updates on new information resources. Sending out emails and maintaining all the associated contact lists is not the most efficient way for me to use my time, and is not the best use of the kind of technology that's now available to all of us. Since blogging is increasingly a normal avenue for broadcasting information, it seems a good time to start a corporate “internal” blog. (Blogging is so normal, that coincidentally as I blog here, a large number of Libraries staff are working their way through a technology skills course that includes the requirement that they start their own blog.)
I’m making no predictions about the frequency of the posts here – there’s no point trying to define the indefinable. And, initially, I need to make some assumptions as to the kind of information people around Council would like to see or will find useful. However, I don’t intend to duplicate work already being done for you by people in your own parts of the organisation. The News section of Citynet provides plenty of access to our internal and external newsletters and the local news clippings, not to mention the Digital Library for news from the rest of the world. In addition, City Planning puts out an excellent weekly emailed newsletter “In the Planning Library this week” – contact Records in City Planning if you’d like to be added to their mailing list. It covers journal subscriptions held by the Planning Library, as well as some of the journals that I send around on distribution, and always includes a few snippets of information you might not have managed to stumble across on the Internet. Many of your teams have your own journal subscriptions or small book collections as well – all fine, given that many of those information resources are day-to-day work tools and staff want to keep these resources in their office areas. The point of difference for LOGIS is that it is a corporate library service set up within the Central public library building across the road from you all at Council, rather than within the Council building(s), as is the case with many other local government corporate libraries. That brings advantages and disadvantages for a local government corporate library service, but overall, I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The information resources and services that Council staff can rely on by extension through LOGIS being sited within a public library are huge, and not something that most corporate libraries around Auckland could provide for their users.
So this blog is intended to keep you all up-to-date on my perspective of the information world – the resources that I come across daily, that might provide Council staff with a different point of view, or expand knowledge in a direction not previously considered. The intranet pages that I maintain within Citynet will still be there, and I’ll be increasing the amount of information available electronically there as time goes by. Some of you will have noticed that TARU is now available there as a pdf file, rather than taking forever going around on distribution like the other printed journals. Faster and more efficient for you and less admin work for me. There are also some statistical resources that are online now on Citynet, and I’m going to be slowly increasing those in the future.
From the LOGIS desk.
I’m making no predictions about the frequency of the posts here – there’s no point trying to define the indefinable. And, initially, I need to make some assumptions as to the kind of information people around Council would like to see or will find useful. However, I don’t intend to duplicate work already being done for you by people in your own parts of the organisation. The News section of Citynet provides plenty of access to our internal and external newsletters and the local news clippings, not to mention the Digital Library for news from the rest of the world. In addition, City Planning puts out an excellent weekly emailed newsletter “In the Planning Library this week” – contact Records in City Planning if you’d like to be added to their mailing list. It covers journal subscriptions held by the Planning Library, as well as some of the journals that I send around on distribution, and always includes a few snippets of information you might not have managed to stumble across on the Internet. Many of your teams have your own journal subscriptions or small book collections as well – all fine, given that many of those information resources are day-to-day work tools and staff want to keep these resources in their office areas. The point of difference for LOGIS is that it is a corporate library service set up within the Central public library building across the road from you all at Council, rather than within the Council building(s), as is the case with many other local government corporate libraries. That brings advantages and disadvantages for a local government corporate library service, but overall, I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The information resources and services that Council staff can rely on by extension through LOGIS being sited within a public library are huge, and not something that most corporate libraries around Auckland could provide for their users.
So this blog is intended to keep you all up-to-date on my perspective of the information world – the resources that I come across daily, that might provide Council staff with a different point of view, or expand knowledge in a direction not previously considered. The intranet pages that I maintain within Citynet will still be there, and I’ll be increasing the amount of information available electronically there as time goes by. Some of you will have noticed that TARU is now available there as a pdf file, rather than taking forever going around on distribution like the other printed journals. Faster and more efficient for you and less admin work for me. There are also some statistical resources that are online now on Citynet, and I’m going to be slowly increasing those in the future.
From the LOGIS desk.
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