Kia ora koutou ITP members and supporters, one thing my lovely week in the southern reaches of Te Waitounamu (the South Island) really hit home for me was the inequity in telecommunications coverage across the country. While it was crazy seeing the Milford Road fibre trench being laid in some of our most remote terrain, I assume for both safety and to enable tourists to post their insta and TikToc stories live, it’s equally crazy the permanent residents of the Catlins have basically no coverage anywhere. We also found ourselves stuck in Ōtepoti Dunedin overnight due to a telecommunications failure in Ōtautahi Christchurch airport (or maybe just Air NZ not sure) so comms had quite an impact on our holiday.

Peter shared the story of woe across the Tasman with their fibre rollout in trouble this week - How not to build a national broadband network, an interesting read.

Highlighting the clear positives of using mobile devices for payments, including the assertion “people who pay with mobile devices are happier than those who do not” we have a great article this week reminding everyone in our industry that we need to design our solutions with accessibility at their core. Read more about this in China’s experience with mobile payments highlights the pros and cons of a cashless society.

Peter also turned a lens on the cost, complexity and opportunities government mega mergers create from a technology perspective in his editorial - Yet another eye-watering mega merger IT bill comes in. 

I work extensively across the Te Pūkenga network and IT Professionals is the home of CITRENZ, the community of teachers and researchers in the polytechnic digital technology space, plus I was involved in ROVE as an establishment board member for Toi Mai the workforce development council for creative, culture, recreation and technology (declaring all of my conflicts here)- so I am a fan of this body of work but I hear the challenges first hand everyday as well. Mergers like these are complex in their nature, successful outcomes essentially come down to strength of leadership, clarity of strategy and accountability to stakeholders. Here’s hoping the government have those ingredients right for this important initiative. 

Speaking of education. I also spend a great deal of time talking to school principals, digital technology teachers and fabulous NGO’s who provide digital technology teaching programmes. One recurring topic has been the question of how digital tech can be leveraged to help teach literacy and numeracy. Some teachers talk about tech helping to reach learners who are otherwise completely disengaged in the classroom. My blog this week is on the role of VR in the classroom, something we should be embracing or not? 

Brendan is back and has built on my blog from last week on How green is our industry. Here is his take on the energy consumption by data centres challenge.

Wishing you all a lovely relaxing last weekend in March. Take care, mā te wā Vic