Are you a communications specialist who feels at home in an online environment?
If so, this is an opportunity for you to build Callaghan Innovation‘s online presence from the ground up – a new organization with the mission to take New Zealand innovation to the world.
Working in the Communications team, you’ll source high-quality, inspiring content that tells Callaghan Innovation’s story and helps New Zealanders build their understanding of our work in the innovation space. Your focus will be on providing a strategic direction for our online engagement by scoping, developing and managing appropriate online channels, and providing innovative, fresh ideas in this environment.
Callaghan Innovation is a new organization, so this role is a blank canvas for the right person. They help innovative New Zealand businesses build their capabilities by linking them with organizations that offer the expertise and facilities they need. They work closely with investors, research organizations, economic development and government agencies, and other stakeholders.
You’ll need to be passionate about the online environment and social media, and very comfortable working in this area. You’ll have plenty of experience in corporate communications, and a relevant qualification in communications is desirable. You’ll also have extensive knowledge of the various online channels, and experience in their development and management. You’ll be successful in the role when the up-to-date, relevant, and inspiring content you’ve created generates a sense of ownership across the whole organisation.
This is a content role like no other – it’s a rare opportunity for you to use your online skills and experience to play a vital role in how a new organization portrays itself and is perceived. This is your chance to help us grow and make a name for ourselves, both in New Zealand and internationally.
Applications for this role will be processed after January 6 2014.
Use your UX expertise to grow your career and the careers of countless others.
UX – it seems like it wasn’t that long ago that people didn’t even know what it stood for… let alone how critical it is to online success. Fortunately the world has cottoned on to the value of a well structured user experience. And that’s great news for what Careers New Zealand is doing, what their users want to do and – right now – for your UX career.
Careers New Zealand is delivering tools that help Kiwis make well informed education and employment decisions. A customer-centric approach is at the very heart of all they do… and they’ve got big plans in the pipeline. So, the opportunity here for you is impressive to say the least. Not only that, you can look forward to the satisfaction that stems from helping others develop their careers, while enhancing your own.
They’re breaking new ground in their field, both locally and globally – setting the benchmark for careers development of online products and services. The best part though, is that they’ve only just scratched the surface of what’s possible. And you’ll have a major hand in creating ‘what’s next’.
Expect to be involved at a strategic level, working holistically with a broader perspective – applying UX principles to achieve bigger organisational goals. In a nutshell, you’ll directly influence their overall success – not be just a part of the puzzle. Whether it’s creating user scenarios, information structures, wireframes, navigation diagrams or workflow models, the user-centric logic you bring will ultimately deliver benefit to all involved. And you’ll get to do this in a truly fluid environment, with great collaboration where you can bring new thinking to the table and inject your own perspective and point of view.
We think there’s no better place to put your UX and visual design experience to use. Just show them you have strong core skills and that you’re a true advocate of UX methodologies, and they’ll show you stacks of opportunity.
I think New Zealanders like to take a chance in both life and business… Adventure is in our blood. Both Auckland and Wellington are full of creative, driven people who also really value work-life balance.
After the great Kim Lesch kicked things off with our first Fetch in NZ last November, we’re now excited to hand the reins over to Katherine Field. Part of the curator’s code within The Fetch community is for the outgoing person to recommend a replacement [we also take applications for new cities] and I couldn’t be happier with Kim’s suggestion. Katherine is simply incredible and we’re looking forward to all the great happenings she uncovers! You may already recognise her from her role in building community at The Biz Dojo coworking spaces.
Why did you want to get involved in The Fetch’?
I see a real need for this community to be able to easily discover awesome events and opportunities, so I’m really excited to be part of a solution. It’s also a really great excuse to meet kiwis at the top of their game, and sit them down for a chat. The Fetchers are a real welcoming bunch and I feel like I’ve immediately extended my global family!
What things excite you about your community right now?
I think people are really starting to harness the hyper-connectedness (must be a word) of this city and use it to create super-charged projects. Every new initiative and event that involves this community seems to be the product of some serious collaboration. The power of doing things together – working smarter not harder – seems to be amping up – and really paying off.
How did you end up where you are today?
I grew up in Christchurch, and then moved to Wellington to go to University, and studied Art History and Criminology. Although a Da Vinci Code-inspired lifestyle was tempting, I ended up managing Toi Poneke Arts Centre – a City Council-run gallery and studio facility for emerging artists. I was part of a great team and it was really inspiring to be surrounded by over 100 talented creatives every day!
Two years ago, I jumped on board at The Biz Dojo – a coworking network for innovative tech and creative businesses – to be the community manager for the newly established Wellington space. We’ve had a lot of really amazing people and businesses join our Dojo family over this time. Not only do I get to watch their businesses grow, but I’m also able to get out and meet a lot the people creating interesting work, products and businesses throughout Wellington – and Auckland too. Dream job!
What makes you tick?
Nailing a new recipe, filling out forms and poking my tongue out at small children.
What makes you ick?
Mushrooms and rude people.
What events can we find you at?
I’m often gate-crashing tech events that go way over my head, but the people are awesome and I learn something new each time. Through The Biz Dojo and my involvement in Startup Weekend, I’m also often seen dishing out the pizza and opening beer bottles at a lot of events for the local startup community.
What’s your favourite thing about your city?
My favourite thing about Wellington is the walkability! Having shops, restaurants, work, museums, theatres, waterfront, bike tracks and lookouts all within 20mins walk from home is pure luxury! Also, the fact that you will see someone you know around every corner!
What’s unique about Auckland and Wellington?
Both AKL and WLG are in the weird situation of being plonked at the bottom of the world..
The country is full of the descendants of crazy people who took a chance to emigrate to a tiny island at the bottom of the world. Adventure is in our blood.
I think New Zealanders like to take a chance in both life and business.
Both Auckland and Wellington are full of creative, driven people who also really value work-life balance.
Where can we find you in New Zealand?
You can normally find me in Wellington, on a coffee-date of some description! There’s no better way to get to know a new friend of business connection than over a delicious cup of local brew. 😉 I also love to get up to Auckland, hang out with the Dojo crew on K Rd, and get to know the great businesses and creatives up there. I’ve also started to find the hidden foodie gems!
Recently Wellington Ambassador Kim Anderson sat down with the founders of chalkle°, a community education organisation, their conversation went deep into the power of collective knowledge.
I will safely assume that many of us have a list somewhere, whether it is a mental or physical list, of what we would like to learn if we ever had the time or money. However learning is always an investment, and for time-poor and cash-strapped modern folk, further education beyond formal schooling can often be a stretch too far. But it doesn’t stop you from wanting it, and this is what chalkle° founders Silvia Zuur and Linc Gasking discussed over a coffee in Wellington in July 2012. From this they built chalkle°, an alternative education source that not only strives to make education more accessible to everyone, but to also strengthen local communities at the same time. I sat down with Silvia Zuur to talk about the chalkle° vision, its growth and future goals.
Photo supplied by Chalkle
Firstly, how did you come up with the name chalkle°?
Chalkle has two naming contexts. First of all blackboards and chalk, and then street art, where the pavement becomes the blackboard, and which is our main design inspiration. It’s all about expressing creativity. Our tagline (six degrees of education – represented by the small circle next to ‘chalkle°’) is because we believe there is six degrees of separation, or education, between people, and that you can find all the education you need within your community.
What was the dream for chalkle° starting out?
I guess for me it was enabling everyone in every community to take their learning into their own hands. To be able to curate their own education – and to have choice and possibility as to what they want to learn in their own life-long learning path. We wanted to provide them with those opportunities.
The knowledge is in the community and we wanted to tap into what is already there. We are really just connecting the people who need to be connected.
In three words, how would you describe chalkle° classes?
Can I give you four? We have four Principles – Strengthening community, Learning, Accessible, Collaborative – and this is what we strive for in all our classes.
So how do chalkle° classes work?
There are two main parts. First you, as a Chalkler, can just sign up – there are no membership fees and limited barriers to entry. You just need access to a computer, and then you can get notified about classes that come up which match your interests. We try to make it easy for you to be a part of.
For you to be a teacher, you just get in touch with us, we send you a form, and we see what you wish to share. We have a whole spectrum of teachers, from beginners to well-seasoned professionals. The latter tend to be more independent and don’t need that much support to get started, but people who aren’t used to it may need help with finding a venue for their class, figuring out how much to charge, how to shape their class, and those are all services that we provide. We try to make certain that it’s possible for everyone to have the chance of teaching.
Photo supplied by Chalkle
Building on that, why is collaboration so important for chalkle°?
I think there are two layers. First of all we’ve really identified with the Collaborative Consumption movement, but secondly collaboration comes core to what I do in terms of how I work. I go into every working relationship trying to find out where’s the win-win, and sometimes not just the win-win, but the win-win-win-win-win. I’m always trying to find how one plus one can equal more than two.
So there is an element of social good in chalkle°. Speaking of Collaborative Consumption, there seems to have been a shift towards businesses and organisations being more socially and community minded – have you noticed a similar shift and do you think it’s attributable to anything?
I think people are starting to realise that competition is not the answer, so therefore that begs the question what does collaboration look like in the business world. As individuals, especially in the West, we’re quite ego-centric – it’s all about the individual. But then you start to see how that can create disenfranchised people – they feel isolated. People are starting to realise, or at least I hope they are starting to wake up, to the fact that if they know their neighbours, there is a personal benefit as well as a societal benefit. AirBnB is a classic example – ten years ago we might not have done that, but we’ve gotten up to a point that we trust people coming through. I think we’re still very naïve about it, but I’m excited to see how it develops, for example things around reputation and online trust. And that’s really important for chalkle° – we’re building an offline community – we happen to be using technology and online systems as a way to connect everyone, but it’s all so that we can strengthen the face-to-face community.
Photo supplied by Chalkle
You and Linc (co-founder) met at Enspiral. Has continuing to work in this space had a big impact?
Oh it’s what’s made chalkle°. I describe Enspiral as an eco-system or a nursery – that growing, nurturing image. Practically, it’s the fact that we have lawyers and accountants in the same space, combined with people who have ridiculous amounts of start-up experience. Those are the hard skills, and then you have the soft skills – everyone out there is creating something, and so there are those emotional connections and work relevance. For example, our Horowhenua chalkle° channel connection was made through an Enspiral connection. Perhaps the value comes because we’re all creating something new…in this work you’re constantly trying to convince people out in the world that what you’re doing is awesome, and sometimes having people who have your back just means that you can thrive.
What are your next steps for chalkle°?
I hope that chalkle° can enable more communities to collaborate and explore their learning. Practically what that looks like now is that we’re really interested in working with more communities around New Zealand. We’re keen for people to get in touch if they have an idea – if there’s a community centre, library, local council, or a trust – we’re really interested in partners who share our values and want to collaborate. I hope Wellington continues to thrive and grow – we’re organising two conferences in the next couple of months…the UX Design Day on the 10th October and we’re helping to organise Social Enterprise Week in mid-August.
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About our ambassador // This article was contributed by Community Ambassador Kim Anderson. Kim is a Design kid from Wellington who loves crazy ideas and gizmos and has a complicated relationship with the internet. Say hi on Twitter @_kim_anderson or on her blog.
As part of the Wellington Lux Festival Symposium spanning 22/23 June, Katherine Field and Pepper Curry attended both days and reported back to The Fetch on all the terrific art they interacted with.
Photo credit: Katherine Field
Last weekend marked the second instalment of the WGTN Lux Festival, celebrating creativity at the interaction of light, space and technology. The festival was plagued by the recent storm in Wellington but fought the odds, with almost all of the artists managing to install these outdoor pieces.
A Symposium occupied the central two days of the four-day event and was a fascinating insight into the creative, scientific and mad minds of the artists – most of whom had pieces dotted around the city for the festival. Twelve artists and a panel discussion entertained an intimate, engaged audience in the Wellington City Gallery over the two days.
Ruairi Glynn from the UK, was a heavyweight addition to the Symposium. His interactive kinetic installations have been exhibited in such esteemed institutions as Centre Pompidou and The Tate Modern. His artwork unfortunately didn’t feature in the festival here, but he was a passionate and engaging speaker. Glynn shared his unending enthusiasm for his projects that create organic and playful human experiences using artificial intelligence and robotics.
A highlight from the first day of the Symposium was also the poetic and humorous tale of experimentation and failure delivered by local lighting designer/artist, Marcus McShane. He spoke about his journey from building solar racecars and land yachts from a young age, to his current frustrating project. The hurricane-force weather of last week plagued (and postponed) the installation of McShane’s permanent artwork in Opera House Lane which was to debut during the Festival.
Day Two of the Symposium featured five more engaging speakers. There seemed to be a recurring theme of playful and complex digital projects inspired by the natural world. Design the Future’s Social Firefly, Antony Nevin’s BELUGA and Pierre Proske’s Blink were three beautiful pieces in the festival that worked with animal interaction in interesting ways.
Photo credit: Katherine Field
Elliot Woods from Seoul-based art and design studio, Kimchi and Chips was a standout in his presentation. In 45 minutes he took us through the relatively complex processes that have informed their work, which left some of the less technologically minded audience members barely keeping up. To over-simplify, the duo have explored such concepts as the aesthetics of error, 2D vs. 3D sight, and have a system which creates the emulsion of digital light in physical space. Their enchanting installation in Frank Kitts Park, Lit Tree 2013 goes beyond ‘traditional’ projection-mapping, and illuminates a tree with light that is volumetric and also able to be manipulated.
As a final session, all the participating artists formed a panel. The discussion ventured though topics on the subtleties of true interactive art, negotiating audience expectation, analogue vs. digital experience, and driving creativity by constraints. Rachael Rakena, (co-creator of the beautiful Aniwaniwa from 2007 Venice Biennale) then became the main focus of the discussion, with many of the questions directed at how she copes with the often negative reaction to her provocative artworks such as Haka Peep Show from the Rugby World Cup.
Photo credit: Katherine Field
The Symposium was an insightful journey into the processes and inspirations of the talented exhibiting artists. Thankfully, the weather cleared for the final two evenings of the festival, to allow a number of Wellingtonians like us to explore the actual installations under the light of a super-moon – most armed with cameras, tripods and many woollen layers!
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About our Ambassadors // Katherine Field is one helluva busy lady. In between holding down the fort as the Community Manager at the BizDojo, she is also back at university and helping to coordinate Startup Weekend Wellington. Find her on twitter as @kathfromwelly
Pepper Curry is an illustrator, zine publisher (Press Zine), and audio-visual performer with Subterranean Mountaintop Seaside. She lives in Brooklyn, Wellington, and can be found helping to facilitate greatness at the BizDojo, Monday thru Friday.
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