Discover Ziln NZ internet tv

                                                 Launched in September this year,  Ziln is New Zealand’s first internet television network. 

It does for television what access internet radio did for radio broadcasting, allowing content created by ‘micro-broadcasters’ to reach an audience.  Capturing the long tail it is New Zealand television by the people for the people. 

Funded by advertising the service has been developed by E-Cast, an Auckland based company.  They also provide an education-based service to  NZ schools and tertiary institutions, which CPIT Library subscribes to.

So if you are interested in cars, planes, hunting & fishing, extreme sports, science or real estate there is something there for you, with more channels planned.  There is also a NZ Archives channel hosting classic New Zealand newsreels from 1940-1965. In December the Greenpeace Planet A concert will be broadcast live from Myers Park in Auckland.

International channels are also available and  include Aljazeera, Bloomberg, Russia Today and Press TV, the first Iranian international news network.

Where is your mo bro?

Movember is a moustache-growing charity event held during the month of November to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues such as prostate cancer.

Originating in Australia, this annual event has been running in New Zealand since 2006. To date more than 50,000 people have participated and $4million has been raised.

Salvador Dali

If you are considering growing a moustache, One thousand beards: a cultural history of facial hair  provides excellent tips on planning, selecting and growing beards and moustaches.

Looking for some inpiration? There are a variety of styles to choose from and there are a number of moustached luminaries such as Salavador Dali, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Selleck and Frank Zappa, whose moustaches have become as famous as the person themselves.

To support this worthy cause, check out the Movember website.

Plagiarism?

You might have heard or read recently about the controversy surrounding Witi Ihimaera’s new book, The Trowenna Sea. Several passages in the book were apparently copied from other sources and not properly attributed by Mr. Ihimaera.

Just recently, the New Zealand Listener  ran a story about how reviewer, Jolisa Gracewood, uncovered the passages in question.  She was able to find the sources of many of them by simply using Google and then looking them up in Google Books.  Interestingly, some of these sources are listed in the Mr. Ihimaera’s book as having been “consulted”. However, they were not directly cited in the text.

Witi Ihimaera has since apologised for the “errors” and directly contacted at least one of the authors involved.   He has also voluntarily submitted himself to arbitration at the University of Auckland where he is a professor and Distinguished Creative Fellow in Maori Literature.

This recent case just goes to show how important it is to keep track of everything you read and correctly attribute anything you have used that was originally written by someone else. To ensure that you don’t find yourself in the same sticky situation, check out the information we’ve put together on our referencing pages.

Canterbury Anniversary Day

The Holidays Act 1981 specified that each province in New Zealand was to have a Provincial Anniversary Day holiday to celebrate the founding  or landing days of the first colonists of the various provinces.  If you are lucky this means a day off work or study (but not if you work in hospitality or essential services).

According to Wikipedia the Canterbury Anniversary Day is the 16th of November but the 16th of December according to The New Zealand Railways Magazine.  In more practical terms it’s neither of these dates as (at the risk  of sounding a little like the rules of monopoly) it is observed on the second Friday after the first Tuesday in November to coincide with the A&P Show.  This is why it is also known as Show Day. 

Enjoy your day off!

Extra Features

Did you know that many of our databases provide extra features like translations and audio?

For example, check out the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center database by heading over to the Online Resources and Databases page.  Once you are in, click on any of the topics listed on the right or search for one of your own.  I picked censorship.  Click on an article and at the top, you’ll see options to translate the article into a number of different languages (Spanish and French to name a couple).  Below that, you’ll see an option to listen to the article either online or download it for later!

Our PressDisplay database goes one step further.  When you click on an article, you can translate it into a variety of languages AND listen to it in the particular language you have selected. Pretty clever!

Have a play and see what other features might be lurking in our databases…