Your stories
Posted 14 December 2007 // Jock Phillips
We'd like to hear your stories.
We want you to help build Te Ara. On the homepage and on every story page on the site you will see this little icon inviting you to submit a story. The hope is that when you get to a page of the site which triggers an interesting memory, you will sit down and write to us about it – with a photo if possible.
As I noted in a really interesting debate on Paul Reynolds’ blog, Te Ara is not a wiki. We celebrate the fact that some of the great writers, scientists and historians of the country have lent their lifetimes of knowledge to ensure that Te Ara gets it right. We will not compromise this. It’s great to have George Gibbs, recent Montana book-award winner for his Ghosts of Gondwana, write about insects; or Ranginui Walker, the hugely knowledgeable Māori scholar, write about his iwi, Te Whakatōhea.
But we have always wanted to encourage all New Zealanders who are interested to join the Te Ara team.
Homeless
From the beginning we asked people to send in stories on particular subjects. We called for stories about people’s voyages to New Zealand, and to our astonishment received over 250 tales. There are some great ones in the Voyage out entry. We asked for stories about disasters. There is a terrifying one by John Laker, who told us how the Wahine storm destroyed his home. There is amusing story from Lionel Hussey about how the 1960 tsunami drained Auckland Harbour of water – the poor gannets kept diving, only to get stuck in the mud with their long beaks!
So get writing – make it short (no more than 500 words), snappy and interesting. If you’ve already got one in mind, submit your story.
