Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, 1879–1960
Posted 8 July 2011 // Basil Keane
Ripeka Evans and Basil Keane check out the new e-book
This blog post is also available in Māori (Kei roto hoki i te reo Māori te Rātaki nei)
The theme of Māori Language Week this year is ‘Manaakitanga’. At Te Ara we decided that one way we could ‘Manaaki’ others was by making our great Māori language resources from Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (DNZB) available as an e-book, and so we have published all the biographies of renowned Māori in te reo Māori. This new e-book can be downloaded from: http://www.mch.govt.nz/news-events/news/ng%C4%81-t%C4%81ngata-taumata-rau-1869-1960.
The publication, Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, 1879-1960, comprises close to 500 biographies, all in Māori. For a reader of Māori the content is a joy to read due to the excellence of the translators involved, including Tairongo Amoamo, Te Pōroa Malcolm, Pou Temara, Merimeri Penfold, Wiremu Kaa, and Rangi McGarvey. We have been fortunate at Te Ara to have Rangi McGarvey continue on as a Māori language expert with oversight of our Māori-language content.
As the proverb goes, Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi - With your basket and my basket, the people will prosper. Members of design team, Julia Vodanovich and Heath Sadlier, designed the cover, which evokes the original covers. The most important role was played by our resident tech wizard, David Turton, who was able to download all the files from our database to be transferred to the e-book.
For me this project was a great way to kick off my new position as director, Māori digital projects. I’ve already got Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, 1769-1960 on my Kindle and plan to read one biography a day until I’ve gone through the lot (which should take about a year and a half).
The other thing worth observing is that this format provides a great opportunity for our rangatahi (youth) to access te reo content. Increasingly the current generation, which has been described as ‘net natives’ due to the fact that they have grown up surrounded by technology, access content through portable devices the majority of which have some form of e-reader. So it’s an ideal platform to look to develop our te reo content on. Hopefully this will be the first of many.
