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Te Ara showcases Kiwi culture for the world

Optimation was the technology partner for the initial development of Te Ara, the online Encyclopedia of New Zealand. The project showcased Optimation's skills in application development, web content management, IT architecture and integration.

Te Ara homepage
Click image to view screenshots

Ministry of Culture and Heritage

Public Sector: Application development, Web-enabled business, Consulting

Te Ara is the first national encyclopedia of its kind in the world, having been conceived from the beginning as a web experience. As the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's technology partner, Optimation built the 'engine' that underpins the public website and worked to ensure the supporting software and technologies were configured and integrated to meet the needs of this unique project.

The sheer volume of material Te Ara contains, combined with a publishing process that requires input from a wide range of contributors and editors, meant a robust, scalable and flexible content and workflow management platform was a fundamental requirement. A technology architecture that would be 'future-proof' and standards-based was also vital, given the long-term nature of the project.

We delivered:

  • Simple and intuitive web content management that supports an extremely content-rich site
  • Microsoft application development expertise
  • Scalable and flexible workflow processes that leverage existing resources and knowledge
  • Advanced search engine functionality and a robust architecture that is designed to scale for future growth
  • Mentoring and skills transfer to the Te Ara team

Why Optimation?

"We needed an architecture that gave us a long-term technology path," says Jock Phillips, General Editor of the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. "Optimation has achieved this with a solution that is designed to maximise flexibility, and at the same time ensure that the technology doesn't compromise or constrain our creative options as Te Ara develops and grows over the coming years."

The solution is designed to be straightforward and intuitive enough for non-technical contributors and editorial staff to use productively. This was achieved by designing templates and workflow processes that leveraged users' familiarity with the standard Microsoft desktop environment.

Optimation has also participated in a programme of skills transfer, mentoring the Ministry's staff and working with them to help evolve the business processes around Te Ara. This ensures long-term retention of knowledge in-house.

Visit the Te Ara website.