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    • What a ride!
      • Unless you were living under a rock last year, you’ll know that Porirua was competing in a Chorus competition to determine which New Zealand town within the Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) coverage area would get gigabit-speed broadband. That means access to data at a phenomenally fast 1 Gigabit per second (1Gbps) download and 500 Megabits per second (500Mbps) upload! Porirua needed to be in the Top 5 on the points table at the end of the first phase of the competition (on 12 September) to make it into the final round of the Gigatown competition. On 17 September, we found out that we didn’t make it into the finals. We decided to give Nelson our official support – although there were certainly other Porirua supporters who decided to get in behind Dunedin and Gisborne instead. On 26 November, at a gala event in Wellington, Dunedin was announced as the competition winner. Gigatown Gala Event, showing Dunedin, Timaru and Wanaka stands You can see Dunedin supporters back at Gigatown Dunedin HQ celebrating the moment the winner was announced here. Everyone based in Dunedin will get to access gigabit-speed broadband at the cost of an entry-level account for three years. That’s 10-100 times faster than current broadband speeds at a knockdown price – for homes and businesses. The town will also get a $500,000 fund to spend on community broadband initiatives, and access to a $200,000 entrepreneurial fund to support business start-ups. Porirua joins the other four finalists – Gisborne, Timaru, Wanaka and Nelson – in congratulating Dunedin and their supporters. Now we just need to figure out how we can all work together to turn New Zealand into a giga-nation!

    • Taking the Chattanooga Choo-choo
      • It’s over a month now since the end of the first phase of the Chorus Gigatown competition, and Porirua has found itself playing a whole new game. We didn’t make the finals, so we’ve partnered with neighbouring Nelson to help them win Gigagtown. We’ve travelled to the States as part of the Nelson support team to see what we can learn from Chattanooga’s gig fibre implementation. We have our own Porirua Digital Strategy ready for community debate and discussion. Gigatown Nelson Jill and Jules wearing their Gigatown Nelson T-shirts with pride at Nelson City Council Reception. Nelson narrowly squeaked past us to make it into the finals of the Chorus Gigatown competition. Despite the inevitable disappointment, Porirua has risen to the challenge and partnered with Nelson to help boost their social media score and explore strategic opportunities for our patch – ‘the centre of New Zealand’. With the social media component of the finals ending in under two weeks (Nov 11), the pressure is on to get as many sign-ups, quizzes and social media posts as possible for Nelson. In the meantime, we’re contributing ideas to Nelson’s plan for gig success, due the following week (Nov 18). Chattanooga The old Chattanooga Railway Station, now an historic hotel in Chattanooga’s Southside. Matthew Dodd from Nelson and Chris Lipscombe from Porirua traveled with Chorus and representatives from the other towns in the finals of the Gigatown competition to discover just what has been so remarkable about Chattanooga’s implementation of gig fibre. We learnt about the businesses that have been attracted to Chattanooga since the implementation of ‘the gig’ by Chattanooga’s EPB in 2009 and initiatives like business accelerator GigTank hosted by The Company Lab (CoLab). We also learnt that this has been the culmination of a 20-year investment in city centre revitalisation and community engagement, led by organisations like the River City Company and Chattanooga’s Enterprise Centre. The lessons? It takes a comprehensive program of economic and community development with strong, committed leadership to deliver the benefits of the gig across an entire city. Digital Strategy Celebrating the 1500th family graduating from Porirua’s Computers in Homes programme Porirua City Council has been working on a refreshed Digital Strategy since 2012. Organisations like Porirua E-learning Trust, which runs the Computers in Homes and Stepping Up training programmes, are already delivering stellar outcomes in developing digital literacy and helping people in Porirua into work or further study. In 2013, the Council released a discussion document that looked at what could be done to boost business activity across the city. The latest version of the strategy suggests that we need to improve broadband availability, boost smart businesses, and attract new entrepreneurs and businesses to Porirua. Like Chattanooga, Porirua will need to work with businesses and the community to deliver the best possible outcomes for everyone in our city. If you want to help, contact us!

    • So close
      • After almost 11 months of full-on campaigning and community-driven activity, phase 1 of the Gigatown competition is over. When the clock stopped at 1pm on Friday 12 September Porirua was just 60,000 points shy of Nelson and just outside the top 5. As anyone who has been following the competition knows, it’s the top 5 towns that get to go through to the finals and compete to become Gigatown. Here’s a picture of how close we got to 5th spot. The equivalent of just 120 more quizzes would have created a deadlock! On that last day, coming down to the wire, we earned almost 240,000 more points than Nelson, with people signing up from all over NZ and the world for Porirua. The race to the finish line was marred by persistent problems with the Chorus server crashing. Kim Lee Walton said in a post on the Gigaporirua Facebook page that she had heaps of students trying to do the quiz today but the system was in overload. “I felt so sorry for them. It was a whole class of students doing the quiz, having to cope with the frustration of a system on the Gigatown site that wouldn’t let people do the quiz even though the competition was not over.” Speaking of which, the competition is not quite over. Here’s what our Mayor Nick Leggett has to say: “Well, the first stage of Gigatown has closed and Porirua looks like it is in 6th position. What a great effort to all those people in our city who did the heavy lifting. The connections that we made and the image we projected about Porirua has been great. It won’t be lost.” “We find out for certain next Wednesday what our position is. We think there might have been some questionable tactics being used (not by our nearest competitors) so we are hoping that if that is the case they will be picked up.” Until next week, #gigatownporirua

    • Porirua’s startup video placed third
      • Our community produced a fantastic video to show how Porirua has the potential to become the startup capital of the South Pacific for gig services. Unfortunately, the panel of judges from Auckland’s North Shore decided that we only deserved third place and 100,000 points. Apparently, businesses will be much better off if they choose to start up in Gisborne or Wanaka instead. Forgive us if we’re biased, but we just don’t believe it. You can watch our video here and decide for yourself.  Oh, and if you choose to start your business in Porirua, you’ll also be living in one of the most beautiful parts of the lower North Island. The other video on this page says it all.  

    • Schools score big for Gigatown Porirua
      • The results of the Gigaschools video are in, and Porirua schools have placed in both categories. For the winning schools — Corinna School, Adventure School and Bishop Viard College — the results mean some cool technology to support video production and learning for students and teachers. For Gigatown Porirua, we get 400,000 more points on the leader board, helping to cement our position within the top five towns as we head towards the competition finals. All three judges felt the two schools that took the top prize in the junior and senior categories, Whakatane Intermediate (junior) and John McGlashan College (senior), stood out because they clearly demonstrated creatively how UFB will drive educational development and learning in schools, over and above simply connecting to faster broadband. The winning schools are: Junior category – 1st place: Whakatane Intermediate School ‪#‎GigatownWHK‬ (300,000 Gigapoints) 2nd place: Corinna School ‪#‎GigatownPOR‬ (200,000 Gigapoints) 3rd place: Bluestone School ‪#‎GigatownTIM‬ (100,000 Gigapoints) 4th place: Adventure School #GigatownPOR (50,000 Gigapoints) 5th place: Nelson Central School ‪#‎GigatownNSN‬ (25,000 Gigapoints) Senior category - 1st place: John McGlashan College ‪#‎GigatownDUN‬ (300,000 Gigapoints) 2nd place: Wakatipu High School ‪#‎GigatownQTN‬ (200,000 Gigapoints) 3rd place: Bishop Viard College #GigatownPOR (100,000 Gigapoints) 4th place: Titahi Bay Intermediate School #GigatownPOR (50,000 Gigapoints) 5th place tie: Southland Girls High School ‪#‎GigatownIVC‬ and Mt Aspiring College ‪#‎GigatownWKA‬ (25,000 Gigapoints each) 10,000 bonus Gigapoints were also available for any eligible entry that chose to support a town outside of the town where the school was located. Dunedin had 11 schools supporting them from outside Dunedin to receive 110,000 bonus Gigapoints. Timaru had three schools from other towns supporting them to receive 30,000 bonus Gigapoints, while Porirua received 10,000 bonus Gigapoints. Porirua’s extra points were earned by Raroa Intermediate School, with a video made by Zachery, son of Porirua City Council staff member Sakirin Sapeas.

    • Local businesses front up for Gigatown Porirua
      • In a race against the clock, three teams of interviewers, videographers and editors worked to get thirty business videos online as part of the Chorus Gigabusiness competition. By midnight on Thursday 12 June all thirty videos were completed, checked and online. Phew! Thanks to Luke Pilkinton-Ching, Anne Rose, Andrew Strugnell, Barry Prescott, Mark Remfrey and his colleagues at Tangerine Design, and Rhian Sheehan. You can see the complete thirty videos below or go to the poriruavideos playlist at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu3CRqpnq_Q&list=PL0COG4gbk0tP4wnUw1hEhcihNd2vT_dTN The videos were judged in three categories by The Icehouse, with the results made available 15 July.  According to Chorus, The Icehouse felt that many of the entries had a great understanding about how UFB can help their business, but the winners delved deeper and spoke passionately about how important UFB will be to their business community in their town and for economic growth. The Icehouse judges unanimously agreed on the category winners and these are: Best Large Business video – South Pacific Sera ‪#‎GigatownTIM‬ Best Small Business video – Vision Multimedia Limited ‪#‎GigatownPOR‬ Video with the best description of how UFB will change the way your company does business in the future – Unreal Films Limited #GigatownPOR As winner of two categories, Porirua was awarded 500,000 Gigapoints, enough to push us back into the top five towns. In addition to the category winners, six towns reached the 30 eligible videos criteria required to receive the maximum points available plus one Iceblock business training course to the value of $500 per town. These towns are: Dunedin, Gisborne, Nelson, Porirua, Timaru and Wanaka. So, another 600,000 points for us. After some deliberation, it was decided to split the $500 Iceblock business training course voucher between our two category winners — Vision Multimedia, and Unreal Films. Well done, guys!

    • School’s out… and the kids are making videos!
      • Students from 13 schools, both within and outside Porirua City, left their classrooms for a one-day crash course in video making supported by Porirua City Council. Watch the movies they made to help them win prizes and to support Porirua’s bid to become Gigatown! Students from St Patrick’s Primary School (Kilbirnie), Paekakariki School (Kāpiti), Adventure School, Aotea College, Titahi Bay School, Titahi Bay Intermediate, Ngati Toa School, Rangikura School, St Pius X School, Windley School, Bishop Viard College, Pukerua Bay School and Raroa Intermediate (Johnsonville) attended a workshop on Friday 13 June, organised by Porirua Deputy Mayor ‘Ana Coffey. They covered the basic process of filmmaking from pre-production to production and post-production. “Students learned how easy it is to create a short film using  iPads, smartphones and tablets.  We also explored the theme of how Ultra-Fast Broadband will enable new innovations for learning and teaching,” said ‘Ana Coffey. Kids win prizes in a one-day crash video making course supported by Porirua City Council, 13 June 2014 “The focus of the workshop was to facilitate entries into the Schools Video Competition being run as part of the Gigatown competition. Schools get the chance to win great prizes, and their video entries earn points for our Gigatown campaign.” For schools in both the junior (primary and intermediate) and senior (college) categories of the video competition there are great prizes offered by Chorus – GoPro cameras, Canon video cameras and $2500 towards a technology package. The Gigaschools video competition is a great opportunity for Porirua to secure a place in the finals of the Chorus Gigatown competition. Schools placed 1st to 5th in both the junior and senior categories of the judged competition will earn up to 300,000 points for the town they support. And each out-of-town school supporting Porirua will automatically earn an automatic 10,000 points for our bid. Porirua is currently the top-placed North Island town on the leader board, in 6th place overall, but we need a big points boost to reach the finals stage in September. The top five towns automatically go through to the finals round. Winning Gigatown in Porirua will bring more affordable UFB to homes and businesses – which will bring benefits to the Wellington Region. “None of our neighbouring Councils are actively participating in the Gigatown competition, so we’re calling on support from schools in Kapiti and the Hutt Valley through to Wellington City and beyond to get in behind our bid,” says ‘Ana Coffey. “It’s not too late to enter the competition and we are more than happy to come out and assist.” “To say thanks, every school that supports Porirua in this competition will go into a draw to win a Canon digital camera.” So get your 2-5 minute YouTube clips uploaded by 4 July. Each video clip has to get 500 301 views by 11 July in order to be eligible for entry. “The judges are looking for videos that creatively show what a day in the life of a gigabit connected school in Gigatown will be like. What will change in the school and the classroom with gigabit-connected services and how will it enhance the way students learn?” “Some schools might like to challenge another school or collaborate on a video to show digital learning in reality.  Our project team is happy to provide additional support if required,” says ‘Ana. Each school needs to register online at www.gigatown.co.nz/schools and follow the entry requirements for their YouTube entry. Check the leader board and join up to support Porirua at www.gigatown.co.nz to help earn points.

    • Getting down to business
      • The Chorus Gigatown competition is now halfway through, with approximately five months left to run until the top five towns make it through as finalists for the second and final stage. After a drop to 10th place, Porirua has been steadily climbing back up the ladder. We’re now in 8th place and challenging for 7th. We couldn’t have come as far as we have without our loyal Twitter, Instagram and Flickr supporters (thanks team). We’ve also been lucky to have the backing of some great Porirua businesses – big and small. Mitre10 MEGA Porirua One of our biggest (and earliest) business supporters was Mitre10 MEGA. Gigatown Porirua was proud to be associated with the launch of their new Porirua store during the weekend of 14-15 December 2013. Even the Big Man himself was there to spread the Gigatown Porirua message! Harvey Norman The Harvey Norman store in Porirua’s Mega Centre was closed for repairs last year following fire damage. It was reopened in a celebratory event during the weekend of 15-16 March – and Gigatown Porirua was there! Rotoract volunteers helped with handing out leaflets and persuading people to have their picture taken with a life-size cut-out of Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett. Porirua Roll of Honour To date the following Porirua businesses and organisations have contributed prizes to Gigatown Porirua competitions: The Coffee Club (North City Shopping Centre) Shoe Clinic (North City Shopping Centre) Blue Bell Club Harvey Norman Flower Workshop Pataka (Toi Store and Exhibitions gallery) Porirua Grand Traverse NZ Festival Mitre10 MEGA Porirua Whittaker’s Chocolate Brumby’s Porirua Chamber of Commerce The following Porirua businesses and organisations have provided promotional support for the Gigatown Porirua campaign: LOGIN Interet Café Northern United Rugby Football Club Titahi Bay Golf Club Haier Pulse Trash Palace Pack ‘n’ Pedal United Video (Cobham Court) Vision Photography Porirua Club Kapi-Mana News i-SITE Te Rito Gardens Andhow.FM Porirua Community Arts Council Relay for Life Whitireia Polytechnic Ascot Park Community Group Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office Cannons Creek Residents Association Whitby NZ Community OurPorirua.com Porirua Saturday Market Olé Football Club Kaizen Rugby for Heroes (UK) St Kilda AFC (Melbourne) Thanks guys — you rock! If you want to talk to someone about how you or your business can help the Gigatown Porirua campaign, email Chris  or call /text on 027 298 9459.

    • Celebrating 40 years of filmmaking in Porirua
      • Seen on Screen Forty Years of Films and Filmmaking in Porirua 19 April – 25 May 2014 As part of a six-month focus on film and screen production in Porirua, this exhibition presents Porirua’s memorable landscape, streets and buildings as captured in feature films, TV dramas, documentaries and web-based productions. The exhibition is hosted by Pata Art + Museim, and was opened by Deputy Chief Executive of the NZ Film Commission Mladen Ivancic Going back to the 1970s, we’re featuring a movie, TV show or documentary made in each decade up to the present day. The movies will be shown in room settings from the era, so you can step back in time and watch in comfort. Highlights from these screen gems will show a new side to Porirua, showcasing the versatility of the city and region as a film location.

    • Becoming global citizens
      • SHINE Porirua Led by a group of Porirua community representatives and organisations, SHINE is a long term initiative to retain young people in Porirua and raise student achievement. At the Shine Porirua Education Summit in 2013, more than 200 people agreed to work together to help all young people in Porirua achieve their full potential. Summit to shine a light on area’s education issues http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/kapi-mana-news/8723672/Summit-to-shine-a-light-on-areas-education-issues Te Mana o Kupe Trust Te Mana o Kupe Trust provides children and young people in Porirua East schools with the digital tools to learn, function and achieve as digital citizens. If children have the digital tools they need to learn at school and at home, parents will be able to link more closely with schools and help children with their learning. Porirua College: New buildings, new attitude http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7914713/Porirua-College-New-buildings-new-attitude Corinna School Corinna School has a vision for their students to be confident, connected, actively involved life-long learners. Corinna School is working with three other Porirua East schools to ensure that every family can have laptops for learning at an affordable price and every family can have affordable access to broadband at home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzE_TOu2ZYM

    • Avatar sequels great news for Porirua economy
      • With much of the work on three new Avatar films set to take place in the capital, our economy in Porirua is also likely to get a boost. Director James Cameron, producer Jon Landau and Prime Minister John Key announced on Monday that three Avatar movie sequels will be produced in New Zealand. Cameron said he plans to complete principal shooting on the three movies at one time, perhaps over a period of about nine months and beginning in 2015. Theatre release dates for the sequels are already set for Christmas 2016, 2017 and 2018 The first Avatar movie was partly made in New Zealand and went on to win three Academy Awards and currently stands as the highest grossing film of all time. The Government has announced an agreement it has struck with Lightstorm Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation to secure local production of the sequels. Included in the deal, New Zealand will pay for 25% of the three mega-budget “Avatar” sequels in return for production jobs and other perks. Details include: About 90% of live-action crew jobs are expected to be filled with Kiwis. An internship programme will be supported. New Zealand will host at least one official red carpet premiere New Zealand will be promoted as a tourist destination and film making venue – with a featurette on New Zealand being included in DVDs and Blu Rays. Cameron and Landau could also serve as founding members of a new screen advisory board, which will provide advice and guidance to New Zealand screen and film makers looking to make their marks internationally. “The Avatar sequels will provide hundreds of jobs and thousands of hours of work directly in the screen sector as well as jobs right across the economy,” Steven Joyce, New Zealand’s economic minister, has said in a statement. Many within creative industries directly plus supporting sectors stand to benefit - with the companies plan to spend at least $NZ500 million in New Zealand including most of the live action shooting and visual effects. Many locals in Porirua are still probably unaware that parts of the first Avatar movie were shot in central Porirua, in a temporary studio created in the former Todd Motors building. It is where all scenes involving human characters in the Na’vi Forest were shot. Production assistant Brigitte Yorke confirmed that many of the film’s top stars were in Porirua for the long hours of shooting between October 2007 and March 2008. Movie deals like this one highlight the opportunities that winning the Chorus Gigatown competition could bring to Porirua. Having core infrastructure underpinned by Ultra-Fast Broadband could help to create a wave of digital innovation and specialisation in Porirua – which could see us becoming a film production and technology hot spot in our own right. We can build on the hub that already exists in neighbouring Wellywood to improve both our local and regional economy. Related news stories Three Avatar films to be made in New Zealand (NZ National Party, 16 Dec 2013) Multi-movie Avatar deal lands in NZ, production could see 25% in rebates (NBR, 16 Dec 2013) Avatar sequels to be made in NZ (Stuff, 17 Dec 2013) Cameron to shoot 3 ‘Avatar’ sequels in New Zealand (AP, 17 Dec 2013) James Cameron compares Avatar sequels to The Godfather (TotalFilm, 17 Dec 2013) New Zealand Increases Incentives for ‘Avatar’ Sequels (The New York Times, 16 Dec 2013)

    • Something to remember us by…
      • If you’re dying to have Gigatown Porirua with you everywhere you go, then look no further. Download some Gigatown Porirua wallpaper for your smartphone and get your Porirua heart beating a little faster every time you select an app or take a call. To download your selected wallpaper to your mobile phone, access this site on your phone, ‘long press’ the link and save it to your phone.  Then use your phone’s settings to make the image your wallpaper.     Easy as!

    • ‘Call us GTown’
      • Porirua Hits the Ground Running with Chorus Gigatown Bid If you’ve been checking your Facebook page or Twitter site recently, chances are amongst the postings of baby photos, family event updates, food and homilies, reference to #gigatownporirua will have shown up. This is because the Porirua community has embraced the challenge set down by Chorus in its competition to find New Zealand’s first Gigatown – the centre with the fastest internet in the southern hemisphere. Chorus say the town that wins it will be the one that wants it the most. Says Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett, “Porirua wants it. Why? Because every household in Porirua needs a passport to the digital world. Every kid in Porirua needs to grow up a digital native. Every business needs access to the best technology on offer to help them grow and create jobs. Every entrepreneur who calls Porirua home should have world class digital technology right at their doorstep. Ultra fast broadband is not for geeks or elites. It’s for all of us.” Porirua City Council launched the campaign in late October with a YouTube video featuring the Mayor. Mayor Nick Leggett launches the Gigatown Porirua campaign on YouTube “Over the coming months, we’re rolling out a series of initiatives that aim to enlist schools, businesses, sporting clubs, community groups and households to spread the message far and wide that Porirua City is ideally placed to make the most of next generation broadband,” Mayor Leggett said. Chorus says the winning town will get gigabit services 7-10 years ahead of the rest of New Zealand and most of the rest of the southern hemisphere. The winner will be well positioned to become a leading digital innovation hub for New Zealand, showcasing how UFB can redefine our economy, reshape how our children learn and change how our communities live, work and play. On 30 September 2014 the top five towns in the competition will become Gigatown finalists, and go on to compete for the winning spot. Currently Porirua is sitting 3rd on the leader table, behind Oamaru and Wanaka [now 9th as at 5 March 2014] See the FAQ page or the Chorus webpage for more information. Remember to tell your friends and relations to join up and help spread the word!

    • And the latest from Chorus is…
      • In a teleconference call with Chorus last Friday (8 Nov) we heard straight from the horse’s mouth about the actions Chorus is taking to tighten the rules around scoring Gigatown points. The call started with a discussion on spamming using the Gigatown hashtag. You’ll have seen comments on this on the Gigatown Porirua Facebook page. Chorus has also posted some information on spam on their own Gigatown page. Then Chorus went on to explain how points will be allocated for each platform. Facebook All posts containing the #gigatownporirua or #gigatownPOR hashtag on designated public pages will be counted – unless they contravene the no-spamming rules (see above).  Chorus told us that all designated public pages (that is, pages that have been registered and verified) will be listed on the Gigatown website. Right now the only FB pages listed are the official community pages. We’ll have to wait and see if other designated pages appear on the website. All comments containing the #gigatownporirua or #gigatownPOR hashtag on designated public pages will also be counted – unless, like FB posts, they contravene the no-spamming rules (see above). NEW – No points will be allocated for shares or likes (on pages, posts or comments). Twitter No changes to the rules  – all tweets and retweets containing the #gigatownporirua or #gigatownPOR hashtag will be counted. Flickr, Instagram No changes to the rules – every image posted with the #gigatownporirua or #gigatownPOR hashtag will be counted. YouTube Each video containing the #gigatownporirua or #gigatownPOR hashtag inthe video title or description will be counted. (This resulted in some discussion, as Chorus had indicated in earlier media releases that videos would potentially score more points than other activities such as FB comments or retweets. This may be revised in the future.) NEW – No points will be allocated for comments or likes (on videos and comments). WordPress, Tumblr Each post containing the #gigatownporirua or #gigatownPOR hashtag on designated websites will be counted. All comments containing the #gigatownporirua or #gigatownPOR hashtag on designated websites will also be counted. No other websites or blog platforms will be counted. (This is not new, but it does clarify that blogs built on other platforms, e.g. Joomla, and other straight HTML sites will not be counted.)

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