Celebrating 21 years of New Zealand's Internet

Media Release – 08.10.10 – For immediate release

Down to the Wire – celebrating 21 years of New Zealand's Internet

downtothewire.co.nz – The Story of New Zealand’s Internet – goes live at 09:00hrs on Monday 11 October.

2010 is the 21st anniversary of New Zealand’s connection to the Internet, a connection that revolutionised the nation and finally laid waste to our fear of geographical remoteness.

To celebrate, Wellington digital agency Heyday has created and produced a website that tells the story of that connection and how it has changed our lives.

downtothewire.co.nz includes videos which capture the thoughts of more than 50 of the nation’s leading Internet personalities and players – from those who worked to get the wire into the country to the people who made use of the Internet in innovative or unique ways.

Among those appearing are: Duncan Blair (Orcon), Russell Brown (Public Address), Greer McDonald (stuff.co.nz), Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb), Brendan Smyth (NZ On Air), John Houlker (NZTE), Geoff Ross (The Bakery) and Brenda Leeuwenberg(NZ On Screen).

downtothewire.co.nz kicks off on Monday 11.10.10 with actress and project presenter Madeleine Sami introducing ‘1989’, the year New Zealand got connected. Over the following 21 days Heyday will load content onto the site for each of the 21 years up to 2010.

downtothewire.co.nz also includes entertaining editorial, key facts and seminal stats. Visitors can provide their own thoughts and insights, information about key events and even suggest other people who might be interviewed on video in the future.

Legendary New Zealand record label Flying Nun is offering visitors to the site a free MP3 download each day for 21 days. The MP3s offered will be iconic Kiwi tracks from each of the last 21 years.

Heyday will add to the site's content over time and curate a growing, lasting resource for New Zealand. Down to the Wire Project Lead Thomas Scovell says, "We're excited to tell the stories that we have uncovered and to create a space for others to reminisce and grow the story with us. We hope this truly becomes all of New Zealand's story – how the Internet has transformed the way we communicate, do business and laugh together".

You can see a trailer video for Down to the Wire here:
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=7sExSCG6PAM

Video Embed Code:

END

© Scoop Media