Whanganui's The Backhouse is organising the city's Tech Week for the first time this year. Photo / Bevan Conley
Events will be held across Whanganui with the intention of building local capability with technology as part of Whanganui Tech Week 2023.
The Backhouse chief executive Rodd Eddy is one of the organisers of the event and said it was the local branch of the largest yearly tech festival in the country.
This year’s will be the first edition to be run by The Backhouse, and he said they had worked to ensure the week has a strong Whanganui focus.
“For me really it was about ... making sure the programmes we organise and develop and promote are created by Whanganui for Whanganui,” he said.
The main aspect they focused on for the event was building capability.
“That effectively we’re building capability and understanding and awareness around that tech space, around technology and how can we incorporate it, how we utilise it.”
Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua curator of collections Jennifer Taylor Moore will be giving an illustrated talk on how the gallery uses digital technology to extend its operations beyond the walls of the gallery.
“Particularly in regards to the fact that we’re in a smaller temporary site while the redevelopment is under way, it became really important to get our collection online so that people could access it,” she said.
Moore oversaw the development of the online collection in 2017 and will go into how the gallery used it and a set of online tools to keep its website feeling fresh over the years.
She will also talk about the Patillo Whanganui Arts Review and how they used the website to get better exposure for the local artists who entered the review.
The talk would be aimed at those in the creative space and interested in tech, but also at those looking to do a lot online with not much money, as the gallery’s website was put together mainly using free tools.
“It’s kind of focused on doing cool stuff without spending much money,” she said.
Te Manu Atatū, the Whanganui Business Network is hosting an informal event for wāhine Māori to meet and discuss their roles in the tech industry.
Operations manager Ngaire Luke said Eddy approached them with the idea to put the event on.
“It’s all about a space for wāhine Māori to get together to have a bit of a social catch-up and discuss the technology world and hopefully we’ll gain some good insight from that,” she said.
Luke said there weren’t many wāhine Māori working in tech currently, but interest in the sector was slowly growing and she hoped the evening would introduce more people to the sector.
“It’ll be good to see how many come to the event... to see a little insight for us here in Whanganui, especially to see how many wāhine Māori are out there working or interested in the tech space.”
Local artist Cecilia Kumeroa will be at the event to give a korero to those in attendance.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up facilitator Stephen Lee will be hosting a workshop for local businesses and entrepreneurs on the impact of AI and the challenges and opportunities it presents.
He said the workshop would be practical, non-technical and non-philosophical and expected a wide range of views amongst the audience.
“I want this session to be useful in terms of helping businesses move forward in a world where AI will be with us whatever our personal views,” he said.
His talk will be aimed at providing a framework for understanding AI and its relevance to Whanganui.
“My talk is also aimed at provoking some thought as to how Whanganui can take advantage and position ourselves as a niche leader in AI education and expertise to the rest of New Zealand,” he said.
Organiser Eddy hoped doing the events would take away some of the fear of technology as well as build capability.
“We hear a lot of things in the media and the news about a newer technology and where things are going and sometimes that can be a little bit daunting ... but actually there’s also some good things around tech.”
He hoped at least 1000 people attended the events across the week, with every event being free to eliminate barriers to attendance.
“We hope that there is something for everybody to be engaged in across the week, not only down here at The Backhouse but across a number of different venues,” he said.
It was also hoped the programmes and initiatives introduced in Tech Week would continue throughout the year and build talent in the region.
Tech Week runs from May 15 to 20, a full list of events is available on The Backhouse and New Zealand Tech Week’s websites.