NetSafe

Greetings from Wellington and the beating heart of the public sector.

While only joining Netsafe relatively recently (in March 2011) I have been closely associated with the organisation for the past 8 years through my role in the eLearning Unit at the Ministry of Education. Prior to that I taught high school geography and outdoor education for 15 years in NZ and the UK.

Over this time Netsafe has morphed from an organisation that was originally aimed at schoolage people through to the provision of much wider range of products and services. This reflects the explosive growth of the internet and its unfolding range of challenges and opportunities for good and bad things to happen.

As the the cyberworld continues to pervade ever wider parts of our lives, so other government departments need to continually re-think how the wider population will engage with (and be engaged by) this new world. The government’s upcoming ultrafast broadband initiative will also provide us with issues to address as rural New Zealand in particular has faster internet delivered to the home/business.

As I have had the pleasure of dealing with various government departments Martin saw this as an opportunity to palm off any tedious Netsafe meetings in Molesworth Street to myself.

I will also assist my Netsafe colleagues in Auckland to look after the myriad of requests for support from schools south of the Cook Strait.