Wiki New Zealand was born on a picnic blanket, the product of a simple realisation: informed decisions are good decisions. To get the best outcomes for our communities, our country and our world, it is important to make decisions that advance ourselves. And while good is subjective, informed is not. To make informed decisions requires clear, digestible and unbiased information. This is Wiki New Zealand.
There is a vast amount of data freely available on New Zealand and its position within the global context. However, to extract this data into a useable form requires time and skill. This reality means much of the accessible data we currently view is produced alongside an argument to persuade us of a particular opinion – to convince us of what is ‘good’. This is not Wiki New Zealand.
Building knowledge enables informed decisions, which leads to better outcomes. Data alone does not build knowledge, but it is a crucial component. Wiki New Zealand brings data together in one place and in accessible formats. Topics are presented from multiple angles, wider contexts and over time. Presenting this data in similar forms invites users to compare, contrast and interpret it easily and without bias.
Have fun exploring the data presented on Wiki New Zealand. Let it be serendipitous. Sometimes the most valuable answers are to the questions we didn’t know to ask.
Of course, there is a disclaimer: Wiki New Zealand is not perfect. There will be mistakes and it is impossible to have data entirely free from manipulation. Collaboration helps ensure the best possible representation of issues. Read more about how to contribute here.
Wiki New Zealand is not entirely impartial. It is proud to have one agenda. Know your country.
 Lillian Grace Founder & Chief, Trustee |
Whose idea was this anyway? Lillian Grace, whose deep care for people culminates in a strong drive to enable. This stems from insight obtained in a journey from naivety to knowledge and empowerment, and a belief that it’s better to teach a person to fish than to give them a bucketful.
Lillian likes to dream, think and do, and this tripod approach to life has proved invaluable in the founding of Wiki New Zealand. The belief that knowledge is strength, and that availability and accessibility of what is required to build knowledge are two very different things, were the foundation for the picnic blanket epiphany. Lillian’s work has spanned from secondary school physical education to hi-tech company to think tank. And she currently divides her time between Wiki New Zealand and Stakeholder Strategies. It’s not apparent that there is anything she can’t do. |
 David Brebner Trustee |
David won his first software contract when he was nine. This auspicious start as a child labourer heralded the beginning of a career of hard work and great achievement. He went on to found Unlimited Realities in 1996, developing his own software engine and delivering customized software services to companies such as Dell, Acer, HP, Asus and Intel.
David leads the Unlimited Realities team in spearheading technology development with global ambitions. With an ability to create things faster than light, David appears to exist in a different dimension. Inspired by having both parents as teachers and seeing the joy on faces of young and old alike when they make something amazing, he is driven to enable people’s creativity and imagination through technology. David’s outlook and approach is a perfect fit with the ever-curious and inquiring goals of Wiki New Zealand. |
 Ripeka Walker Trustee |
Ripeka perhaps epitomizes modern New Zealand – looks Pakeha, is Māori, lives in Australia. She is an optimistic idealist who wants to come home, but a pessimistic realist who sees nationalism as outmoded. Fortunately, reflecting on this paradox of her personality provides her with an overwhelmingly Zen approach to life.
Ripeka founded the company Fresh Out in 2006, and is an architect specialised in public and community projects. She is nimble-minded, efficient and inquisitive. Numerous trips to the East on her biannual humanitarian benders have taught her some valuable lessons: think more, speak less, and sit on the floor. She is a firm believer that a lot can happen over a cup of tea. Ripeka’s alignment with Wiki New Zealand comes from the circular theory that questions need answers, answers need politics, politics need opinions, opinions need a basis, and the basis needs questioning. |
 Rick Boven Trustee |
Rick is a strategist embedded in reality. He gets people, businesses and the environment – and how they are entwined and interdependent. And he is that rare breed of person who says exactly enough to get the point across.
Rick’s extensive resume includes being founding partner of Boston Consulting Group in New Zealand, previous Director of The New Zealand Institute, and he has held directorships with ASB Bank and various other companies. He is qualified in environment management, psychology, sociology and mathematics, though people assume he’s also an economist. Now running his own consultancy firm Stakeholder Strategies, Rick works across commercial, economic, social and environmental issues solving complex, unfamiliar and high-stakes problems, and conveying the solutions in ways that can be implemented. He's not so good at coffee - but that's likely part of his plan. |
 Diane Holland Trustee |
Diane pulls people together like a force of nature. Her ability to engage with and motivate people has seen her have a very successful and long-standing career in the inspiring world of visual effects and computer graphics. Companies that have been fortunate enough to be in her focus include James Cameron's Digital Domain, Sony Pictures, Santa Barbara Studios, Magnet Interactive, Walt Disney Feature Animation and Massive Software.
This ability to draw individuals together and extract the best from them in a team environment makes her an unstoppable force – even George Lucas' ILM couldn’t deny it, when she turned up for her first job with them in 1989. Wiki New Zealand is proud to have the force be with us. At heart, Diane is an egalitarian. Diane wants to ensure that the average layperson can get their hands on informative data in a way that makes sense to them, with the end goal to allow people to participate in the democratic process from a more informed place. Hailing from the land of the free, her attitude may be a cliché, but the truth remains: power to the people. |
 Baruch ter Wal Trustee |
All good organisations need a storyteller and a sharp shooter. Conveniently, ours comes in a two-for-one deal in the form of Baruch ter Wal. He cuts through the fat to the bones of a problem, indicated by his understanding that we have unprecedented access to data, but objectivity and accessibility are seldom found riding on the same bike. This view is what brings him to Wiki New Zealand.
With an ear for interpretation and an eye for the aesthetically pleasing, Baruch has a talent for designing and executing marketing strategies for ultra-geeky businesses, as owner and Managing Director of Lee ter Wal Design. When not wrestling in the mud with his kids, he can be found working on his aura of pacifism. If you’d like to know more about that, you should ask him. He’s a wonderful conversationalist. |
 Kylie Pellett Trustee |
Kylie will blaze into a room, speak as much with her hands as her voice, and then fly out again. She may even offend you before departing. But when you meet again, she’s the one who remembers your name, the colour of your dog and your food allergies. And she’ll have made you gluten-free cupcakes to prove it.
Kylie is an enthusiastic, straight-talker with self-deprecating wit. If that doesn’t get your respect, her work within the technology community speaks on her behalf. She has been working in the hi-tech industry since 2008 at Swaytech, Sway Recruitment and as an integral part of the team putting on the NZ Hi-tech Awards. Kylie is now directly promoting and supporting the industry she is passionate about as Events and Marketing Manager of industry body group NZICT. A brilliant communicator and a thorough thinker, Kylie excels at recognizing details where others are skim reading. You can’t sneak anything past this one, unless you distract her with fine food or puppies first. |
 Israel Cooper Trustee |
Israel is always going somewhere. Whether it is inside the world of imagination with his three children or managing his Christchurch construction company Buildtech, he is never far from his next adventure. Israel is a talent whose abilities translate across many fields. He is charming and hardworking, a crisp thinker and not afraid of a debate.
A specialist in finance, business economics and corporate strategy, Israel has been involved in landmark mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, brand leveraging and global distribution strategies. All balanced against his growing family and altruistic goals. Let’s just say, the man knows how to time manage. Israel’s the guy you want to work with. So fortunately, he is well aligned with Wiki New Zealand through his commitment to spreading knowledge and understanding to produce a powerful force: hope. |
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