Workshop 1 was hosted by the Victoria University of Wellington Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. Thank you to the speakers and participants for contributing your valuable insights and engaging in constructive discussion.

This background paper was provided to workshop participants to form the basis of discussion.

The first workshop of The Civics and Media Project saw 40 people come together to survey the current civics and media landscape in New Zealand. As the day progressed, speakers representing different stakeholders in this area unearthed many questions concerning New Zealand’s current direction and pointed to issues requiring further investigation. The intention of the day-long workshop was to establish a shared evidence base and to identify key themes for continued discussion, in order to ensure that New Zealand is heading in the direction of a well-informed, civically engaged society in 2030.

A summary of our findings from the day is available here.
Download Workshop 1 Programme.

The Civics and Media Project: Speaker presentations

Burrows’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Satherley’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Workshop 2 was hosted by the University of Auckland Faculty of Arts.
Thank you to the speakers and participants for contributing your valuable insights and engaging in constructive discussion.

The second workshop of The Civics and Media Project was held at the University of Auckland and saw more than 50 participants come together to address three key questions:

• What roles do we hope and expect media to play in civic life in 2030?
• How will the notion of ‘civics’ and ‘civic engagement’ be expanded by 2030?
• How will education prepare young New Zealanders to be engaged citizens in 2030?

The university’s Acting Dean of Arts, Associate Professor Bernadette Luciano, welcomed the attendees by posing the question that would be the theme of the day: ‘What will a well-informed, civically-engaged New Zealand look like in 2030?’ She pointed out that the tools to engage with this future need to be developed for business, government and civil society, but most importantly, for the young people who will be the adults of tomorrow.

Workshop Convenor Dr Gavin Ellis, senior lecturer in Media, Film and Television at the University of Auckland, reminded the participants that they needed to disengage themselves from the nature of future technology and, paraphrasing the recently deceased American baseball player Yogi Berra, told them ‘it is hard to make predictions, especially about the future.’ He also pointed out that while civics knowledge has been found to be strong in high decile schools, it is ‘alarmingly low’ in low decile schools, posing a danger of creating an underclass.

A summary of the findings from the day is available here.
Download Workshop 2 Programme.

The Civics and Media Project: Speaker presentations

Gavin Ellis’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Todd Krieble’s PowerPoint presentation is available here.

Workshop 3 was hosted by the McGuinness Institute and the Royal Society of New Zealand, and built on the outputs from Workshop 1 and Workshop 2. Thank you to the speakers and participants for contributing your valuable insights to the discussion.

The third and final workshop, which was held at the Royal Society of New Zealand, saw over 60 diverse participants come together to develop potential responses to the focus question for the workshop: ‘How do we ensure a well-informed, civically engaged New Zealand in 2030?’ The goal of the workshop was to spark a national conversation and document contemporary thinking around these issues.

A summary of our findings from the day is available here.
Download Workshop 3 Programme.

The Civics and Media Project: Speaker presentations

The workshop PowerPoint presentation is available here.