[phpug] [OT] whynzlive.com

[James McGlinn]

Hi Aaron, The culture argument is a pretty important one, although the bulk of the site is indeed event listings. Agreed.  So far NZLive have an events calendar and a funding guide, although from the Ministry's own documentation the funding guide comes from a separate database and may be split off into a separate entity. Originally the scope of the project was to provide information on cultural events - it specifically wouldn't include grassroots events, international rock concerts, rugby games, etc.  Obviously that has changed :) As Russell Brown said three years ago:  "it's unclear how a government website promotes local culture by running listings for forthcoming tours by INXS and former Sha Na Na singer Bowzer." Kind regards, James McGlinn __________________________________ CTO Eventfinder Limited Suite 106, Heards Building 2 Ruskin Street, Parnell, Auckland 1052 Phone: +649 365 2342 Mobile: +6421 633 234 james.mcgl...@eventfinder.co.nz  |  www.eventfinder.co.nz On 29/04/2009, at 11:25 AM, Aaron Cooper wrote:   I guess the argument here is that the GOVT is providing taxpayers and tourists with a public service, with public funds. Who's to say Eventfinder and other similar commercial ventures will be always around to provide such a service?   But that statement is a bit of a catch-22 when the presence of nzlive.com contributes to the possibility of commercial alternatives not being around anymore.   ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Bennett To: nzphpug@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 11:01 AM Subject: [phpug] Re: [OT] whynzlive.com That's definitely not what we're saying at all; you've listed three commercial websites we're happily competing with. Incorrect - Newzealand.com is run by Tourism New Zealand, which is a crown entity: http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/tourism_info/about-us/corporate-overview/corporate-overview_home.cfm Newzealand.com is not a commercial enterprise - it's aimed at increasing travel to new zealand to benefit the economy as a whole with no direct benefit to Tourism New Zealand itself Having the government with its limitless public purse start up in competition, attempt to duplicate your business model, and refuse to co-operate despite a mandate to share though is quite different. The government and it's *cough* 'limitless coffers offers a whole range of information, aggregating much of it from disparate sources: http://newzealand.govt.nz/ It also has a vested interest in promoting NZ culture, heritage, arts and tourism. I'd be more worried if the govt was doing nothing to promote these things. I don't mean to come across as rude - you've built Eventfinder and are running a successful business from it - for that you get my respect. However, this is clearly an emotive subject with opposing views and your commercial interest makes you far from impartial I'm afraid.  Regards, Paul   --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ NZ PHP Users Group: http://groups.google.com/group/nzphpug  To post, send email to nzphpug@googlegroups.com  To unsubscribe, send email to  nzphpug+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---