Report: Digital inclusion user insights — Māori

Our role is to help design the future, not transform the past ...

Digital inclusion needs to be culturally bound. If we’re talking about Māori, then Māori need to be involved at all levels of digital inclusion. They need to be part of the design process as users, they need to be designers, they need to be decision makers sitting at the top table. That’s what’s needed if government is to truly support te ao Māori and want to see Māori digitally included. Nothing less than that. Nothing.

It sounds basic, but strong leadership on digital inclusion across government is the thing that would make the biggest difference. They just need to get it. To really achieve system change, it needs to be led from the top down.

Some people have asked me: what is the Government Chief Digital Officer’s role in fixing digital exclusion? But, you tell me, what’s the answer to that?

We need to know what the ‘exclusion issues’ are and then create some means to identify who (as in which agency) is responsible for solving them. It might be the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment if it’s telecommunications infrastructure. Or, if it’s digital skills we’re looking at, then we’re probably looking at a lot of overlap between agencies. The problem is, we don’t have a game plan and [we have] very little capacity to solve the issues.

Many of our families live in caravans, tents, in the cow shed or in run-down homes where the only habitable room in the house is the back room. Is the internet a priority or even affordable for these families? Well, I think you can probably answer that.

We heard the word inequality so many times during COVID. It needs to be addressed for our people. Our people suffer all the time.

If any families need better access to government services, it’s those found in our region. They’re on the wrong side of all the worst statistics when it comes to health, mental health, education, ... you name it.

It’s the balance between the Crown’s requirement to govern and Māori tino rangatiratanga that’s hard to achieve. We can’t lose sight of this even when it comes to digital inclusion. It’s a partnership. We need to be careful and thoughtful about what this means in practice. Right now, I’d say there are fewer than 5 percent of senior leaders within the public service who would really understand how to effectively work with Māori. There’s a massive amount of work to do.

I think it’s important to realise the context of digital inclusion for our Māori communities. It hasn’t come out of nowhere. There is a context here. It’s important Crown agencies like the Department of Internal Affairs understand this and do what they need to do to connect on a genuine partnership basis with tangata whenua.

It comes down to the need for high-quality engagement [between Māori leadership and government]. It’s a challenge. Government people need the ability to engage in a culturally competent and confident way. There’s a massive call for government people to lift their awareness, capability and ability to do that.

During lockdown, the cultural needs of iwi were completely overlooked by government, even though our iwi leaders wrote to government. But none of our advice was taken into consideration. No response was given to our mahi.

The recent Census work carried out by government is another good example of what happens when government agencies don’t adequately consider the level of digital access in Māori communities.

Stats NZ decided to save money by digitising the process and, by doing so, opted out of employing a 2,000-strong workforce to carry out the Census through manual surveys. Yes, it was cheaper to run. But they missed out on a lot of people, particularly Māori, and others, too, who did not have the digital skills, access or capability.

As a result, government couldn’t gather the data and use some of the key statistics we need to make decisions, develop policy and design services.

The digital medium is about having a tool that can unleash us to the world in a way that no other medium has been able to do. This is the medium, I believe, that we need to break through and counter the disadvantage that Māori communities face.

Digital enables Māori to dilute racism in the systems around us. We get to talk directly to our customers – it’s just us and them. There’s no one else in the way. We can dispense with all the usual barriers in the digital world. It’s a really empowering tool. It can cut across racism, I believe.

Whether you like it or not, technology is disrupting all sectors. And there are pros and cons of this disruption. When it comes to disrupting the traditional therapy model, we’re choosing to see the opportunities that technology is offering us.

We recognise the Western approach to therapy isn’t suited to many of the people who most need it – so we’ve developed a different approach using an indigenous idea of therapy combined with digital innovation.

Affordable connectivity would increase the ability of our people to do things online, especially if the connection was consistent, not patchy. A lot of the infrastructure in rural areas is very old – as old as the hills.

Our rangatahi are all digital. If it were up to me, I’d give rangatahi complete freedom to grow and learn in the digital world. To me, that’s the way to give our kids a way to design a culturally-inclusive future.

Young people want marae connectivity. They want to participate and be connected. Not all our marae are connected. At one, we use a portable wifi device from home.

I’d like our iwi to be better hooked up to the internet. But maybe it’s about having the right commercial partnerships with Spark or Vodafone. I’d like to see all households connected, with devices, engaging online.

Those who didn’t have internet access at home had nothing because all the public services were shut down too.

Some people weren’t able to access food or help services because they simply couldn’t see what support was on offer. It was all online.

During lockdown, we heard examples of government systems not working well for Māori communities. For people relying on government services such as the wage subsidy, there were difficulties accessing that help online. Maybe they rang the government instead, finding in some cases they had to wait on the phone for days. We know a lot of businesses really struggled through lockdown.

Our iwi offers te reo Māori lessons. Pre-COVID, we had very low numbers, but during COVID our numbers really picked up, especially among whānau living overseas. We’ve still got a high level of attendance going now.

We set up a daily karakia on Zoom, but we’d use it to also talk about iwi business and to connect with one another in a social way. We even got into conversations about whakapapa.

During lockdown, we developed a document for our iwi that expressed the importance of keeping our tino rangatiratanga intact during a crisis like a global pandemic. We spelt out our views on how to operate as a people and as a region and documented how we would carry out tangihanga, including the tools we’d use to connect people. For example, how we’d use drones and whose skills we’d draw on to do that. The lesson to take from this is that Māori people are resilient with a huge capacity to innovate.

I’d like to see government using respected Māori models in the digital area. For example, Dr Mason Durie’s Te Whare Tapa Whā, which would work well with the 4 elements of digital inclusion and help government think more holistically about the mental wellbeing of the digital world.

Any [digital inclusion] activity that’s going to be funded by government needs to emphasise safety.

Any technology-driven programmes should show, using evidence, the impact on people’s wellbeing. Leadership needs to come from government.

Getting rid of hundreds of frontline staff may make some efficiencies, but really what’s happening? Does government actually have a plan to support those who will never be digital?

The risk of taking government services online is that these already marginalised communities, where the need is highest, are marginalised further.

Digital inclusion is a topic of interest among iwi leaders. So much of government and life is moving online. It’s a risk for iwi, because so many of their people can’t engage.

Māori traditionally communicated face-to-face, so what happens when everything becomes digital? This is one of the biggest conversations that needs to happen within te ao Māori itself.

During lockdown, a lot of people wanted to speak to someone who could answer all their [government and pandemic-related] questions and be able to tell them stuff they did not know about, such as energy payments or the accommodation supplement. We found quite a few were able to go online and look for the answers, but instead preferred to speak to someone who they thought would have all the answers (not realising that agency information often exists in silos) ...

From my experience, many Māori want a kanohi-ki-te-kanohi approach from government. It can be hugely frustrating when they get a website.

The online world can change the narrative, particularly if it isn’t fact-checked. That’s the danger. That’s the kind of conversation we’re not having enough of in te ao Māori.

It was interesting when we decided we wanted to publish our cultural histories online. To maintain our relationship with hapū, we had to sit down and talk them through it. We had to take the time to discuss issues such as trusting us to put their personal information online. Would it be safe? How would it be shared?

What’s the tikanga [for] taking our culture online? What are the kawa and the rules that help Māori be Māori online when so much of Māori culture is oral and face-to-face?

We learned by taking tangihanga online during lockdown that the process and tikanga may have to change. Has there been digital disruption to some of our traditions? Yes, I think so. People may wonder why we need to have 3-day tangi in the future, if you don’t need to be there in person. But then there’s the cost of that change. You might lose the personal connection, the whānaungatanga and the very essence of being Māori.

As an organisation, we are definitely thinking about iwi data stored in the cloud. Security is the first priority, but I see a lot of opportunity for iwi data to be stored [in] the cloud and for greater interoperability.

Rural communities will not feel safe about their data being stored overseas. It’s a hard one because you get people who put their details online and others who won't because of where that data might be stored.

[As an iwi] we’re not familiar enough with the data-storage and sovereignty issues with cloud-based systems. We should know more.

To have our marae connected to the internet using Provincial Growth Funding is a real opportunity. It’s exciting. Between 50 to 70 marae will receive the hardware, equipment and training to connect to the internet and use tools like Zoom.

The marae connectivity project is definitely engaging Māori in tech conversations. Marae trustees are talking through important issues like what rules do we need in place? How do we want to use this resource? What behaviours do we want to manage? Do we want to keep wifi on 24-7? Do we want to password protect access? Our marae communities ultimately need to make the decisions about all of this. They hold the mana.

The marae connectivity fund has potential. It might be a good thing. But marae are concerned around the ongoing fees once the government money runs out.

Probably the only downside of this initiative from government is that it needs to be supported by access to a helpdesk for say 6 months. There also needs to be a process for marae communities to pass on their new tech skills and knowledge to others in their marae community. Succession planning is what I’m talking about. Financing internet connectivity, upgrading equipment, etcetera. All these things need to be factored into marae planning.

During lockdown, our community experienced the passing away of loved ones (one of my aunties, in my case). No one could go to tangi, so some tangi were live-streamed, using digital tools, which was incredible. But there were concerns about maintaining protocols and how to do that respectfully and safely.

When lockdown came, we wrote a paper on how funerals and tangihanga should be led, which we shared with officials at Health. We got all the knowledge-keepers within marae involved. Over 3 to 4 days, we put a plan together, with each marae given a copy.

Suddenly we started talking about online tangi as an iwi. We started talking about how to bring practice and protocol online and how to do our best to honour the deceased. We did it. A hundred people attended on Zoom.

I’d love to interact more with Māori content online. There’s not much of it, to be honest. It’s definitely relevant to me. I’d like to learn more about my culture. Maybe the best way to experience that for someone like me is through a mix of gaming and educational content.

There is growing awareness of how digital tech can keep people connected to their iwi without coming home or having to physically return.

Initially, we wanted to capture our own history as stories to leave behind for our mokopuna. That’s how our online project started. Over time we have interviewed 60 to 80 kaumātua. We wanted to know what happened in their lifetimes, at their marae, learn the sites of cultural significance to them.

Having to interact with chatbots online just puts you off. If I want to talk to someone, then give me someone to talk to.

I get impatient and frustrated learning new things on the iPad. I’d prefer to go with the radio, to be honest. I’m familiar with that.

I used to have Facebook, Snapchat and all that on my phone. But I got rid of them all. I got sick and bored of it. I realised I was spending all this time on it, so I decided to delete these apps. Do I miss it? Nope.

To me, iwi issues need to be addressed and discussed in person. Why on earth would you replace in-person meetings?

I worry we will end up with a lazy generation – we need to watch this space because we’re Māori and have the powhiri process and don’t know how to do that face-to-face. We will lose our traditions, our whaikorero, our karanga.

I tell my kids that if there’s something important that needs to be conveyed to someone, rather than doing it through text, it’s best to go and have a face-to-face discussion, because the risks of incorrect interpretation could ruin relationships. As our old folks say, “kanohi-ki-te-kanohi” is the best way.

The good thing about digital is that it connects us on another plane, it brings us together. It allows us to share things across the world instantly.

How do we collate our iwi stories and secure them for the next generation? How do we pass them on? Digital tools and ways of recording are definitely on our minds.

We’d like to use technology to better collate the whakapapa details of our tamariki and rangatahi, and the adult population too. It would be great to have better data.

From the research we’ve done, we know there are a lot of untrusted services out there; services that have biases. We offer a much more accessible range of services; services that have a holistic view of hauora and health. We’re advocates for holistic health and wellbeing mixed with innovation.

The ability for each of our marae to become an internet hub would be a major game changer. By the same token, I think some in our community would also like the authority to turn it off and have some control over its availability.

I like the idea of having more Māori culture online, but it still doesn’t have the same impact as going to a marae and sitting down next to a kuia and having them tell you the stories first hand.

We want the choice of holding events in a way that would not be disturbed by technology. Back in the old days, the old people would wānanga at 3am in the morning ... that’s still important to us as an iwi.

Cost is definitely a big thing in rural areas. The cost was diabolical on satellite, my bill was getting up to $600 a month and then, when the grandkids came, I had to turn it off.

I pay $23 a month for ... I don’t know what I pay for. I once got a letter from a broadband company. They were offering me a plan costing $75 a month?! I said, no way. I can’t afford that.

We used to have access to a satellite service, which was too expensive. But now we have access to the internet through the local school, which has a booster, I think. About a third of our community would access fast internet speeds through the school. A third, like us, would access some but it’s slow. Another third would live too far away to get any internet, so go without.

We’re on the pension. Our money can’t go on an unlimited access plan. Make it cheaper and then you’ll make it more accessible for us.

A very big thing in the digital world is ‘obsolesce[nce]’, where you buy something one year and the very next year it becomes obsolete and you need to upgrade to a newer one.

It’s hard to keep up with the cost of technology.

Other cost barriers are the time and energy you have to spend learning the new technologies. Lives are busy enough nowadays. We never seem to have enough time to learn new things.

One year [I] used money from fundraising to buy preloved laptops. It was cheaper than buying new ones. But it was still a lot of money for a little school. They trained the principal’s husband to use the laptops and that’s how everyone learned to use them.

I’m learning new skills because of my passion for the return of our land. I’m looking for mana motuhake. With this technology and access to online records, I can do that.

My marae do Zoom meetings, especially for AGM meetings – it’s engaging people with the technology while getting marae business at the same time.

Training for iwi needs to be properly resourced and rolled out to the hapū and whānau who need it.

It needs to be free through public libraries or whatever. It needs to cover all the basics and go all the way up to the advanced levels. And definitely online banking for our older people.

We need all-iwi skills training, but it needs to be sustainable. So, why not teach one core group within the iwi, who can then teach others?

Learning something new can be frustrating. It can take a long time if you’re doing it without support, by yourself.

When I get new technology, I probably don’t know half as much about using it as I need to. I pretty much Google it until I understand what’s what.

Last year, we moved to a document management system ... and each paepae member (member of a group of speakers in a marae) received their own tablet with their own email address loaded to the tablet. Some members who are familiar with using tablets are good with it. Others couldn’t turn on their tablets, gave up and didn’t really want to use it.

I’m a confident user of internet banking, but that came only after considerable help from a bank employee sitting with me and going through the app, showing me. The thing is, I forget my password constantly.

I worry I will break something or do something wrong. That’s why I rely on my friends to show me new things and teach me new skills.

I didn’t know what to do or where to go for help. I was about to bring out a chisel and crack it [my computer] open, but then a friend came around and helped me.

Each of my kids have bought me devices – they’re all set up, but I don’t know where to start. I even need help with the TV.

My moko who are home-schooled with internet at home and access to their teachers online are like sponges, learning about their world through the internet. They’re building their skills without having to really think about it. It’s incredible. You have to see it to believe it.

How do we ensure that kids learn mana-enhancing behaviour as they start to navigate this new digital world? This should be central to any connectivity programme.

I think our young people need to learn about online safety. They know a lot but not enough about that.

There’s a lot of engagement that teachers can foster online – through face-to-face engagement online. But not all our home-schooled kids here in our small community have families who can afford the internet or online access. But learning online in this way is so powerful for our home-schooled kids.

Teach our teachers! I was surprised how many of our teaching staff needed tech help during lockdown. Some were quite literally illiterate. They were so used to working face-to-face.

Sometimes teachers are hesitant about introducing technology into the classroom because they don’t know enough or don’t have the skills.

I didn’t really get any of my skills from school, to be honest. We only had one IT teacher in my small town. I did learn a bit of coding. I got my digital apprenticeship through a local initiative to get more kids like me online. I really appreciate the opportunity and I really want to keep on learning.

I went from gaming to actually building or rebuilding my own computer. Now I work in IT.

Building up our skills has been a huge learning curve for us as a business. We made a decision in the early lockdown period to embrace e-commerce and to try and scale up our website, online shop and Facebook. We’ve put a lot of time into doing that over the last 6 months and we’ll continue down that path because so much business is being done online.

We’ve self-trained and we’ve accessed learning by distance using Zoom. In fact, we’ve done it all online. In the past, we couldn’t afford the time, travel and so on. But over lockdown we signed up for free twice-weekly training on e-commerce, basically. All of a sudden, the world opened up to us in a remote, rural area like ours. Have we seen more online business as a result of our new online skills? Yes, definitely. It’s doubled.

There’s so much to learn. We can see there's a huge world we need to develop in. I’d say we’re on the first poutama, the first step. It’s a big investment for us. We’re not seeing the return on investment yet. But if we don’t do it, we know we’ll get totally left behind.

Social media is a big part of trying to get noticed and trying to get that big contract. If you create online content and promote it with social media, you can make a lot of connections while living in small places. With social media, you can continue to stay in your [small] home town and get employed for something you love.

We set up our employees with their own email on Gmail, because we wanted them to realise their personal emails and personal account shouldn’t be used for business. It was actually a way to protect them, though I don’t know if they realised what was happening.

If the work you’re doing isn’t outside, then it isn’t considered hard work; it isn’t considered a ‘real’ job.

I think as Māori we need to know that you don't lose your strength or mana by going online.

The older generation say, ‘We’ve done things this way so there’s no need to change it’. But the younger generation say, ‘It’s time to change,’ but don’t want to be rude about it.

A great teacher for me are my mokopuna. Once the kids have had enough of tech, they come and tells us nannies and papas.

A lot of the old people need help getting online. That’s what I do in my job. We help the community with their computer worries.

I can see a future in digitally connecting to whānau because all of my children and grandchildren live away from me. And for me, in my heart, I want to have that connection even though I can’t be there physically.

We just had to be patient with our aunties and uncles as they adapted to the new technologies during lockdown. There’s one auntie on the marae board who lives rurally – she’s about 10 kilometres away from the nearest shop and another 25 kilometres away from our main town. And she’s the one who’s needed the most support.

We need factual information about new technologies like 5G that address our concerns. We need it from a credible source.

During lockdown, three 5G towers were put in our area. I don’t know enough about it, but I know some people who are really concerned about the health effects.

There should be data on it. People should have a choice about what they want to use, be it 3G, 4G or 5G. I mean, if you don’t mind being cooked inside from 5G, then by all means go on and pick up your wifi from over there.

Paywave: I don’t trust it. Am I getting charged just by being near it?

Do I need 5G or any other technology to watch TV, because I can watch it now can’t I? The 5G – there are too many unknowns about its impact on wellbeing. It boils down to being asked. We haven’t been asked or consulted to find out if we want to be exposed to the technology.

The reality is that iwi are concerned about many things tech related, whether it’s 5G or any G for that matter.

If I have to do something on the internet that requires my bank details, I’ll contact my bank first to make sure everything is on the up and up.

I worry I might push the wrong button and then have saddled myself with an expensive mistake I can’t afford.

The way algorithms are programmed to influence your choices online is concerning, especially after watching ‘The Great Hack’ on Netflix.

Even in an isolated place like where we live, cyberbullying is extremely destructive. I’ve seen its impact on mental health and suicide. We lost a young girl here and cyberbullying was a factor.

Because kids take up digital tools so rapidly, parents can’t be their teachers anymore. We’re even hearing of teachers saying: ‘I’m the learner here ...’.

I’ve set up a parental lock on my kid’s iPads and their YouTube accounts.

I believe we need to teach our young people everything about staying safe online. Technology can be addictive. You can get consumed by it. Next thing you know, the young person has jumped off the bridge.

I can’t really rely on my parents if I get into trouble online. I’d probably go to my peers, or Google or somewhere else.

I know a lot about how to stay safe and undetected online when it comes to platforms that are monitoring browsing habits, and about keeping personal identifiers off the internet. It’s not that I don’t like being online, it’s more about having an online profile without my name and personal details visible.

I had a big realisation about social media usage in my early teenage years. It was around self-image and self-worth and how both were tied to my social media following and content. I even had a fall out with friends over social media. That’s when I realised how lost I felt and how much social media was impacting my life.

My parents had rules for using technology when I was growing up (until I was 13). I could use technology from Thursday to Sunday. I liked the rule. It was nice to be unplugged.

My moko was playing an online game and I took over. Next morning, I woke up and there was some photo of a young girl there. It was a virus. It was a person using my moko’s name.

I don’t trust the computer, I hear too many scam stories. People my age still put their money under the mattress.

Older people, especially, are frightened of new technology.

Of course, I worry about my children and over use of digital technology – I think there’s [such] a thing as being too connected. It’s just constant.

I feel like she’s being brought up by her phone. I find it almost impossible to pull her away from it.

My concern is the next generation may become too reclusive and separate themselves, and get more comfortable with the digital world rather than the social and physical worlds.

I think everyone’s addicted to their devices, especially children. I think they’ll all become like robots in the future. They won’t be able to do manual work. They’ll all end up like zombies.