Ara Students Design Kids' Activities For Open Christchurch
The Monster Architecture Treasure Hunt and Colour Me Mountfort colouring-in pages have been created to encourage children to learn more about many of the central city buildings featured in the 2025 festival programme.
Those who join the monster trail will be rewarded with colourful stickers for each of the buildings they visit.
It's been a monster learning curve navigating the real-life design project, but the Ara team is proud of the final product.
"It's been great to be part of," said student Tyson Haglund. "It's the biggest thing we've seen through from start to finish and now it's awesome to look back and think 'we did that'".
With more than 50 open buildings, guided walks and special activities, the Open Christchurch celebration of architecture event is a key fixture on Ōtautahi's calendar.
This year, Ara students have made their mark on the weekend event thanks to the connections of their tutor, senior academic staff member Carl Pavletich.
"I was on the building selection panel for this year's event and Open Christchurch were keen for students to get involved. This has been an excellent way for them to complete a professional practice project," Pavletich said.
Sam Weavers, one of the students behind the colouring pages design, said they were quick to volunteer.
"Once we had the Open Christchurch brief, we started brainstorming and pitched our ideas in design meetings before preparing drafts to be approved. We had one-one-one meetings which were really valuable as we worked on the final edits and ended up with the finished product," Weavers said.
Haglund said the project was truly collaborative with creative freedom for the students matched with a clearly expressed brief from the team at Open Christchurch.
"We both got what we wanted out of the design process without restrictions, which was really helpful. It's been so satisfying to experience the client reaction. They were super stoked, and it was a good feeling to have delivered on the project for them."
Classmate Paulina Harrison said the project had presented real-life challenges.
"It was a big reality check needing to be on top of your communication and not wanting to let anyone down on the job. We needed to have time management, perseverance, patience and professionalism to complete the work," she said.
Phoebe Dutton said teamwork skills also came to the fore as they met the deadline.
"It was hard because it was the end of term, so we had class projects and final assignments due as well as getting the project done. It was a juggle, but it worked out so well," she said.
Many of the team plan to be out on the monster trail seeing their work in action this weekend.
"We've spent so long working on these files we're looking forward to seeing people actually holding it in their hands," Haglund said.
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- RNZ News
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Scoop
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- Scoop
Christchurch Hosting A Weekend For Wikipedians
This weekend, a group of Wikipedia editors from across the country will gather in Ōtautahi Christchurch for WikiCon 2025 – the annual gathering for editors of Wikipedia and its many related projects. Wikipedia is one of the top visited websites in the world, and it is maintained by around 120,000 volunteer editors across the globe. Aotearoa does their bit too – there are thought to be a few hundred regular editors throughout the country, who spend their time reviewing and improving content, correcting typos, updating facts, and monitoring vandalism – all in the name of making knowledge freely available for everyone. WikiCon will provide opportunities for editors and contributors to connect face-to-face, helping to create collaborative relationships. The conference will also provide opportunities for editors and contributors to share and develop their skills and knowledge in editing. Held in Te Puna Wānaka at the Ara Institute of Canterbury, the schedule for the weekend includes sessions on all sorts of topics relating to Wikipedia – copyright, finding reliable sources, modelling iwi, hapū, and rūnanga correctly, and how Wikipedia deals with disinformation. Attendees include Mike Dickison who is currently Wikipedian at Large on the Banks Peninsula, Tamsin Braisher who recently completed a project creating a new Wikipedia article every single day for a year to help combat gender bias on the site, Axel Downard-Wilke who led the battle to get macrons on Wikipedia, and Siobhan Leachman who was the 2023 Wikimedia Laureate, and works tirelessly to make scientific knowledge as open and connected as possible. The conference is being hosted by Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand (WANZ), an affiliate of the international Wikimedia Foundation. WANZ supports people and organisations to contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects. This includes providing training to new editors, supporting experienced editors to continue to grow and develop their skills, running workshops and events, developing projects to address gaps and bias, and advocating for open access of knowledge. WikiCon 2025 is the fifth conference for Wikipedians to be run in Aotearoa, and the first time it is being held in Christchurch.
Scoop
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- Scoop
Ara Students Design Kids' Activities For Open Christchurch
Press Release – Ara Institute of Canterbury Ltd The Monster Architecture Treasure Hunt and Colour Me Mountfort colouring-in pages have been created to encourage children to learn more about many of the central city buildings featured in the 2025 festival programme. Ara Institute of Canterbury Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication Design) students are looking forward to seeing their latest projects put through their paces at the Open Christchurch Festival this weekend. The Monster Architecture Treasure Hunt and Colour Me Mountfort colouring-in pages have been created to encourage children to learn more about many of the central city buildings featured in the 2025 festival programme. Those who join the monster trail will be rewarded with colourful stickers for each of the buildings they visit. It's been a monster learning curve navigating the real-life design project, but the Ara team is proud of the final product. 'It's been great to be part of,' said student Tyson Haglund. 'It's the biggest thing we've seen through from start to finish and now it's awesome to look back and think 'we did that''. With more than 50 open buildings, guided walks and special activities, the Open Christchurch celebration of architecture event is a key fixture on Ōtautahi's calendar. This year, Ara students have made their mark on the weekend event thanks to the connections of their tutor, senior academic staff member Carl Pavletich. 'I was on the building selection panel for this year's event and Open Christchurch were keen for students to get involved. This has been an excellent way for them to complete a professional practice project,' Pavletich said. Sam Weavers, one of the students behind the colouring pages design, said they were quick to volunteer. 'Once we had the Open Christchurch brief, we started brainstorming and pitched our ideas in design meetings before preparing drafts to be approved. We had one-one-one meetings which were really valuable as we worked on the final edits and ended up with the finished product,' Weavers said. Haglund said the project was truly collaborative with creative freedom for the students matched with a clearly expressed brief from the team at Open Christchurch. 'We both got what we wanted out of the design process without restrictions, which was really helpful. It's been so satisfying to experience the client reaction. They were super stoked, and it was a good feeling to have delivered on the project for them.' Classmate Paulina Harrison said the project had presented real-life challenges. 'It was a big reality check needing to be on top of your communication and not wanting to let anyone down on the job. We needed to have time management, perseverance, patience and professionalism to complete the work,' she said. Phoebe Dutton said teamwork skills also came to the fore as they met the deadline. 'It was hard because it was the end of term, so we had class projects and final assignments due as well as getting the project done. It was a juggle, but it worked out so well,' she said. Many of the team plan to be out on the monster trail seeing their work in action this weekend. 'We've spent so long working on these files we're looking forward to seeing people actually holding it in their hands,' Haglund said.
