Designing a trustworthy digital hub for Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board

He pātaka whakairo, he tohu rangatira

Last year, Ernestynne Walsh (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui), Kirita-Rose Escott (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Hāmoa) and Maui Hudson (Whakatōhea, Ngāruahine, and Te Māhurehure) worked alongside Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board (WMTB) to understand how they can realise their digital aspirations.

Whakatōhea has several web apps and mobile apps covering kōrero tuku iho to help uri learn about their Whakatōheatanga.

However, these apps and the tikanga surrounding them had been developed over time creating a complex Whakatōhea digital landscape. A focus on connecting more uri back to their identity created the opportunity to think more deeply about how to streamline and create a trustworthy digital system with enhanced connectivity.

Nicholson Consulting partnered with the Veracity team which had Maui Hudson as the Vision Mātauranga lead.

Together, they sent a tono to the Science for Technological Innovation (SfTI) National Science Challenge to fund a project to help WMTB create a high-level design of a new digital pātaka to enable WMTB to meet their aspirations.

The project was called: He pātaka whakairo, he tohu rangatira which comes from the whakataukī ‘Ko te tohu o te rangatira he pātaka whakairo e tū nā i roto i te pā tūwatawata’ –  the sign of a chief is a caved storehouse within their fortress.

The name of the project symbolises a pātaka as a digital store house that protects taonga and was given by Nicholson Consulting Pou Whanake Shara Wallace (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, ki Wairarapa)

The team felt that it was important to meet kanohi-ki-te-kanohi to build whanaungatanga and wānanga the kaupapa.

After listening to both how their system currently worked and their aspirations, the team was able to come up with a high-level solution architecture of a digital hub that would unify all the disparate components and decrease the amount of duplication and manual processes required. The document also contained options for operationalising and included a prototype pātaka to show WMTB how the different components could work together.

Unlike most solution architecture documents, the team explored how to build tika and pono into digital interactions and what a trustworthy system looks like from a te ao Māori and Whakatōhea world view.

There has been an increased proliferation of online tangihanga and kapa haka scams so asking ourselves “how do we know whether online content is tika and pono?” is becoming increasingly important for our whānau. The team was able to design technical requirements that digital hub engineers would be able to follow to help ensure that data is accurate and safe.

During the wānanga, the team covered solutions that are currently being used by other iwi such as Mukurtu to manage, share, and exchange their digital heritage in a culturally relevant manner. The team also covered, Te Pā Tūwatawata, the iwi owned and operated infrastructure, which was being piloted at the time. This meant that WMTB could see existing examples of what could be possible for their own digital platform.

Many iwi are currently exploring storage options for their own kōrero tuku iho in online pātaka.

The high-level design created for WMTB can also be useful for other iwi who have started this journey to restructure their existing pātaka whilst incorporating technical perspectives on tika and pono.

The SfTI science investment ended in June 2024. However, Maui, Kirita-Rose and Ernestynne would like to see more investment from other funds in this space so that the digital hub can be operationalised.

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If you would like to know more about this mahi, or how we can help your organisation, please reach out to us for a kaputī at hello@nicholsonconsulting.co.nz

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