Creative Commons Aotearoa NZ is now Tohatoha

New name aims to enhance the local identity of non-profit organisation that

supports Kiwis to “create, share and innovate”

AUCKLAND, 14 June 2018 – Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand is now officially known by a new name – Tohatoha – the Māori word for ‘share’.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation, Tohatoha advocates for open access and open licensing across a range of sectors in New Zealand - including education, government, science, arts and entertainment. It is part of the global Creative Commons Global Network, which helps people share their copyright works for reuse by others through the Creative Commons licenses. These licenses allow individuals, institutions, and public agencies to choose the kinds of permissions they grant over their work.

“Tohatoha means sharing - and that’s what we are about; sharing information so that every single New Zealander has access to knowledge and stories, whether they get that access through the Internet, in their local library, or by listening to the elders of their communities,” says Mandy Henk, Tohatoha’s Chief Executive.

“We want a world where New Zealand leads by ensuring universal access to research, education and culture and builds a fair and equitable information system that supports Kiwis to create, share, and innovate. ‘Tohatoha’, as a name, communicates both the primacy of sharing and embraces our uniquely Kiwi identity,” she says.

Henk says Tohatoha has already begun development of a set of resources for New Zealand school classrooms about how students and teachers can use Creative Commons licenses, as well as a series of ‘how to’ workshops for government agencies.

“Our ongoing work as Tohatoha will be broader than simply supporting the globally recognised Creative Commons licenses. We will still do that work when and as needed, but as the range of threats to information sharing in the digital and analogue worlds grows, so we also need to grow and evolve. That’s what this rebranding is about - adapting to a changing environment so that we can realise our vision.

“This rebranding is also about sharing power. As an organisation we have our roots in the open movement - open source, open access, open data - and we fiercely support openness. But there is still so much work to be done to bring marginalised voices to the centre and make space for new voices across the spectrum of New Zealand society.”

Tohatoha receives support from InternetNZ and StatsNZ.

For more information on Tohatoha’s work in New Zealand, visit http://tohatoha.nz

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