Te Awamutu to the world

By Dean Taylor

From their small home office one local couple are doing more than their bit to beam Te Awamutu to the world.

Dave Owen and Ange Holt own Wavelength Media, an internet based business with two main profit making ventures.

Ms Holt manages the popular www.racecafe.co.nz while Mr Owen is in partnership with his brother Richard in www.mediacollege.com.

Race Cafe is a discussion forum for people interested in the harness, thoroughbred and greyhound racing industries.

Media College is an affiliate programme with Google that offers free tutorials in video, audio and multimedia production.

But for many people around the world it is their community service www.teawamutu.co.nz website that is as well known and loved.

Mr Owen says he started the website as a way of helping the town promote itself on the World Wide Web.

He says it does not make any money for his business, although he believes it has potential on a small scale compared to other ventures.

It is the goodwill of the couple that make this service so worthwhile for this town.

The website has search engines for the site, Te Awamutu based websites and Google for internet surfers.

Wavelength Media hosts a number of community based local websites via www.teawamutu.net as a public service, and also links to many other worthwhile sites people may wish to access. It also has Virtual Te Awamutu which Mr Owen designed, and interesting articles and images covering our history to new events.

In August last year Te Awamutu Courier entered into an agreement with Wavelength Media to publish online. Each edition of the Courier is available online to read or download and Mr Owen uses the major news items to keep the homepage fresh and up-to-date.

Mr Owen says it is good for the website and saves him time and effort keeping on top of the site.

The Courier is pleased to be able to offer the paper in this format so ex-pats and other interested people can still have their twice-weekly fix. Mr Owen is surprised at the popularity of the service, recording 9000 downloads per month.

Another new innovation is TATV. The couple are keen supporters of local events and Mr Owen has recorded many on video. Last year he started a test ‘broadcast’ via the internet. He increased the trial by including a number of new clips from the 2004 Rose and Cultural Festival, but has been a bit disappointed with the response.

Mr Owen says current service is on-demand, meaning browsers can select the clip they wish to view.

It takes some time to ‘download’, a compromise between speed and quality, but if patient is worth the short wait.

I personally find it better to pause the play until the buffering is complete, then the clip plays without pauses.

Mr Owen even designed his own online ‘television’, complete with brightness and volume control because nothing was available.

His long term aim is another community service project, retaining on-demand video archives and also providing online streaming television, which could also be broadcast locally.

Mr Owen says it would have to be supported by commerce or sponsorship, but would offer an opportunity for locally produced programming.

He says Te Awamutu Camera Club members have shown an interest, and he knows there is much archival footage in the community, which would all contribute to a valuable record on events and history of Te Awamutu.

He would welcome comments on TATV. It can be found under Newsroom at www.teawamutu.co.nz and there is an automated feedback form.