Research into how many .govt.nz web site contact forms and contact email addresses would accept an email address with a Māori macron (IDN). First published in 2015 here.
Contents
- New Zealand Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 9
- New Zealand Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 11
- New Zealand Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 13
- New Zealand Local Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 16
- New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 18
- New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 19
- Tertiary institutions findings. 22
- Polytechnic and Technical institutions findings. 23
Methodology
- National government departments web sites were mined from www.govt.nz
- Local council web sites were mined from http://www.localcouncils.govt.nz/lgip.nsf/wpgurl/Profiles-Councils-by-Name-Council-Contact-List
Exceptions were made based on the author’s moral obligations to web sites that impact on individual and national security topics such as the New Zealand Police, SIS, GCSB and CYPS.
Each site was manually scanned for a contact form. Once a contact form was identified, factual information was used in the following fields:
- Full name: Karaitiana Taiuru
- Address: PO Box 10286, Christchurch 8145
- Phone number: 021 0707507
- Other Compulsory fields: Were answered factually
- Email: karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz
- Message:
Kia ora,
My name is Karaitiana Taiuru. I am conducting research into how many New Zealand government web site contact forms recognise IDN email addresses. An IDN email address allows New Zealand’s official language Māori to be represented in the written form and shows the department’s dedication to The Māori Language Act.
IDN domain names for the Māori Language were first made available in .nz in 2010.
Could you please confirm receipt of this email. Forms who do not recognise an IDN email will be sent an OIA for more information.
karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz
ENDS.
The IDN email at the bottom of the message was for two reasons:
- To ascertain if te reo Māori could be used in the comments box
- If for any reason my email address would not show or the system could not reply to my IDN email, then it was in the comment box.
If the contact form had a compulsory field for type of enquiry the preference was:
- Website feedback
- General enquiry.
For web sites with no contact form or forms specifically for customers such as the Selwyn District Council, I used the advertised contact email address, usually <info@.>.
All web site form replies were recorded to ascertain if a department had the ability to reply to an IDN email.
Direct emails
Sites that had no web form were emailed directly.
The email was sent from: karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz
Mail servers: mail.taiuru.māori.nz
Email client: Outlook 2013 with Windows 7
Note: The author deemed it of no value to have a macron in the first part of the email address.
The subject was: OIA Enquiry
The message was :
Kia ora,
My name is Karaitiana Taiuru. I am conducting research into how many New Zealand government web site contact forms recognise IDN email addresses. An IDN email address allows New Zealand’s official language Māori to be represented in the written form and shows the departments dedication to The Māori Language Act.
IDN domain names for the Māori Language were first made available in .nz in 2010.
Could you please confirm receipt of this email? Forms who do not recognise an IDN email will be sent an OIA for more information.
karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz
.
ENDS.
IDN and bilingual names
Using data from an unpublished report which is due to be published late 2015 “Indigenous Domain Names” (2013), bilingual government department names were cross referenced with IDN registrations. Only one government department had a resolvable IDN address.
A more detailed methodology about the govt.nz data is included in that complete report.
MP’s
The broad statement about contacting MP’s was made as the .parliament.nz mail server rejected an IDN email address.
The three MPs who were contacted on non .parliament.nz emails was done using karaitiana@taiuru.māori.nz in the normal course of his work.
Introduction
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) permit the global community to use a domain name in their native language or script. In New Zealand within the .nz domain name hierarchy, an IDN allows a user to register and use the following characters for domain names (web and email addresses):
- ā
- ē
- ī
- ō
- ū
- in addition to the default .maori.nz domain which is also available as .māori.nz (less than 25% of .maori.nz registrations are configured to use its IDN variant)[1].
The Domain Name Commission (DNC) manages the .nz domain name space and protects the interests and rights of everyone who uses it[2].
In 2009 Karaitiana Taiuru lobbied the Domain Name Commissioner for International Domain Names to be implemented into .nz. A working group was then created by the Domain Name Commissioner who investigated and discussed the technical and linguist issues relating to implementation[3].
In mid 2010 this was technically made possible by recognising Māori macrons in all .nz addresses. Also, by default, all .maori.nz addresses could be used with a macron as .māori.nz
Summary
Most of the 158 NZ government department website online contact forms surveyed, would not accept an email with macrons. This included Māori specific departments including: Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Mangai Paho and Parliament who would not only decline an email address with a macron in their online forms, but were the only three government organisations who also bounced emails that were directly sent.
Te Taura Whiri (The Māori Language Commission) appears to also not recognise te reo Māori in email addresses when contacted directly.
Contacting an MP via their official .parliament.nz email address will not work. Though the research didn’t conduct research into their alternative emails addresses with the exception of three Māori MP’s who received and replied to an email with te reo Māori macrons.
Key findings
The Nelson City council would not allow me to type te reo Māori in the comment box as it contained a macron. If i used a non te reo Māori email address, it would still not all me to write Māori as a comment.
Of the 8 Universities in New Zealand, only Auckland University didn’t recognise te reo Māori emails in their online forms while 2 Universities have no online form.
Of the 19 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics in New Zealand, only 4 institutions recognise te reo Māori emails in their online forms. When institutions are emailed directly, the majority of replies were made to a different email address, suggesting that the customer service was so great, that an alternative contact email was found on the Internet.
New Zealand’s Internet governing body InternetNZ[4] would not allow te reo Māori in an email address when I contacted it for their opinion and to debrief it of my key findings.
Conclusion
Technological advancements have been possible for several years to use IDN’s in email and web browsing. Many New Zealand government departments have not kept abreast of that technology which recognised te reo Māori, likely due to financial issues and a lack of benefits to their organisation.
Government departments who didn’t recognise macrons in web forms were largely using a government’s Common Web Platform (CWP) Silverstripe [5] which at the time of the research was not IDN compatible. Though to the credit of the open source developers, they had committed to rectifying this situation as a priority.
All of the government departments who do not accept te reo Māori in their contact forms have bilingual names that appear on their web sites, and many government departments expressed an interest in registering their bilingual name as a domain name. It is also common for web sites to be managed by content or communications teams and individuals who have no need to poses appropriate technical skills nor the need to keep abreast of the latest web and Internet trends.
- New Zealand Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 9
- New Zealand Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 11
- New Zealand Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 13
- New Zealand Local Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 16
- New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms. 18
- New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly. 19
- Tertiary institutions findings. 22
- Polytechnic and Technical institutions findings. 23
A. New Zealand Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms.
| Name | URL | Notes | Replied |
| Education New Zealand | http://www.elections.org.nz | ||
| AG Research | http://www.agresearch.co.nz | ||
| Department of Conversation | http://www.doc.govt.nz | ||
| NZQA | http://www.nzqa.govt.nz | Replied to say they were not compliant. They cannot send to an IDN, only receive. | |
| Education New Zealand | http://www.enz.govt.nz/ | Converts email address to PunyCode on the fly. | Manual. Will follow up to state if form is IDN compatible despite the email working |
| Ministry of Health | https://www.health.govt.nz | ||
| Te Taura Whiri | http://www.korero.maori.nz/ | ||
| Land Information New Zealand | http://www.linz.govt.nz | Manual | |
| Ministry for Primary Industries | http://mpi.govt.nz/ | Manual/Automatic | |
| Ministry of Education | http://www.minedu.govt.nz | ||
| Earthquake Commission | http://www.eqc.govt.nz | ||
| Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | http://www.dpmc.govt.nz | Converts email address to PunyCode on the fly. | Manual |
| Callaghn Innovation | www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz | Converts email address to PunyCode on the fly. | |
| Govt | www.govt.nz | https://www.govt.nz/about/feedback/ | |
| Study In New Zealand | studyinnewzealand.com | ||
| Middlemore Hospital | middlemore.co.nz | Manual | |
| Ministry of Health | moh.govt.nz | ||
| Department of Conversation | doc.govt.nz | Manual/Automatic | |
| The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | dpmc.govt.nz | No |
B. New Zealand Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms.
| Name | URL |
| Antartica New Zealand | http://antarcticanz.govt.nz/ |
| Auckland Transport | https://at.govt.nz |
| Beehive | https://www.beehive.govt.nz |
| Canterbuiry Earthquake Recovery | https://cera.govt.nz |
| Careers New Zealand | http://www.careers.govt.nz |
| Civil Defence | http://www.civildefence.govt.nz |
| Commission for Financial Capability | http://www.cffc.org.nz/ |
| Department of Conversation | http://www.doc.govt.nz/ |
| Environmental Protection Authority | http://www.epa.govt.nz |
| Environmental Protection Authority | http://www.epa.govt.nz |
| Financial Markets Authority | http://www.fma.govt.nz |
| Governor General | https://gg.govt.nz/contact |
| Health Quality & Safety Commission | http://www.hqsc.govt.nz |
| Human Rights Commission | http://www.hrc.co.nz |
| Maritime New Zealand | http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz |
| Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment | https://www.mbie.govt.nz/ |
| Ministry of Consumer Affairs | http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz |
| Ministry of Health | https://www.health.govt.nz |
| Ministry of Primary Industries | http://mpi.govt.nz |
| New Zealand Artificial Limb Service | http://nzals.govt.nz |
| New Zealand Legislation | http://www.legislation.govt.nz/ |
| New Zealand Trade and Enterprise | https://www.nzte.govt.nz/ |
| Ombudsman | http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz |
| Productivity Commission | http://www.productivity.govt.nz |
| Statistics New Zealand | http://www.stats.govt.nz |
| Statistics New Zealand | http://www.stats.govt.nz |
| Study Link | http://faqs.studylink.govt.nz |
| Te Mangai Paho | http://www.tmp.govt.nz |
| Te Papa | http://www.tepapa.govt.nz |
| The Serious Fraud Office | https://www.sfo.govt.nz/ |
C. New Zealand Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly.
| Name | URL | Reply | Notes | |
| Auckland District Health Board | http://www.adhb.govt.nz/ | ADHBCommunications@adhb.govt.nz | Automatic | Are moving to the non IDN compliant CMS |
| Bay of Plenty District Health Board | http://www.bopdhb.govt.nz/ | communications@bopdhb.govt.nz | No | |
| CAA | http://www.caa.govt.nz | info@caa.govt.nz | No | |
| Commerce Commission | http://www.comcom.govt.nz/ | contact@comcom.govt.nz | Automatic | |
| Community Matters | http://www.communitymatters.govt.nz | community.matters@dia.govt.nz | No | |
| Creative New Zealand | http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/ | info@creativenz.govt.nz | No | |
| Customs | http://www.customs.govt.nz/ | websitemanager@customs.govt.nz | No | |
| Department of Internal Affairs | http://www.dia.govt.nz/ | webmaster@dia.govt.nz | No | |
| Employment Relations Authority | http://www.era.govt.nz/ | Excluded | No | |
| Government Superannuation Fund Authority | http://www.gsfa.govt.nz/ | enquiries@gsfa.govt.nz | No | |
| Horowhenua District Council | ttps://ecouncil.horowhenua.govt.nz | enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz | Yes | Didn’t know what an IDN was |
| Immigration New Zealand | http://www.immigration.govt.nz/ | EXCLUDED | No | |
| Inland Revenue | http://www.ird.govt.nz | webmaster@ird.govt.nz | No | |
| Kiwi Saver | http://www.kiwisaver.govt.nz/ | webmaster@ird.govt.nz | No | |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade | http://mfat.govt.nz/ | http://mfat.govt.nz/About-the-Ministry/Contact-us/0–forms/enquiry-form.php | No | |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade | http://www.aid.govt.nz/ | enquiries@mfat.govt.nz | No | |
| Ministry of Youth Development | http://www.myd.govt.nz/ | mydinfo@myd.govt.nz | No | |
| New Zealand Teachers Council | https://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/ | inquiries@teacherscouncil.govt.nz | Manual | |
| NZ Transport Association | http://www.nzta.govt.nz | info@nzta.govt.nz | Automatic/Manual | Asked what an IDN is so as to send to relecvant person |
| Office of Ethnic Communities | http://ethniccommunities.govt.nz/ | ethnic.affairs@dia.govt.nz | No | |
| Parliamentary Information Service | http://www.parliament.nz/ | parliament.website@parliament.govt.nz | Bounced | |
| Personal Property Securities Register | http://www.ppsr.govt.nz/ | EXCLUDED | No | |
| Pharmac | http://www.pharmac.health.nz/ | enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz | Automatic/Manual | |
| Real Estate Agents Authority | http://www.reaa.govt.nz/ | licensing@reaa.govt.nz | Automatic/Manual | |
| Social Workers Registration Board | http://www.swrb.govt.nz/contact-us | info@swrb.govt.nz | Manual | |
| Super Gold | https://www.supergold.govt.nz | information@supergold.govt.nz | No | |
| Te Puni Kokiri | http://www.tpk.govt.nz/ | info@tpk.govt.nz | Bounced | |
| Te Taura Whiri | http://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz | info@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz | No | |
| Tertiary Education Commission | http://www.tec.govt.nz/ | sectorhelpdesk@tec.govt.nz | No | |
| The Independent Police Conduct Authority | http://www.ipca.govt.nz | communications@ipca.govt.nz | No |
D. New Zealand Local Government Departments who accept IDN email addresses in online forms.
| Name | URL | Responded |
| Westland District Council | www.westlanddc.govt.nz | No |
| Waimate District Council | www.waimatedc.govt.nz | No |
| Taupo DIstrict Council | http://www.taupodc.govt.nz | No |
| Tasman District Council | http://www.tasman.govt.nz | No |
| Rotorua District Council | http://www.rdc.govt.nz | No |
| Kaikoura District Council | http://www.kaikoura.govt.nz | IT Manager says form is not compatible though it is |
| Hauraki District Council | http://www.hauraki-dc.govt.nz | Manual |
| Hastings District Council | http://www.hastingsdc.govt.nz | No |
| Ashburton District Council | http://www.ashburtondc.govt.nz | No |
| Buller District Council | http://bullerdc.govt.nz | No |
| Gisborne District Council | http://www.gdc.govt.nz | No |
| Hamilton City Council | http://www.hamilton.govt.nz | Automatic/Manual In response to your question, Hamilton City Council’s website partially accepts IDN email addresses in that when a form is submitted, an email is sent to the Council and the submitted form content is written to a backend database; however currently the sender is not sent an automated response as this part of the process causes an error. We are addressing this with urgency and expect it to be resolved in the short term but despite this if someone with an IDN email address contacts the Council via a contact form on the website, it is received and enters the workflow. Regards, Garrick Laing Online manager | Communication Unit |
| Otago Regional Council | http://www.orc.govt.nz/ | No |
| New Plymouth District Council | http://www.newplymouthnz.com/ | No |
| South Taranaki District Council | http://www.stdc.co.nz/ | Manual |
| Western Bay of Plenty District Council | http://www.westernbay.govt.nz | Automatic |
| Hastings District Council | http://www.hastingsdc.govt.nz/ | No |
| Tasman District Council | http://www.tasman.govt.nz/ | No |
| Counties Manukau Health | http://www.countiesmanukau.health.nz | No |
| Christchurch City Council | http://webforms.ccc.govt.nz/ | No |
| Queenstown Lakes District Council | http://www.qldc.govt.nz/ | No |
| Thames Coromandel District Council | http://www.tcdc.govt.nz | Manual |
E. New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t accept IDN email addresses in online forms.
| Name | URL | Notes |
| Hutt City Council | http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/ | |
| Hawkes Bay Regional Council | http://www.hbrc.govt.nz/ | |
| Dunedin City Council | http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ | |
| Auckland City Counil | www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz | |
| Enviroment Canterbury | http://ecan.govt.nz/ | |
| Far North Disctrict Council | https://www.fndc.govt.nz/ | |
| Nelson City Council | http://nelson.govt.nz/ | Macrons not allowed in the comment box. |
| Waimakariri District Council | http://www.waimakariri.govt.nz | |
| Otago Regional Council | http://www.orc.govt.nz | |
| Horizons Regional Council | http://www.horizons.govt.nz/ | |
| Auckland Council | http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz | |
| Timaru District Council | https://www.timaru.govt.nz | |
| Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes District Libraries | http://codc-qldc.govt.nz | |
| Waikato District Council | https://www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz | |
| Selwyn District Council | http://www.selwyn.govt.nz/ | Ph call to follow up |
F. New Zealand Local Government Departments who don’t have an online contact form and who were emailed directly.
| Name | URL | Replied | |
| West Coast Regional Council | http://www.wcrc.govt.nz/ | http://www.wcrc.govt.nz/our-services/do-it-online/general-feedback/Pages/default.aspx | No |
| Wanganui District Council | http://www.wanganui.govt.nz/ | wdc@wanganui.govt.nz | No |
| Waitaki District Council | http://www.waitaki.govt.nz/ | service@waitaki.govt.nz | No |
| Wairoa District Council | http://www.wairoadc.govt.nz/ | administrator@wairoadc.govt.nz | No |
| Waipa District Council | http://www.waipadc.govt.nz/ | info@waipadc.govt.nz | Manual |
| Upper Hutt City Council | http://www.upperhuttcity.com/ | askus@uhcc.govt.nz | Manual |
| Thames Coromandel District Council | http://www.tcdc.govt.nz/ | http://www.tcdc.govt.nz/Your-Council/Contact-Us/Website-Feedback-Form/ | Manual/Automatic |
| Tauranga City Council | http://www.tauranga.govt.nz/ | info@tauranga.govt.nz | Automatic |
| Tararua District Council | http://www.tararuadc.govt.nz/ | info@tararuadc.govt.nz | Can recieve but not send to IDN |
| Taranaki Regional Council | http://www.trc.govt.nz/ | info@trc.govt.nz | Could recieve IDN but not send to |
| Stratford District Council | http://www.stratford.govt.nz/ | stratforddc@stratford.govt.nz | No |
| Enviroment Southland | http://www.es.govt.nz/ | communications@es.govt.nz | No |
| South Wairarapa District Council | http://www.swdc.govt.nz/ | enquiries@swdc.govt.nz | Manual |
| Ruapehu District Council | http://www.ruapehudc.govt.nz/ | info@ruapehudc.govt.nz | Manual |
| Rangitikei District Council | www.rangdc.govt.nz | info@rangitikei.govt.nz | expired SSL certificate |
| The Porirua City Council | http://www.pcc.govt.nz/ | webmaster@pcc.govt.nz | No |
| Palmerston North City Council | http://www.pncc.govt.nz/ | info@pncc.govt.nz | Automatic |
| Opotiki District Council | http://www.odc.govt.nz | info@odc.govt.nz | No |
| Napier City Council | http://www.napier.govt.nz/ | http://www.napier.govt.nz/our-council/about/contact-us/email-us/ | No |
| Masterton District Council | http://www.mstn.govt.nz/ | mdc@mstn.govt.nz | No |
| Manawatu District Council | http://www.mdc.govt.nz/ | public@mdc.govt.nz | No |
| Mackenzie District Council | http://www.mackenzie.govt.nz | info@mackenzie.govt.nz | No |
| Kawerau District Council | http://www.kaweraudc.govt.nz | kaweraudc@kaweraudc.govt.nz | Manual |
| Invercargill City Council | http://icc.govt.nz/ | http://icc.govt.nz/website-feedback/ | No |
| Horowhenua District Council | http://www.horowhenua.govt.nz/ | enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz | No |
| Grey District Council | http://www.greydc.govt.nz/ | http://www.greydc.govt.nz/our-services/do-it-online/request-for-information/Pages/default.aspx | No |
| Gore District Council | http://www.goredc.govt.nz | info@goredc.govt.nz | Manual/Automatic |
| Clutha District Council | http://www.cluthadc.govt.nz/ | http://www.cluthadc.govt.nz/Web%20Pages/Contact_Us.htm | No |
| Chatham Islands Council | http://www.cic.govt.nz/ | info@cic.govt.nz | No |
| Central Otago District Council | http://www.codc.govt.nz/ | info@codc.govt.nz | Manual/Automatic |
| Bay of Plenty Regional Council | http://www.boprc.govt.nz | info@boprc.govt.nz | No |
| Carterton District Council | http://cartertondc.co.nz/ | info@cdc.govt.nz | Manual |
| Hurunui District Council | hurunui.govt.nz | info@hurunui.govt.nz | No |
G.Tertiary institutions findings.
| Name | URL | IDN Compliant |
| Auckland University | https://uoa.custhelp.com/app/ask | No |
| University of Canterbury | canterbury.ac.nz | Yes |
| Lincoln University | lincoln.ac.nz | Yes |
| AUT | http://www.aut.ac.nz | Yes |
| Massey University | http://www.massey.ac.nz | Yes |
| University of Otago | http://www.otago.ac.nz | Yes |
| University of Waikato | http://www.waikato.ac.nz | Yes |
| Victoria University | http://www.vuw.ac.nz | N/a |
H. Polytechnic and Technical institutions findings
| Name | URL | IDN Compliant |
| Aoraki Polytechnic | www.aoraki.ac.nz | No |
| Bay of Plenty Polytechnic | www.boppoly.ac.nz | N/A |
| Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology | www.cpit.ac.nz | No |
| Eastern Institute of Technology (Hawkes Bay) | www.eit.ac.nz | N/A |
| Manukau Institute of Technology | www.manukau.ac.nz | N/A |
| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology | www.nmit.ac.nz | Yes |
| Northland Polytechnic (NorthTec) | www.northtec.ac.nz | No |
| Otago Polytechnic | www.op.ac.nz | N/A |
| Southern Institute of Technology | www.sit.ac.nz | No |
| Tai Poutini Polytechnic | tpp.ac.nz | Yes |
| The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand | www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz | N/A |
| Unitec New Zealand | www.unitec.ac.nz | N/A |
| Universal College of Learning | www.ucol.ac.nz | N/A |
| Waiariki Institute of Technology | www.waiariki.ac.nz | Yes |
| Waikato Institute of Technology | www.wintec.ac.nz | No |
| Wellington Institute of Technology | www.weltec.ac.nz | N/A |
| Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki | www.witt.ac.nz | N/A |
| Whitireia Community Polytechnic | whitireia.ac.nz | Yes |
[1] Unpublished report. Indigenous Domain Names.
[3] https://dnc.org.nz/story/internationalised-domain-names-idns-expressions-interest-working-group-0