The UC CEISMIC Canterbury Earthquakes Digital Archive programme was established in 2011 with the aim of preserving the knowledge, memories and earthquake experiences of people of the Canterbury region. [1] The website provides federated access to a broad range of earthquake-related research material, gathered by leading New Zealand cultural and educational organisations. [2]
UC CEISMIC is a project of the Digital Humanities department at the University of Canterbury, which focuses on principles of openness and collaboration. [3]
The project was founded by University of Canterbury Professor Paul Millar following the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. It was inspired by the September 11 Digital Archive project developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. [1] The purpose is to preserve earthquake-related material for future generations, researchers, and other communities that experience disasters. [1]
UC CEISMIC is a federated archive, providing public access to a wide range of earthquake-related content, including images, videos, interviews, stories and research material from many content partners. [1] Metadata from each of the content partners is harvested by DigitalNZ and fed through to the federated search tool at ceismic.org.nz using DigitalNZ's API. [2] Content providers include UC QuakeStudies, Kete Christchurch, Ross Becker & Moira Fraser and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The total number of items publicly available is over 55,000.
Lessons learned from the project are shared in chapter 10 of the book Crisis and Disaster in Japan and New Zealand: Actors, Victims and Ramifications. [4]
The UC CEISMIC Consortium includes core content contributors, as well as providing members of the programme board. It exists to ensure the programme is sustainable and well managed, and that the digital repository meets international standards.
The Consortium is founded upon a Memorandum of Understanding that holds open access and collaboration as two of its key principles.
UC QuakeStudies is the research component of UC CEISMIC, and one of several repositories that the CEISMIC search engine harvests material from. It is a secure, access-controlled repository, built and hosted at the University of Canterbury, [2] with the purpose of preserving a digital record of the earthquakes and the rebuild, and to facilitate future research.
Earthquake-related content is sourced by the UC CEISMIC programme office from researchers, community groups, and other organisations and individuals. Content is then organised, described and stored in online collections. Qualitative metadata such as geo-locations, dates, file sizes, tags and categories is added where possible by the programme office team.
The QuakeStudies archive includes large content collections such as Fairfax Media, Environment Canterbury, Gap Filler, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, QuakeBox, urban regeneration projects and a digitised copy of The Pledge. [2] It also holds content contributed by individuals and community groups, such as records of blog posts by members of the Christchurch Bloggers group and a variety of photographs and videos.
The University of Canterbury is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbury College, the first constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is New Zealand's second-oldest university, after the University of Otago, which was founded four years earlier, in 1869.
Canterbury is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of 44,503.88 square kilometres (17,183.04 sq mi), making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of 694,400.
ChristChurch Cathedral, also called Christ Church Cathedral and (rarely) Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecrated Anglican cathedral in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 and 1904 in the centre of the city, surrounded by Cathedral Square. It became the cathedral seat of the Bishop of Christchurch, who is in the New Zealand tikanga of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
TheArts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora is a hub for arts, culture, education, creativity and entrepreneurship in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the Gothic Revival former Canterbury College, Christchurch Boys' High School and Christchurch Girls' High School buildings, many of which were designed by Benjamin Mountfort. The centre is a national landmark and taonga as it is home to New Zealand's largest collection of category one heritage buildings with 21 of the 23 buildings covered by Heritage New Zealand listings.
Canterbury Television was an independent television station broadcasting in Canterbury, New Zealand.
Sir Robert John Parker is a former New Zealand broadcaster and politician. He served as Mayor of Christchurch from 2007 to 2013.
Natural Hazards Commission – Toka Tū Ake, also known as the Earthquake Commission Toka Tū Ake, is a New Zealand Crown entity that invests in natural disaster research and education as well as providing natural disaster insurance to residential property owners. The Natural Hazards Insurance Act 2023, which came into effect on 1 July 2024, made a number of changes, including changing the name of the Earthquake Commission to Natural Hazards Commission.
The 2010 Canterbury earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude of 7.1 at 4:35 am local time on 4 September, and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. Some damaging aftershocks followed the main event, the strongest of which was a magnitude 6.3 shock known as the Christchurch earthquake that occurred nearly six months later on 22 February 2011. Because this aftershock was centred very close to Christchurch, it was much more destructive and resulted in the deaths of 185 people.
A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time. The Mw6.2 earthquake struck the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred 6.7 kilometres (4.2 mi) south-east of the central business district. It caused widespread damage across Christchurch, killing 185 people in New Zealand's fifth-deadliest disaster. Scientists classified it as an intraplate earthquake and potentially an aftershock of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake.
The CTV Building was the headquarters of Canterbury Television and other companies. Located on the corner of Cashel and Madras Streets in Christchurch Central City, New Zealand. It became one of the symbols of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake after 115 people lost their lives when the building collapsed during the disaster; the deaths made up about 60% of the earthquake's total fatalities.
The June 2011 Christchurch earthquake was a shallow magnitude 6.0 Mw earthquake that occurred on 13 June 2011 at 14:20 NZST. It was centred at a depth of 7 km (4.3 mi), about 5 km (3 mi) south-east of Christchurch, which had previously been devastated by a magnitude 6.2 MW earthquake in February 2011. The June quake was preceded by a magnitude 5.9 ML tremor that struck the region at a slightly deeper 8.9 km (5.5 mi). The United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude of 6.0 Mw and a depth of 9 km (5.6 mi).
Sam Johnson is a social entrepreneur from Christchurch, New Zealand. Johnson is known as the founder of the Student Volunteer Army which mobilised 11,000 students to assist the cleanup following the Christchurch earthquakes and has continued as a nationwide volunteering movement
The Student Volunteer Army (SVA) is a New Zealand student movement born from a Facebook page started following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The network has no military affiliation and is focused on facilitating community action through youth engagement, preparing for disasters, and service. The clubs and volunteers are supported by the Volunteer Army Foundation (VAF).
DigitalNZ is a service run by the National Library of New Zealand and funded by the New Zealand Government hosting New Zealand-related digital media. The service is searchable and shareable, and reuse is allowed where possible. As of 2019 there were more than 30 million digital items from more than 200 organisations, fully searchable and free to access. Partner organisations include libraries, museums, galleries, government departments, the media and community groups. Content includes photographs, videos, artworks, news reports and audio recordings. It aims to be the "simplest public website through which people can access reliable New Zealand material". Metadata is structured and made available via an API which is free to use.
The Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial is the Crown's official memorial for those killed or seriously injured in the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. It is located on both sides of the Avon River downstream from the Montreal Street bridge. The memorial opened on 22 February 2017, the sixth anniversary of the earthquake.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011 was a New Zealand statute that repealed the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010 and set out measures to respond to the impact of the Canterbury earthquakes, and in particular the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is a digital repository for Ireland's humanities, social science and cultural heritage data. It was designed as an open access infrastructure that allows for interactive use and sustained growth. Three institutions, Royal Irish Academy (RIA), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and Maynooth, currently manage the repository and implement its policies, guidelines and training. The Department of Education and Skills has primarily funded DRI since 2016 through the Higher Education Authority and the Irish Research Council. As of 2018, DRI is home to over 28,000 items.
Elizabeth Toomey is a New Zealand law academic. She is currently a full professor at the University of Canterbury.
Sussie Celna Morrish is a Filipina–New Zealand marketing academic, and is a full professor at the University of Canterbury, specialising in entrepreneurship, strategic marketing and the hospitality industry.
The PGC Building was a five-story postmodern office building in Christchurch, New Zealand. It became infamously associated with the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, with images of the failed structure and stories of trapped survivors having been widely broadcast. Eighteen people were killed in the building during the earthquake, and many more were injured, in what was described as a "catastrophic collapse." It was the second most deadly incident in the earthquake after the CTV Building collapse.