The State of the Internet Report is a new initiative from InternetNZ. Today, there’s no place you can go to find a comprehensive collection of information about the Internet and about the uses New Zealanders are making of it. Over time, this Report will become a hub for information about the Internet: how it performs, where it is, how we use it and how we can capture more of its potential.

In doing so, our goal is that this becomes a useful collection of information to enable us all to make better decisions about the Internet in New Zealand, and where and how we invest in its development to make it better still.

This Draft was released for review in April 2016. It was built around a partnership with Figure.NZ to display data from three main sources: Statistics New Zealand, the Web Index and the World Wide Web Foundation. Figure.NZ produced beautiful charts that make the data easy to read and understand; we have identified some key insights we see in the data and pointed out some of the implications. The topics covered, noted below, are a subset of what people could find useful about the Internet.

The report sets out data about New Zealand, and in some cases at how New Zealand compares with other countries. Both are informative; the latter can show us who we can learn from on a variety of different metrics, and give us an indication of our relative areas of strength and weakness.

Readers will see this is a “once over lightly”, exploratory draft. We’d love to hear your feedback about the broad approach, about the topics that have been covered. Even more interesting and helpful would be to hear your thoughts about other topics to cover, and other data sources.

To see this report become more comprehensive and more authoritative, we know we need to:

• Publish data from more sources – two examples we know about are the World Internet Project’s survey data, and data presented by the Commerce Commission’s telecommunications sector monitoring reports. We could commission analysis on specific topics of interest. What other sources should we explore?
• Cover a wider range of topics – this first Draft looks at access, use and confidence. Information about the .NZ domain, or longitudinal data about use, are two topics to explore more. What are others?
• Sharpen up the analysis – in some cases we’ve observed what the data shows, but as the data set grows, the analysis we can present should draw the reader’s attention to unknown relationships between trends, or drivers that aren’t apparent on the surface.

To make this report as useful as possible, we need your feedback. Bouquets or brickbats, suggested additions, arguments about the analysis – all are very welcome. You can bring these to us direct, or share your thoughts on the Google Docs version of the report.

• Google Docs version of the State of the Internet report

We intend this report to inspire discussion and collaboration too. That’s why it is online first and foremost. We’ve kept our insights short to let the data speak for itself, and to serve as a conversation starter for your own insights.

Everything in this report is comment-able, debate-able and sharable – so comment, debate and share. Working together, we can make the State of the Internet report an annual landmark in the calendar, and the authoritative source of information and analysis we aim to deliver for all those interested in the Internet in New Zealand.

We’d be appreciative of input and feedback by the end of May 2016. In the first instance, please offer that to Ben Creet (ben@internetnz.nz), or in the Google Doc. We’ll assess the response to the report, and feedback offered, in June – and publish a roadmap about where SOTI goes next in 2016 and beyond by the middle of the year.

Jordan Carter Chief Executive

This report is divided into three parts:

Part one: What does Internet access in New Zealand look like?

Firstly, this report covers how we connect to the Internet. What technologies are we choosing, and how are New Zealanders getting online? How is that mix changing as newer technologies become available? And what barriers are there to more people connecting to the Internet in New Zealand?

Part two: How do New Zealanders use the Internet?

Secondly, we look at use of the Internet in New Zealand. What are New Zealanders using it for, both at home and in their businesses? Where can we see opportunities to extract more value from usage?

Part three: How confident are New Zealanders with the Internet?

Finally, we consider how we can build on and protect the potential of the Internet in New Zealand. We will consider how secure it is; whether we are utilising the most effective technologies to promote the best experiences online, and whether we have rules and regulations that allow for that.

About InternetNZ.