Paul Séamus Reynolds (4 October 1949 – 23 May 2010) was a New Zealand internet advocate in the cultural sector. He was an early advocate of IT systems and the Internet in the cultural sector in New Zealand.

Biography

Born in Scotland on 4 October 1949, Reynolds studied at the

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

, graduating with a BA in the history of ideas in 1983. He then completed an MA in social and political thought at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

in 1988. Reynolds moved to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, working part-time in a Parnell bookshop and becoming a book reviewer. He founded McGovern Online, an internet consulting company, with his wife, Helen Smith, in 1995. For many years a commentator for

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

, he was also an active advocate for the use of public-facing information technology by cultural institutions. He worked with libraries, museums and similar institutions to develop websites that informed, educated and engaged with the general public. Reynolds held a number of roles, including as a member of the Governance Group of Aotearoa People's Network Kaharoa, board member of the National Digital Forum, adjunct director (

Digital Library A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital ...

) to the

National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand () is charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga) Act 2003). Under the ...

, board member of the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum (), also known as Auckland Museum, is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory ...

and member of the New Zealand government’s digital strategy advisory group. Reynolds died of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in Auckland on 23 May 2010.

Legacy

In 2010 a scholarship was established in memory of Reynolds from funds contributed by the National Library of New Zealand, Internet New Zealand, and friends of Reynolds. The grant, administered by LIANZA, is known as the "Paul Reynolds (No Numpties) Grant", and allows people working in the digital space to spend time at an overseas institution to develop or research specialist digital knowledge.

Scholarship recipients

Past winners of the Paul Reynolds Scholarship are:

Works

The Internet: A New Zealand Guide
1995 * People Points Blog http://www.peoplepoints.co.nz/ * McGovern Online http://www.mcgovern.co.nz/
Digital strategies for libraries in the 21st century

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

* Twitter – Reynolds used @littlehigh as his Twitter account. The account was closed after his death and has since been reallocated to another user.

References

External links

* http://passthesource.org.nz/2010/05/24/where-are-the-libraries-of-tomorrow-going-to-be/ * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6XnbIYAyw0 * http://publicaddress.net/6638#post6638 * http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/paul-reynolds-r.html * http://passonable.edublogs.org/2010/05/24/a-letter-to-paul-reynolds/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20100830152243/http://www.janetwilson.co.nz/2010/05/the-last-post/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20100525224021/http://internetnz.net.nz/paulreynolds * http://www.nzherald.co.nz/connect/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501833&objectid=10647184 * https://archive.today/20130117101609/http://www.aucklandcitylibraries.com/blog/scooperonlibraries.aspx * http://artandmylife.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/searching/ * http://chadtaylormarginalia.blogspot.com/2010/05/but-this-is-punchline.html * http://www.mcgovern.co.nz/Home/Who/PaulReynoldsInternetConsultant.aspx * http://kete.net.nz/site/topics/show/324-in-memory-of-paul-reynolds-kete-contributor * http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/industry-news/2010/may/70054-tribute-paul-reynolds {{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Paul 1949 births 2010 deaths Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People from Auckland People associated with the Auckland War Memorial Museum New Zealand librarians New Zealand male bloggers New Zealand radio personalities Alumni of Middlesex University Alumni of the University of Sussex Deaths from leukemia in New Zealand