Development

This section supports the development of the Grow Native website.

Migration from this Placeholder site

I set up this placeholder site to explore how my own questions could be answered through a site dedicated to growing New Zealand Native Trees.

To move on from this site requires I think three things:

  • A consensus on the role of the site and its scope.
  • Technical matters – how can knowledge be captured, stored and presented reliably and usefully?
  • How can we engage with the people out there who have the knowledge, and get them on board so their knowledge can be shared?

Questions

If this placeholder website is to be developed into a site that can be really useful then here are some questions that occur to me:

  • Is the scope of the site OK? This is indicated in the navigation menu and the text on some of the pages. Is there too much? Is there too little? There are plenty of topics relating to native trees of Aotearoa, but are some topics better covered somewhere else? If we try to add everything from the start then there is a danger of achieving nothing.
  • What should the site be called? At present, ‘grownative.nz’ and similar domain names seem to be available.
  • What organisation should be the kaitiaki of the site? A few individuals can set it up, but it will require long-term maintenance and a budget if it is to be sustainable. (I am thinking here of the practical issues of technical expertise, real mahi, and hard cash).
  • There will be lots of policy decisions that will need to be made and reviewed periodically. For example the use of te reo, AI generated content, copyright and acknowledgments. Is there a need for a body to oversee this? Or is there a risk that this could paralyse the kaupapa, and a “benign dictatorship” would be more sensible?

Technical Approach

When I set up the placeholder site two or three years ago, it would not have occurred to me that website development could be undertaken by artificial intelligence. But we live in a brave new world.

In September 2025 I spent a short while working with one of the new AI systems (Claude) to see if it would offer to do parts of the development from this placeholder site to a real, usable one. The result is the material presented in the Initial Claude Documents section.

Whether or not we work with an AI system to develop a working website, I think the material presented there is remarkable, in terms of demonstrating the current state of the art of AI. It has also contributed material that is useful in thinking about the approach,

The Initial Claude Documents section provides a first pass for an approach of the development were to be aided by AI. It suggests a sequence of next steps (refining the brief) which could lead to an actual development by/with AI. Even if AI is not used, these documents are worth reading as they pose questions that neds to be answered whatever the approach.

[mre to follow]