Practice-grounded ideas, reflections and constructive questions about relational and intergenerational value.
Field Notes is the community-of-practice archive for short, edited contributions from people working with Māori value, policy, evaluation, economics, research, taiao, investment and community practice. It is a curated publication, not an open posting platform.
Most impact reports stop at the direct participant. But value moves — through whānau, households, communities and time. If our boundary stops at one person, our account understates what actually happened.
Read field noteA wider value boundary is not an excuse for weaker evidence. Every claim still needs a clear pathway, a defined group, a signal, evidence and safeguards against double counting.
Read field noteThe method does not ask “what is mana worth?” It asks “what changes when mana is upheld?” Observable pathways — participation, reduced whakamā, restored hosting — can be evidenced and, where appropriate, valued.
Read field noteStories are not only colour. They can show how a change happened — the mechanism — which is exactly what a pathway account needs to test whether value is real and where it travels.
Read field noteA signal is a clue that a pathway may be present, not confirmation that it is. Treating signals as proof is how wider accounts drift into overclaiming. Hold them as evidence to be tested.
Read field noteSome value is best protected as a decision criterion, threshold or weighted consideration — not forced into a single number. Naming what should not be monetised is part of the discipline.
Read field noteTauutuutu describes reciprocal exchange with obligation, balance and return through time. For impact work, it changes the question from who received value to how value travelled, returned and strengthened future capacity.
Read field noteWe welcome concise, practice-grounded expressions of interest. A useful proposal names a specific question, the experience or evidence it draws on, and what it could add to responsible practice. Constructive disagreement and boundary-testing are welcome.
Proposals are screened editorially. If an idea fits, we will kōrero with the contributor before a draft is commissioned. Nothing is published without fact-checking, permissions review and the author approving the final version.
A proposal is not an acceptance. Published Field Notes remain the views of their authors and do not necessarily represent an endorsement by Whakapapa Economics.