This document discusses the potential and challenges of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for peacebuilding efforts, particularly in Sri Lanka. It notes several systemic problems in Sri Lanka that limit the effectiveness of ICT4peace initiatives, including inadequate local language content and infrastructure issues. It also emphasizes that technology alone cannot guarantee better peace processes and that context is important. The document provides several examples from around the world of how ICTs have been used for activism, dispute resolution, and monitoring violence and elections. It concludes by discussing emerging technologies and how they may redefine concepts like privacy, trust and participation in the future.

1. ict4peace: beyond the hype
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Editor, Groundviews (www.groundviews.org)
Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2. sri lanka

3. ict4peace in sri lanka

4. systemic problems
• Inadequate vernacular content and rendering capabilities
• Uneven broadband connectivity / infrastructure
• Lack of skilled human resources
• Post-war violence and repression still high
• Legacy of 30 years of war: Communal distrust, no reconciliation, no political
settlement, continued militarisation, national security mindset, repressive
government, on-going censorship, poor rule of law, un-constitutional
governance

5. conflict transformation
• A process of engaging with and transforming relationships, interests,
discourses and, if necessary, the very constitution of society that supports the
continuation of violent conflict
• CT argues against giving primacy to settlements
• Conflict is never resolved, but transformed to the non-violent negotiation of
differences

6. my mantras
• ICT in peacebuilding needs to be self-effacing.
• ICT must build social capital, and invest in societal frameworks that empower
local communities to grapple with conflict in non-violent ways.
• Technology itself should not be the cynosure, but what is achieved through it.

7. real world challenges for ict4peace
• Is technology a guarantee of a better process?
• Is technology neutral?
• How does one determine trust online?
• How do you create inter-cultural dispute resolution systems?
• What are the problems of access and publishing content (the Great Wall of
China, the Middle East)?
• How can technology help peace processes?

8. examples from around the world

9. facebook in egypt
• In most countries in the Arab world, Facebook is now one of the 10 most-
visited Web sites, and in Egypt it ranks third, after Google and Yahoo.
• About one in nine Egyptians has Internet access, and around 9 percent of
that group are on Facebook — a total of almost 800,000 members.
• April 6 Youth Movement, a group of 70,000 mostly young and educated
Egyptians, most of whom had never been involved with politics before joining
the group.

10. facebook in egypt

11. pro-democracy movement in iran

12. dispute resolution in afghanistan
http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/the-mobile-phone-jirga-supporting-rule-of-law-in-afghanistan-with-odr/

13. breaking language barriers
Translation Technology: Breaking the language Barrier, http://www.darpa.mil/
Docs/DARPA_language_200807180909251.pdf

14. augmenting and augmented reality

15. visualising trauma in sudan through google earth

16. visualising disasters through google maps

17. ushahidi to map peace

18. ushahidi in the world’s largest elections

19. mobile ring tones for activism
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/whatwedo/where/asia/india/2008/04/080806_india_gates_condomcondom_video.shtml

20. bearing witness to violence
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/08/090827_world_stories_new_media_kashmir.shtml

21. bearing witness to violence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ&feature=player_embedded

22. tsa blog: designed conflict resolution?

23. mobile phones for human rights
http://www.newtactics.org/en/blog/new-tactics/using-mobile-phones-action

24. my work from sri lanka

25. one text peace negotiations platform

26. monitoring election violence

27. monitoring election violence

28. mainstream media monitoring

29. helping CSOs and NGOs use new media

30. helping mainstream media leverage new media

31. helping rural communities leverage new media

32. helping rural communities leverage new media

33. visualising peacebuilding

34. groundviews: award-winning citizen journalism

35. groundviews: crowd-sourced investigative
journalism

36. groundviews: civility

37. vikalpa

38. vikalpa youtube channel

39. podcasts

40. human rights monitoring

41. twitter to get more perspectives

42. underlying tech

43. facebook and social networking
• More than 400 million active users
• More than 60 million status updates posted each day
• More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo
albums, etc.) shared each week
• More than 3.5 million events created each month
• More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook
• More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
• Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

44. telepresence from cisco

45. telepresence for the rest of us

46. wireless broadband
www.ustream.tv
www.bambuser.com

47. online identity management

48. mobile phone growth

49. geo-location (combined with social networking /
mobiles)

50. measuring veracity & redefining
trust

51. doctored images
http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/sarah-palin-and-the-veracity-of-information-on-the-web

52. redefining trust models
• Privacy concerns over Facebook, Google Buzz in 2010.
• New technologies will redefine privacy, disclosure, confidentiality, “common
sense” and trust models.
• A combination of virtual and real-world ODR and peacebuilding processes
will redefine models of participation and representation.

53. Thank you