Lecture delivered to Sri Lanka College of Journalism. I introduced data journalism with examples from Google and Groundviews. The examples from Google, which use World Bank data, are especially interesting and in these examples, I explore the co-relation between GDP and life expectancy in Sri Lanka, plus the effects of GDP growth and mobile phone growth, looking at how war affected this. There are also two examples from Groundviews (www.groundviews.org) are to date the first and only examples of data journalism in Sri Lanka.
Lecture delivered to Sri Lanka College of Journalism. I introduced data journalism with examples from Google and Groundviews. The examples from Google, which use World Bank data, are especially interesting and in these examples, I explore the co-relation between GDP and life expectancy in Sri Lanka, plus the effects of GDP growth and mobile phone growth, looking at how war affected this. There are also two examples from Groundviews (www.groundviews.org) are to date the first and only examples of data journalism in Sri Lanka.
Social Media Activism (SMA) is the use of web-based platforms, applications and technologies to bring about political or social change and has the power to disseminate information rapidly and globally. It has played a central role in recent worldwide movements for change.
We discuss current trends and limitations, the main players and their changing market share, and innovations in the on-line activism arena.
Traditional players like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are now being challenged by new tools and activist specific spaces.
Security concerns have led to the creation of tools such as Pidder, Crabgrass and OTR.
SMA is not always a force for good. Users must be responsible, evaluate the veracity of information and understand the potential to propagate crime.
Ultimately, SMA can only be a part of the movement for change - it still needs brave people on the streets to challenge the status quo.
Opening presentation at the afternoon social media panel at the 2009 Utah Tourism Conference.
Presentation panel was:
Thomas Cooke
Jay Evensen
Eric Hoffman
Social Media Marketing Tools and Strategies for Master Gardener coordinatorsKim Kruse
Social media provides a unique platform for Extension professionals to share information about programs, including the Florida Master Gardener Program.
Presented at the 2010 continuing education meeting for Master Gardener coordinators.
My slides for a panel on Hashtag Activism and Social Media, for the United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East (Ankara, 11-12 September 2019).
Social Media Activism (SMA) is the use of web-based platforms, applications and technologies to bring about political or social change and has the power to disseminate information rapidly and globally. It has played a central role in recent worldwide movements for change.
We discuss current trends and limitations, the main players and their changing market share, and innovations in the on-line activism arena.
Traditional players like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are now being challenged by new tools and activist specific spaces.
Security concerns have led to the creation of tools such as Pidder, Crabgrass and OTR.
SMA is not always a force for good. Users must be responsible, evaluate the veracity of information and understand the potential to propagate crime.
Ultimately, SMA can only be a part of the movement for change - it still needs brave people on the streets to challenge the status quo.
Opening presentation at the afternoon social media panel at the 2009 Utah Tourism Conference.
Presentation panel was:
Thomas Cooke
Jay Evensen
Eric Hoffman
Social Media Marketing Tools and Strategies for Master Gardener coordinatorsKim Kruse
Social media provides a unique platform for Extension professionals to share information about programs, including the Florida Master Gardener Program.
Presented at the 2010 continuing education meeting for Master Gardener coordinators.
My slides for a panel on Hashtag Activism and Social Media, for the United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East (Ankara, 11-12 September 2019).
Text taken off http://ict4peace.org/?p=3106
ICT4Peace’s Sanjana Hattotuwa has been invited to give a lecture on 27 March 2014 at the International Security Network (ISN) of ETH Zurich on “Big Data, ICTs and New Media in Times of Crisis“.
The International Relations and Security Network (ISN) is one of the world’s leading open access information services for both professionals and students who focus on international relations (IR) and security studies.
Established in 1994, its mission is to facilitate security-related dialogue and cooperation within a trusted network of international relations organizations, professionals and experts, and to provide open-source international relations and security-related tools and materials in accessible ways.The ISN is a project of the Center for Security Studies (CSS), at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).
A presentation on media trends globally and locally in Sri Lanka and how they should influence the organisational development of media training institutions in Sri Lanka.
Crisis Information Management: A Primer, presentation by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Special Advisor, ICT4Peace Foundation. Prepared for ISCRAM Summer School 2011 - http://www.iscram.org/live/summerschool2011.
Digital Bootcamp returned once more to where it all began, the Frontline Club, Paddington, London - which champions independent journalism - on Friday 11 January 2013, as part of the London Short Film Festival's 10th anniversary edition. It was epic, a Deluxe version which saw a three hour lecture, one hour masterclass of five projects and an hour of networking.
Social media, journalism & climate change in Africa: presentationAgnes Lesage-Possolo
Social media for journalists and how e-tools can help cover an issue like climate change in Africa. Part of the Africa Adaptation Programme journalism workshop, a training delivered to journalists in Lesotho.
Presentation on Reimagining Extremism: Context, culture, community and countrySanjana Hattotuwa
ICT4Peace Foundation’s Special Advisor Sanjana Hattotuwa was invited by New Zealand’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to speak at He Whenua Taurikura, New Zealand’s first annual hui (meaning a large gathering in Maori) on countering terrorism and violent extremism. The hui was held from 14-16 June 2021 in Christchurch. He Whenua Taurikura translates to ‘a country at peace’. This presentation was delivered as part of the fourth panel at the hui, on day two.
Sanjana followed presentations by Jordan Carter from InternetNZ, Kate Hannah from Te Pūnaha Matatini and University of Auckland, Dr Nawab Osman from Facebook, Nick Pickles from Twitter, and Anjum Rahman from Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono and Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand. The panel was chaired by Paul Ash, head of the Christchurch Call.
Roles of media in peacebuilding & conflict generationSanjana Hattotuwa
Was invited by Associate Professor SungYong Lee at NCPACS to deliver a guest lecture to his 2021 MA class on media's role in peacebuilding violent conflict generation.
Are we collectively ruining democracy? Polarisation of thought and belief seems to be on the increase particularly in the online environment. Where people who think similarly move (or are pushed) towards more fixed or extreme views, it makes it harder for people to express opinions or suggest new ideas. How can we challenge it? This is an opportunity to talk about how groupthink is affecting our lives, and to discuss positive alternatives.
Peace processes after the pandemic: What role for technology?Sanjana Hattotuwa
Increasingly discussed today in the Global North, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have featured in mediation processes in the Global South for close upon two decades. This bears mention in what are often discussions that appear to present or posit the use of ICTs in mediation as recent or somehow pegged to the advent and, today, ubiquity of social media. The challenges today are both similar and different to those that existed at the turn of the century. Transparency, agency and voice, central pillars of democracy, find expression, at ever increasing scale, scope, and speed, on social media. Conversely, new forms of spoiler dynamics, linked to in large part the manipulation of public discourse, also use social media as key vectors to incite violence, inflame hate and spread incendiary falsehoods. The dilemma facing mediation today is one of having to deal with vectors of information production that lie entirely beyond the remit of the Chatham House rule, rules of confidential engagement, and the sandboxing needed to incubate fragile processes and relationships. Mediators are bombarded with information they must make sense of, and this sense-making process is itself often under-valued in modern day mediation. The confusion leads to (understandable, yet misplaced) anxiety, which often finds expression in suspicion and scepticism around the role, reach and relevance of ICTs in mediation processes.
Additionally, the post-Coronavirus landscape brings with it added challenges. If physical meetings are no longer viable for the foreseeable future, a key question is how the rich, sensory experience, relational depth, non-verbal cues, physical contact and the security of verbal communication in a closed-door environment can be replicated, and to what degree, through virtually mediated environments. Aside from the obvious cyber-security concerns are also psycho-social, cognitive, socio-cultural, gendered challenges in mediation processes that will be predominantly anchored to online technologies, including social media apps, products, and platforms. Questions asked by Hattotuwa in 2018 are even more relevant in the long-shadow of Covid-19, in addition to others borne out of global and local circumstances that a few months ago seemed unimaginable. How can social media and ICTs help? What is important to focus on, and what are some dangers of today’s conflict landscape beyond the headlines? What questions should mediators ask in order to avoid the more uncommon pitfalls of incorporating ICTs in negotiations processes? Fundamentally, how will conflict transformation, anchored to mediation, change in a post-Coronavirus world where travel and meetings will be severely restricted, or no longer possible to do discreetly? More fundamentally, how can and should expectations from, models of and approaches to mediation change, post-pandemic, in a world increasingly mediated (no pun intended) through social media?
Beyond the global reset: Towards pandemic panopticons or something radically ...Sanjana Hattotuwa
On the invitation of Christina Goodness, Chief Information Management Officer at the Departments of Peacebuilding, Political and Peace Operations DPPA-DPO, United Nations, the ICT4Peace Foundation's Sanjana Hattotuwa gave a presentation titled 'Beyond the global reset: Towards pandemic panopticons or something radically new?' as part of the '(un)data Seminar Series on Outrageous Questions'.
Details and overview at https://ict4peace.org/activities/post-coronavirus-towards-pandemic-panopticons-or-something-radically-new/
«From the burning of the Notre Dame in Paris to heinous terrorism in Sri Lanka and Christchurch, social media inextricably is entwined with how billions see or engage with the world.»
More details at https://ict4peace.org/activities/full-video-slidedeck-of-lecture-from-christchurch-to-sri-lanka-the-curious-case-of-social-media/
Presentation delivered at the Zentrum für Internationale Friedenseinsätze gGmbH (Centre for International Peace Operations) based in Berlin, Germany, as part of an event to celebrate 15 years since its inception on 28 June 2017.
Human Rights & ICTs. A presentation delivered on 1 April 2017 to Amnesty International's 2017 Chairs Assembly and Director's Forum (CADF), held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
I was recently asked to put together a presentation on the fake news phenomenon for discussions with leading journalists and media institutions in a developing country, with extremely poor media literacy but strong growth around social media use, on how to both identify misleading content and also stem its flow, reach and influence.
Download the full presentation as a PowerPoint (with embedded videos) or as an Apple Keynote file, here - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxbk4wYolphwcVk4bV85aEFtYXc
Gave a short presentation at the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) on 26th October on drone journalism, as part of the excellent OneSriLanka Journalism Fellowship programme, supported by Internews.
Digital transformation and the role of civil society in Sri LankaSanjana Hattotuwa
The Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit Regional office South Asia organized a regional seminar on "Promoting Liberty Digitally" in Sri Lanka from 15th to 17th October 2016. I was asked to speak on "Digital transformation and the role of Civil Society in Sri Lanka" and to be present at a group discussion on "Civil rights and the Internet".
2. what is social media?
• Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media
monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).
• It supports the democratisation of knowledge and information, transforming people
from content consumers into content producers. (Wikipedia)
4. new media foundations
• Blogs
• Social networks (Twitter, Facebook)
• Mobiles: SMS, mobile photography and video
• And making this all possible is ADSL + 3G wireless
broadband
5. what’s new
• Ubiquity of two way communications
• Addressable peoples, even those who IDPs or refugees
• Both news generation and dissemination leverages new media
• Disintermediated models vs. traditional media model
• Citizens as producers
• Low resolution content broadcast on high definition media
6. old media model
Event / Issue
Journalist
Mainstream
media Consumer
7. new media models
Event / Issue Consumer Citizen media
Journalist Mainstream Consumer
media
8. the revolution
Journalist Consumer
News as a package
Consumer /
Journalist
Witness
News as a conversation
16. bombings in london
• 7 July 2005
• Within 24 hours, the BBC had received
1,000 stills and videos, 3,000 texts and
20,000 e-mails.
17. “saffron revolution” in myanmar 2007
• 100,000 people joined a Facebook group
supporting the monks
• No international TV crews allowed in the
country
• Mobile phone cameras were the first footage of
the monks protest
• Blogs from Rangoon were the only sources of
information
• The junta shut down all Internet and mobile
communications
21. the green revolution: post-election Iran 2009
• YouTube and Flickr brought multimedia out of the
distressed country. Twitter and Facebook updates
have spread videos virally. Blogs, Wikipedia, and
citizen journalism have helped disseminate and filter
this information.
• Most of all though, these tools have helped people
take action.
31. readership and reach: web media
From 19 – 27 May 2010, Groundviews ran a special edition on the end of war in Sri Lanka.
Over this week alone, the site received over forty thousand readers and exclusively featured over
eighty-thousand words of original content, one video premiere, over a dozen photos, generating
over one hundred and fifty thousand words of commentary.
Tens of thousands more have read and commented on this content since.
46. curating news
• Buying fruits of vegetables • Curating news
• Check price • Check authorship
• Weigh it in one’s hands • Check for veracity, quality
• Look at it from all angles • Is it accurate, fair, topical?
• What is the bias? Is it progressive?
• Look at it in context
• Select a few from many sources
• Look at a few, not just one
• Discard if out-dated information is
• Discard if old presented
• Ascertain location where it was • Be cautious of unverified information
produced and breaking news
58. wikipedia: first narratives of the attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_November_2008_Mumbai_attacks
400+ edits / updates
100+ authors
Less than 24 hours after first attack
63. gmail account: email, maps, news
• Free
• Access to Google Maps (mapping)
• Access to Google Reader (RSS / web updates)
• Access to Google News (news updates)
73. creating online content
• Think beyond text. Online is not print.
• Think beyond prose. Online can be satire, verse, haiku!
• Think of photos, audio, video. Rich media tells stories.
• Think of SMS and crowd-sourcing
• Don’t suggest you know everything. Use the community to add value to story.
• Link to other stories online
74. enduring challenges
• Impartial, accurate coverage still vital, increasingly hard to ascertain
• Torrent of information, trickle of knowledge
• Veracity and verifiability
• Eye-witness accounts are partial, subjective
• New media / technology illiteracy even amongst journalists
• Apathy and animosity against citizen journalism
• Licensing and attribution of online content