Sri Lankan Central Bank does not know Internet and email use in the country

Given the scale and frequency of lies the Sri Lankan Central Bank puts out, this is perhaps a minor issue. I was looking through some of our economic data and was surprised to note that the Central Bank has no clue as to how many Internet and E-mail subscribers there are in Sri Lanka. We [...]

The end of foreign correspondence?

Taken from Fi & Bryn’s Big Trip Is the role and relevance of the foreign correspondent now defunct or is it evolving? Foreign correspondence, I explained, is not as foreign as it used to be. “There, not here,” is over. It is a momentous, overlooked shift in the world: Foreign correspondents no longer cover one [...]

The Times Machine

In Old News is Good News, I covered the efforts of Google to digitise old newspaper archives. The New York Times has a comparable exercise in the form of its Times Machine, which contains 70 years of the NYT’s archives from its first issue on 18 September 1851 through to 30 December 1922. It’s just [...]

Inspiring change through social media

Global Voices has an inspiring story on how 90 American, Armenian and Azerbaijani teenagers aged 14-16, participants will use online tools such as blogs to “create socially conscious media that will impact communities across the U.S. and the Caucasus.” Read the story here and visit the related blog here. Is this a strategy that can [...]

Data loss whether you backup or not…

“The point here is simple. Data loss creates and exacerbates conflict. In a context of violent ethno-political conflict and with many fragile peacebuilding processes at play, data loss can often not just be catastrophic, it can be positively life threatening.” (Excerpt from Whipped cream and data backups) I have for nearly a decade grappled with [...]

Two new sites for dissent

Came across two new sites for dissent and critical perspectives in Sri Lanka have cropped up recently. Forgotten Diaries was started in June ’08 and only has a handful of posts. However, the content in these posts is very thought provoking, though judging by the paucity of comments, it is unlikely that this blog is [...]

Online dissent and the future of extremism in Sri Lanka

“… Thus while the government is trying to position Singapore as a Media Hub for the fast-growing new media technology and development, home grown talent often face harsh official harassment. Singapore’s netizens are moving to redefine the terms of the island state’s political discourse – whether the government welcome them or not”. Kalinga Seneviratne, Asia [...]

Identity and suicide on blogs

Came across two good examples of conversations engendered and sustained by new media that traditional print and electronic media would, especially in the context today, be unable and unwilling to support. The first is a narrative of award winning Sri Lanka novellist David Blacker’s experience at a Police checkpoint. We all know that (a certain [...]

Sri Lankan computers also infected by vast electronic spying operation?

As the New York Times reports today, a vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama. While the story itself is fascinating, what’s interesting is that the accompanying NYT graphic which flags countries where the spying [...]

Plaigarising our content: How should bloggers respond?

Echoing a post just three days ago on the Daily Mirror‘s plagiarism, this post on Chuls Bits & Pics blog does not come as a surprise. The author notes that the photo accompanying the story on the Sunday Times here was published without any attribution. As the author notes, Infuriating was a mild term to [...]