Published by Sanjana
An Ashoka, Rotary World Peace and TED Fellow, I have since 2002 used, studied and advocated Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to strengthen peace, reconciliation, human rights & democratic governance.
I founded in 2006 and till June 2020 curated the award-winning Groundviews, Sri Lanka's first civic media website. From 2002-2020 I was a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. At CPA, I pioneered the use of social media for activism and advocacy, as well as digital security training for human rights activists since 2010.
I specialise in, advise and train on social media communications strategy, web-based activism, online advocacy and grounded social media research.
Through the ICT4Peace Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland, I help strengthen information management during crises and programmes to address violent extremism online. For nearly a decade, this included leading the Foundation's work with the United Nations.
Since 2008, I have worked in South Asia, South East Asia, North Africa, Europe and the Balkans to capture, disseminate and archive inconvenient truths in austere, violent contexts.
I am currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand on the intersection of social media, political communication, violence generation and the realisation of Sri Lanka's democratic potential.
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Until the ceasefire agreement of January 2002, mobiles were not allowed in the North and East. Within six weeks of the CFA, Dialog started offering services. It is estimated that over 150,000 connections were given in the North and East in 2003 alone. The question is not whether mobiles will be available in the North, but whether the hotting up of Eeelam War IV will result in the shutting down of the already heavily used services. For details see: http://www.lirneasia.net/2006/02/news-release-jaffnaites-spend-up-to-12-of-their-monthly-regular-income-on-telecommunications/
One could argue that in our information age, an intelligent government would keep mobile phone services alive (albeit with a degree surveillance) if only to reach the populations that have access to them. If the mobilisation of popular opinion is necessary in a non-military war to win the hearts and minds of those in the North and the East, SMS / MMS and innovative voice mail services can bring government closer to those who already feel alienated from governance mechanisms. The denial or withdrawal of such services, I fear, will only serve to strengthen the animosity towards the central government.
Another example of ICT and conflict in east timor