Sri Lanka inside-out: Cyberspace and the mediated geographies of political engagement

Save for the treatment of Tamilnet in Mark Whitaker's book on Sivaram, I know of no other Sri Lankan website other than Groundviews that has inspired rigorous academic study. From as early as 2007, content on Groundviews has been studied and quoted in academic journals, books and media reports. Today I was forwarded Sri Lanka inside-out: Cyberspace …

Senior academics commend citizen journalism in Sri Lanka

The unique Special Edition Groundviews ran a year after the end of war in Sri Lanka was recently critically acclaimed recently by Prof. Sasanka Perera from the University of Colombo. Fire and Storm: Essays in Sri Lankan Politics is the latest book by Prof. Michael Roberts. Michael was trained in history and the social sciences at …

Behind the scenes: How to upgrade a citizen journalism website

Updated 22nd December 2010 with list of plugins used on the site. Groundviews launched its new version today. It was a radical departure from the look and feel of the old and first version to the new avatar. Old / original version Current version Counting articles and comments, Groundviews has, at last count, well over …

Groundviews and ICT4Peace profiled in Fast Company

Fast Company profiles Groundviews and my work on ICT4Peace in an article by Jenara Nerenberg published today on their website. Hattotuwa now serves as Special Adviser to the Geneva-based ICT4Peace Foundation affiliated with the United Nations to leverage his real-world experience in new media and citizen journalism to help with crisis response, early warning and …

Launch of Groundviews 2.0: Compelling citizen journalism from Sri Lanka

Regular readers of Groundviews would have noticed the site upgrade that went live last week. The new website sports a complete overhaul of underlying site technologies and presentation. Content is now presented in an easier to read font and format. More white space enhances readability and the rolling features tabs on the homepage allow readers …

Satire, Rap and Wikileaks?

YouTube enables new forms of expression, and the Rap News is a cogent example. I've watched a few episodes in the past and you don't have to like the genre of music to appreciate the talent, and indeed, acute political awareness that informs these productions. This recent one on Wikileaks is a case in point …

Time magazine on the iPad: A glimpse of the future

Just before my lecture at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ) for newsroom managers, I came across this video on Time magazine's app for the Apple iPad. I've not yet taken a look at the issue highlighted in the video below, but reading two other issues downloaded to the iPad suggest that along with …

Newsroom management and new media

This lecture to mid-career journalists at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ) looks at how new media can help strengthen newsroom management - by improving and streamlining workflows, providing new avenues of news generation and dissemination and strengthening investigative journalism, even under repressive, censorious regimes. Importantly, the technologies and platforms I cover can be …

Lists of the best Twitter accounts on Sri Lanka

After incorporating Twitter's @Anywhere functionality to Groundviews, I was inspired create two lists of Twitter accounts I follow on a regular basis. The first was a list of the best Twitter accounts on Sri Lanka, currently featuring 14 feeds. The second was a list of the best Twitter accounts by Sri Lankan bloggers, currently featuring 15 …

South Asian Media Cultures: Audiences, Representations, Contexts

South Asian Media Cultures: Audiences, Representations, Contexts is finally out. Edited by Shakuntala Banaji, the book features a chapter written by me titled Expanding the Art of the Possible: Leveraging Citizen Journalism and User Generated Content (USG) for Peace in Sri Lanka. It is one of two essays in the tome dealing with media in …