I woke up to news of Steve Job’s death. His ’05 commencement speech at Stanford University is one that I’ve watched and read many times. Seems fitting to republish today. ### This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June [...]
Civic and citizen media’s true potential: Telling your story, how you want to
My friend Jeevani Fernando, in an incredibly kind gesture, has transcribed my interview with Ashoka Foundation recently on civic and citizen media, accessible here. Direct link to original post here. ### Citizen Media Experts Interviews: Sanjana Hattotuwa ‘Citizen Media is Vital for the Global Population to Move Forward in the 21st Century’ The Ashoka Changemakers [...]
Creating social justice initiatives online
I was invited by Sri Lanka Unites to speak to a group of 25 students from 13 district at the Royal College auditorium today on the use of new and social media to strengthen social justice and democracy. I remain conflicted about SLU. On the one hand and prima facie, the failure of Beyond Borders [...]
Civic and citizen media: Strategies, ideas, opportunities and challenges
The Ashoka Foundation now features a Skype interview I did around a month or so ago with the inspiring Evagelia Emily Tavoulareas on how civic and citizen media can help bear witness to the erosion of democratic governance and violence. I talk about Sri Lanka, but the ideas and issues in our conversation can resonate [...]
HADR, SSTR and New Media: Opening Minds, Reaching Out
I delivered a presentation at “Enhancing Information and Communication: Issues for Policymakers, Ambassadors, and Commanders” organised by National Defence University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC on 17 August 2011. I’ve not talked about SSTR and HADR issues for a while now, though the work I do with the ICT4Peace Foundation on the UN Crisis Information Management [...]
Blackberry, riots and terrorism: The UK’s got it very wrong
One thing must be clear to everyone: BlackBerry devices are not responsible for the attacks. Weapons don’t kill people. People kill people! With or without BlackBerry devices. They don’t care if they use a Russian AK47, a German G36, an American M16 or the butcher’s knife from the friend next door. Mumbai Terrorists were equipped [...]
Anonymity vs. transparency online
Via Mashable this morning, came across this interesting infographic which flags two chief concerns of identity online. The infographic is a simplification of hotly contested debates that for a number of years have explored the merits of anonymity as a hindrance or enabler of progressive communications.
Some articles I’ve posted on this topic are,
- Online identity: Real or fake for a reason?
- The ‘abduction’ of a gay activist in Syria: A cautionary tale for media
- Being nasty online
And a great piece in the New Times Times on it,
For larger image, click here.
Civic media, citizen journalism and role of information in democracy
A brief interview with the Ashoka Foundation, conducted during the 2011 MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference in Boston.
New media & policy making: Presentation to Institute for Policy Studies
See presentation in full screen here. On the invitation of the resident new media champion and researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies, Anushka Wijesinghe, I delivered a presentation today to their research and communications staff on the use of new media for their work. IPS describes itself as “the apex economic policy research institute [...]
Video interview with Chamath Ariyadasa, the pioneer of SMS news services in Sri Lanka
Young Asia Television has just posted online my interview with Chamath Ariyadasa, the brains behind Jasmine Newswires (JNW), the company that provides a number of us with vital news updates via SMS.
Read more about JNW:
- News and information through SMS!
- News and information through SMS – A second look at JasmineNewswires in Sri Lanka
- An event based comparison between Reuters and JNW SMS news alerts on Dialog
- JNW SMS news service returns to Dialog
Read more about challenges facing SMS news services:
