Digital transformation and the role of civil society in Sri Lanka

Sanjana HattotuwaCentre for Policy AlternativesTED Fellow Alumn

media landscape what’s out there today

1.13 billion daily active users on average for June 2016

350 million photos uploaded every day

Approximately 84.5% of daily active users are outside the US and Canada

• Not everyone needs to be connected to web to be influenced by it

• The influence of content on social media in particular, and online content in general, extends to groups well beyond those who are directly connected to, and participating in these online networks.

• This also puts to rest the often quoted myth that since Internet penetration is relatively low in the country, content shared online has little to no footprint in the larger public consciousness.

mobile first design and develop for mobile

CSO & digital activism three key drivers

unlimited storage bounded only by imagination

broadband faster and cheaper web access

smartphones ubiquitous production

what’s new?

• Ubiquity of two way communications

• Addressable peoples, even those who IDPs or refugees

• Disintermediated models vs. traditional media model

• People as producers

• Low resolution, hyperlocal helps focus and granularity

• Aggregation of low resolution helps macro analysis and strategy

instagram mobile photography

everydaysrilanka rotation curation, multiple perspectives

abdul halik-azziz research, insight, perspective and photography

abdul halik-azziz research, insight, perspective and photography

right to the city instagram for activism

whatsapp instant messaging for advocacy

remembering the politics of memory online

visualising hidden narratives

The end of warZero civilian casualties vs. ground realities

Mass gravesFrom 2009 to end of 2011

storytelling new ways of voicing the inconvenient

identity using video for activism

elections monitoring, voter education, mobilisation, alerts

online video using video for activism

drone video using drones for situation awareness, perspective

360 video immersive content

facebook live live feed from anywhere

facebook live global phenomenon

facebook video going viral over mobile

facebook video long-tail, high engagement

critical questions who controls the content?

constant partial attention a tsunami of information

the dopamine effect less is more?

activism vs. surveillance the tension between privacy and advocacy

identity onlinethe tension between anonymity leading to trolling, and need for anonymity

crisis of the imaginationinability to envision creative ways of engaging, without funding

slacktivism how do you move from clicks to meaningful engagement?

Their stories matterTech secondary

thank you

sanjanah@gmail.com