From Christchurch to Sri Lanka: The curious case of social media

From the burning of the Notre Dame in Paris to heinous terrorism in Sri Lanka and Christchurch, social media inextricably is entwined with how billions see or engage with the world. The ill-effects of this have attracted massive attention. However, there are positive impacts that remain often unreported and under-appreciated — most of all in the western world. While the West grows anxious about misinformation, manipulation and polarisation, it fails to see how social media has become a vital part of the Global South’s socio-political DNA, from country to city and community. Join us for a lecture led by Sanjana Hattotuwa (Speacial Advisor ICT4Peace Foundation & TED Fellow Alumn), who has engaged with and studied this complex phenomena since 2002. A Q&A session will follow. We are also on facebook.

The speaker’s direct experience with and research into the incitement to hate and harm on social media goes back to 2006. In 2007, he set up South Asia’s first Facebook page and Twitter accounts for civic media. He has also pioneered the use of social media for bearing witness to human rights abuse during and post-war. Most recently, he was involved in the response to and deep study of the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka and Christchurch from a social media perspective.

Please RSVP to Anna Hofmann .

In collaboration with ICT4Peace Foundation and foraus.