Comments on: Groundviews Wins 2007 Award of Excellence in New Communications from Society for New Communications Research https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research Journalism for Citizens Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:04:16 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 By: Groundviews: El portal del periodismo ciudadano en Sri Lanka | Periodismo Ciudadano https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-55825 Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:04:16 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-55825 […] de 2007, fue galardonado por Freedom House con el Premio a la Excelencia en las Comunicaciones, (Excellence in New Communications from the Society for New Communications Research), al convertirse en ejemplo de la eficacia de la innovación en el uso de las nuevas prácticas del […]

]]> By: ICT4Peace in 2007: Significant work, applied research and challenges « ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2170 Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:48:26 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2170 […] Groundviews, launched in November 2006, came to be recognised over the course of 2007 as a site for original and path-breaking content on Sri Lanka. The site went on to win the first international award any civil society web based initiative / site has won in Sri Lanka – an award of excellence in new communications conferred by the Society for New Communications Research. […]

]]> By: Virtual Diplomacy Workshop at GKP GK III: A missed opportunity « ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2169 Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:36:50 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2169 […] December 22, 2007 I attended Diplomacy Goes Virtual: Opportunities and Limitation of Virtual Diplomacy, a worshop at the recently held Global Knowledge Partnership GK III conference in the hope that I would learn more than I knew and had already done using tools, mechanisms and platforms such as blogs, Skype, mobile communications, the XO laptop and Second Life, to further inter-cultural understanding, reconciliation and peacebuilding.I was very, very wrong. The panel was, by far, not just the worst I attended at GK III, it was one of the worst and most ill-informed I have ever attended in my life.Perhaps it was on account of the gross mismatch between what the audience expected from reading the description of the workshop in the official GK III brochure (as reflected here) and what the panel turned out to be, which as noted here concentrated exclusively on Second Life.I could have even endured a discussion on Second Life if it was anchored in the socio-political and cultural dynamics of countries and regions outside of North America and Western Europe – for example, those with repressive regimes that clamp down on fundamental freedoms, or those that were embroiled in Complex Political Emergencies (CPEs) and protracted ethno-political conflict.It was not to be.The panel, that did not have a single Asian on it or anyone with experience in using MMORPG’s / virtual worlds / Second Life for real world complex political negotiations, focussed entirely on the simplistic uses of Second Life to bring people together for genetic research and other mundane and relatively uncomplicated tasks. The unique and extremely challenging demands of virtual diplomacy shaped by and responding to violent conflict or where not at all covered.The panel repeatedly pointed to the existence of Embassies of countries such as the Maldives in Second Life as proof of the coming of age of virtual diplomacy. My challenge to the panel was to map out how long the Maldivian Embassy on Second Life would last if there was a concerted effort to demonstrate against the essential dictatorship of the Gayoom regime in its virtual space.It was a question they could not answer.Even with Second Life, they did not cover at all the potential of conflict within sims, real world conflict spilling over into virtual interactions (or vice versa), alternative dispute resolution mechanisms within Second Life (such as the E-Justice Centre in Second Life), evolving notions of justice and peace within Second Life, how media reporting within and on Second Life influence the manner in which avatars interact or how sims in Second Life could be used for future scenario model based simulations in support of conflict transformation processes. Further, the panel did not address the challenges posed by new media, such as blogs, to diplomacy and diplomats, as brought out in my post Diplomacy and blogs (on Jan Pronk’s behaviour in Sudan) or critical discussions on how the United States State Department is now using blogs to further international relations.The panel also scoffed at the environmental impact of using Second Life, even though there’s no agreement that using Second Life is as environmentally friendly as it is often made out to be.In fact, the panel did not address even a single point on the potential and challenges of using Second Life for dispute resolution, collaboration and civic participation I had made earlier at the 5th International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution in Liverpool, England.On the positive side, the panel did discuss the urgent need for and developments towards interoperability of virtual worlds and the need for open standards and open source based access to and development of various sims and MMORPG’s. A representative of Linden Labs who connected virtually made the exciting announcement that Second Life would be connected to (and perhaps even accessible from) mobile devices.Regrettably, the constitution of and terrain covered by this workshop was the anti-thesis of what was expected from a global knowledge exchange as envisioned by GK III. Not only was the knowledge imparted through this workshop US and Western Europe centric, dated, passe and extremely blinkered, it was also at at times, dangerously naive.To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy said Will Durant, the American writer and historian. In light of the overwhelming insignificance of this workshop’s presentations, one can compliment them all on mastering half the art of diplomacy.I sincerely wish however that GKP invites, the next time around, non-diplomats who would invariably make for more meaningful and interesting discussions! Posted by Sanjana Hattotuwa Filed in ICT4Peace Tags: Avatars, Blogs, Conflict Transformation, Diplomatic relations, GK III, GKP, ICT4Peace, Linden Labs, MMORPGs, New media, ODR, Online Dispute Resolution, Peacebuilding, Public diplomacy, Second Life, Sims, Virtual Diplomacy […]

]]> By: Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2168 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:27:29 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2168 Well deserved recognition. Congratulations to those who are doing the work creatively and fairly. Keep it up and keep innovating.

]]> By: sham https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2167 Sun, 09 Dec 2007 18:54:29 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2167 although the site is well set up, knowledge about the ste is lacking.
i think mostly NGO people are the one who have updated about the existence of such a site. id there are funds available, it may be of best interest to put a add in a sunday news papers to create more awareness about the stite.

]]> By: Ange https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2166 Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:34:15 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2166 Congratulations to Sanjana and the rest of the team that have made Groundviews what it is. You people do a great job. Keep it up!

]]> By: Shauna Sylvester https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2165 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:34:54 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2165 Congratulations to the past and present contributors to Groundviews for winning the 2007 Award for Excellence in New Communications . I fondly remember the early days of the Voices of Reconciliation project when Groundviews first emerged as an important source of information, debate and analysis of the situation in Sri Lanka. A toast to the Editor Sanjana Hattotuwa and to the dozens of people who have offered their views, technical know how and journalistic experience to the site. Well done!.

Shauna Sylvester
Vancouver, Canada

]]> By: Java Jones https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2164 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:48:32 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2164 You sure deserve it man – keep up the good work.

]]> By: fairooz https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2163 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:18:37 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2163 wish u all the best.

]]> By: sanjayan https://groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2162 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:45:00 +0000 http://www.groundviews.org/2007/12/05/groundviews-wins-2007-award-of-excellence-in-new-communications-from-society-for-new-communications-research/#comment-2162 hey well done! excellent!

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