Category Archives: ICT

When Worlds Collide #114: Welcome to UPF – United Planet of Football!

Posted on 11 July 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 11 July 2014 Last time the FIFA World Cup was approaching its climax in mid July 2010, I did my bit for interstellar cooperation (or conquest). If … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs, ICT, Media, Social Media, Telecommunications, Television | Tagged 1962 World Cup in Chile, alien planning to invade the Earth, Arthur C Clarke, Brazil, couch potatoes, Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Facebook, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), FIFA World Cup, geostationary communications satellites, How the World Was One, instant telecommunications, lanetary scale stadium, live broadcasts, mobile phones, Narrowband Internet, Olympics, Planet Football, social media, Twitter, Uruguay 1930, World Cup 2014 | Leave a comment

When Worlds Collide #113: Outpacing Tsunamis in the Indian Ocean: Are we ready?

Posted on 4 July 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 4 July 2014 Timely warnings about on-coming disasters can literally save lives – provided the word reaches those at risk. And they know what to do, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadcasting, Communicating Development, Disaster, Disaster Communication, ICT, Indian Ocean, Media, Public information, Social Media, Sri Lanka, Telecommunications, Tsunami | Tagged cell broadcasting, Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), Dialog, Disaster early warnings, Dr Rohan Samarajiva, Dr Stuart Weinstein, Facebook, global public goods, Good communications, Google Public Alerts, Indian Ocean tsunami 2004, IOC-UNESCO, LIRNEasia, LIRNEasia Disaster Risk Reduction Lecture, mobile phones, ndian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System, Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC), Real-time Tsunami Reporting Systems (DARTs), Sarvodaya, seismic waves, SMS alerting, The Long Last Mile, Tsunami Warning Systems, tsunami waves, Twitter | Leave a comment

When Worlds Collide #112: Social Media ‘Candles’ for Mainstream Media Blackouts

Posted on 20 June 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 20 June 2014 What is the best way to manage public information in times of national crises – whether disasters, epidemics or conflict? All governments face this … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadcasting, Current Affairs, Disaster, Disaster Communication, History, Humanitarianism, ICT, Journalism, Media, Media freedom, Peace & Conflict, Public information, Public perceptions, Religion, Social Media, Sri Lanka, Telecommunications | Tagged @AmanthaP, @dinidu, @Dinoukc, @InduNan, @Nimilamalee, @tingilye, Aluthgama, Amantha Perera, ‘knowledge hub’ of Asia, ‘Stand Against Racism', Beruwala, Black July of 1983, Bradman Weerakoon, conflict, Dharga Town, disasters, epidemics, Facebook, First Post, Global Village, H R Premaratne, ICTs, information and communication technologies (ICTs), Information control, IT literacy, Jaffna, memes, Nagadeepa temple, Rajan Hoole, Sanjana Hattotuwa, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, social media, Tsunami, Twitter, Voltaire | Leave a comment

When Worlds Collide #101: Safely Riding the Social Media Dragon

Posted on 30 March 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 29 March 2014 “We have to start asking not what is wrong with Facebook but what is wrong with our society?” Those words, by Dr Harini Amarasuriya, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Education, ICT, Internet governance, Public perceptions, Social Media, Sri Lanka, Telecommunications, Youth | Tagged cyber safety, cyber security, demonisation, Facebook, Gayan Wijewickrama, Groundviews.org, hacking, Instant messaging, passwords, privacy, romanticisation, Sanjana Hattotuwa, SL-CERT, SMS, SnapChat, social media, social media literacy, Sri Lanka’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team, two-step verification, Twtter, Unicef Sri Lanka, Youth for Children (Y4C) forum | 1 Comment

When Worlds Collide #99: South Asia: In Search of Open Data

Posted on 7 March 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 7 March 2014 “When you’re trying to reach a goal, data not only tells you if you’re succeeding, but it also suggests which activities you should do … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Development, Environmental management, Environmental policy, ICT, Public policy, South Asia, Sri Lanka, Sustainable Development | Tagged Bangladesh, Bill Gates, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), comparability, data revolution, Google Earth, Ibrahim Naeem, India, India’s Department of Science and Technology, India’s Marine Fisherfolk Census of 2010, integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), inter-operability, Maldives, National Policy on Data Sharing and Accessibility (NPDSA), Open Data, Pakistan, PondyCAN, public domain, SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre, South Asia Convention on Coastal Management, Sri Lanka, Sudarshan Rodriguez, Sunita Narain, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), the cloud | 1 Comment

When Worlds Collide #95: Waiting for Sombath Somphone…

Posted on 15 December 2013 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 15 December 2013 My friend Sombath Somphone has been a gentle, generous and soft-spoken man as long as I have known him, which is over 15 years. … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Development, Education, ICT, Sustainable Development, Youth | Tagged Bhutan, China, Cuba, Desmond Tutu, Dr A T Ariyaratne, education, European Parliament, garbage recycling, globalisation, globalization, grassroots development, Gross National Happiness, healthy eating, Hillary Clinton, Laos, make haste slowly, micro enterprises, North Korea, organic farming, Participatory communication, Participatory Development Training Center (PADETC), Ramon Magsaysay Award, Sarvodaya, Sombath Somphone, sufficiency economy, Thailand, Vietnam | 2 Comments

When Worlds Collide #88: Counting Digital Natives: Easier said than done!

Posted on 20 October 2013 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 20 October 2013 Chamara Pahalawattage had just turned 18 when we met him in early 2009. By then, he was already into his sixth mobile phone. An … Continue reading →

Posted in Business & Commerce, Culture, Current Affairs, Education, ICT, Public perceptions, South Asia, Sri Lanka, Telecommunications | Tagged BOP, bottom of the (income) pyramid, Chamara Pahalawattage, Digital Natives, Dr Sujata Gamage, Georgia Institute of Technology, International Telecommunication Union, ITU, LIRNEasia, Malaysia, Measuring the Information Society 2013, SAARC, South Asia, telecentres, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) | 1 Comment

When Worlds Collide #84: Have Lankans Suspended Disbelief Permanently?

Posted on 22 September 2013 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 22 September 2013 A dozen years ago, a leading tele-drama director and I had a friendly debate live on national TV Rupavahini’s breakfast show. He argued that … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Communicating Development, Conspiracy Theories, Culture, History, ICT, Journalism, Media, Public health, Public information, Public perceptions, Science Journalism, Sri Lanka, Sustainable Development | Tagged alien visitations, aliens, ‘bridges of the mind’, Big Government, Big Pharma, Ceylon Rationalist Association, Colombo Book Fair, Dr Abraham Thomas Kovoor, ew breed of ‘demons’, large scale commercial farming, modern myths, Ravaya Sunday broadsheet newspaper, Sacred Cows, Sivu Mansala Kolu Getaya, Small Is Beautiful, Star Trek, Star Wars, suspended disbelief, suspending disbelief, Unidentified flying objects (UFOs), When Worlds Collide column, X Files | 2 Comments

When Worlds Collide #77: Talking with Computers, beyond Mouse and Keyboard

Posted on 4 August 2013 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 4 August 2013 There was a memorable scene in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Chief Engineer Scotty, having time-travelled 200 years … Continue reading →

Posted in ICT, Innovation, Movies, Science Fiction | Tagged 3001: The Final Odyssey, Apple Macintosh, Arthur C Clarke, Braincaps, Capewell keyboard, Christopher Sholes, Colemak keyboard, computer ‘mouse’, Doug Engelbart, Dvorak keyboard, g-speak Spatial Operating Environment, gesture control, graphical user interface (GUI), iPads, iPhones, John Underkoffler, Minority Report, Philip K. Dick, QWERTYUIOP, Stanford Research Institute, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Steve Jobs, touch-screens | 1 Comment

When Worlds Collide #76: Against the Fall of Memory…

Posted on 28 July 2013 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 28 July 2013 “I’m everything you lost. You won’t forgive me. My memory keeps getting in the way of your history.” So wrote Agha Shahid … Continue reading →

Posted in Ceylon, cinema, Documentary Film, Documentary films, History, ICT, Innovation, Journalism, Media, Photography, Social Media, Sri Lanka, Television | Tagged Against the Fall of Memory, Agha Shahid Ali, ‘I Am’, Bangladesh liberation war of 1971, Black July, British Pathé, cinema newsreel, cinematography, citizen historians, citizen journalists, collective memories, communal riots of July 1983, Defining Moments, Groundviews.org, Her Stories project, Kannan Arunasalam, Oral history, Paradise in Tears, Partition of British India, Paul Connerton, photography, Samir Khalaf, Victor Ivan, Visual Memory | 1 Comment

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Category Archives: ICT

When Worlds Collide #95: Waiting for Sombath Somphone…

When Worlds Collide #88: Counting Digital Natives: Easier said than done!

When Worlds Collide #84: Have Lankans Suspended Disbelief Permanently?

When Worlds Collide #77: Talking with Computers, beyond Mouse and Keyboard

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