Global Voices Summit 2017

Journalism, politics, and activism in the physical world is now inextricably entwined with digital equivalents around the world. Media outlets, government institutions, religious leaders and influencers all use social media to broadcast information and to engage audiences in conversations. These conversations aren’t always inclusive, they can be polarizing and some groups can be silenced with bullying and harassment. The situation is no different in Sri Lanka. In a country that is still healing from a brutal war that ended eight years ago, there are lessons to be learnt about platforms and spaces where Sri Lankans have successfully or unsuccessfully engaged in difficult and inclusive conversations.

With an all-star panel of Sri Lankan media professionals and thinkers, we’ll explore the opportunities and risks around the present and future of the conversational landscape in a country that is post-war, but not yet post-conflict. We’ll also discuss how millennials organize to see their digital conversations convert to real life policies in Sri Lanka. And we’ll hear about the most exciting new voices, platforms and conversations that might have an impact on Sri Lanka’s democratic future.

These NewsFrames Demos offer a 'Choose Your Adventure' way to explore Global Voices new collaborative authoring platform for media analysis. 

Through one of the following four story types below, you can start understanding how the tools work.

Participants are encouraged either to bring their laptop or being willing to share with others.

• Reframed Stories:
  •  https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/category/reframed-stories/

•  Culture Shots:
  • https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/category/culture-shots/

• Typifying Language:
  • US 'lone wolf' versus terrorism:       https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/10/10/lone-wolves-are-terrorists-too/
  • Standing Rock 'protester' versus 'protector: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/03/01/fighting-for-not-fighting-against-media-coverage-and-the-dakota-access-pipeline/
  • Sex and Japan: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/09/20/how-sex-is-framed-when-reporting-on-japan/

• Comparative Media Reflection:
  • Venezuela: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/07/07/what-does-the-media-say-is-happening-in-venezuela/
  • Pakistan: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/10/17/what-are-we-saying-differently-in-our-coverage-of-pakistan/

Duterte in the Philippines. Chavez in Venezuela. Modi in India. Over the past few decades, we have seen the rise of populism creating hateful polarized spaces online. What does this rise and polarization mean for the future of freedom of speech and democracy? And how do the world’s most vulnerable communities tell stories when digital spaces are crowded by ethnic nationalists? What implications will this have on the way we organize and interact online in the future?

These NewsFrames Demos offer a 'Choose Your Adventure' way to explore Global Voices new authoring platform for media analysis with data. 

Through one of the following four story types below, you can start understanding how the tools work.

Participants are encouraged either to bring their laptop or being willing to share with others.

• Reframed Stories:
  •  https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/category/reframed-stories/

•  Culture Shots:
  • https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/category/culture-shots/

• Typifying Language:
  • US 'lone wolf' versus terrorism:       https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/10/10/lone-wolves-are-terrorists-too/
  • Standing Rock 'protester' versus 'protector: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/03/01/fighting-for-not-fighting-against-media-coverage-and-the-dakota-access-pipeline/
  • Sex and Japan: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/09/20/how-sex-is-framed-when-reporting-on-japan/

• Comparative Media Reflection:
  • Venezuela: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/07/07/what-does-the-media-say-is-happening-in-venezuela/
  • Pakistan: https://newsframes.globalvoices.org/2017/10/17/what-are-we-saying-differently-in-our-coverage-of-pakistan/

The first victim in conflict is often the truth. In regions where fighting has created black and white narratives, we've seen the seekers of truth transform themselves, often organically, into conflict storytellers. How do these storytellers find the truth and highlight nuance and context? How successful have these storytellers been at reclaiming skewed narratives and putting the people affected by the conflict at the center of the story? How do they find collaborators and manage trolls online, where spaces are already so polarized? And can storytelling help heal the divisions violence, conflict and polarization has created? In this panel we’ll explore these questions and more while looking at examples from Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Kashmir and Syria.

This spotlight will introduce the NewsFrames Initiative (https://newsframes.globalvoices.org), a growing community that uses data to explore how the media 'frames' or shapes our views about the world and each other.  We will share a little bit about the tools and our new story types, as well as where we hope to go in collaboration with the GV community and other partners.

As reporting freely has become increasingly risky inside countries, groups of immigrants and expats have become strong voices of free expression, critical thinking and context, not just for the world but also people inside their countries. In this session, we’ll find out the challenges of reporting from the outside and we’ll discuss what bloggers and activists should be prepared for when they start reporting from the outside.