Sanjana Hattotuwa

An Ashoka, Rotary World Peace and TED Fellow, I have since 2002 explored and advocated the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to strengthen peace, reconciliation, human rights & democratic governance. I founded in 2006 and for eleven years curated the award-winning Groundviews, Sri Lanka's first citizen journalism website. Having joined in 2002, I am a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where I focus on civic media production, social media strategy, digital activism and digital security for civil society activists. I specialise in, advise and train on new media literacy, web-based activism and advocacy. With the UN and other actors, through the ICT4Peace Foundation, I also work extensively on the advancement of information management during crises, both sudden-onset as well as protracted. Since 2008, I have conducted workshops and training programmes in Sri Lanka, South Asia, South East Asia, Europe and the Balkans, focussing on using a wide spectrum technology to capture, disseminate and archive inconvenient truths in austere, violent contexts. I am currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand on social media and politics. Contact me at sanjanah {at} gmail {dot} com. FastCompany profile of my work at http://www.fastcompany.com/1711352/2011-ted-fellow-cuts-through-wartime-censorship-in-sri-lanka