Berkman Luncheon Series >
4
2012
Citizen video and networked politics in Southeast Asia
Andrew Lowenthal, EngageMedia
Tuesday, December 4, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett St, 2nd Floor
Citizen video in Southeast Asia has exploded in recent times, and has
come to play a significant role in national and regional politics. As in
other contexts it has documented spectacular events, spearheaded
campaigns and uncovered scandals. More broadly citizen media and
networked publics are shifting the balance of power both in the media
and the political landscape.
Like China and India, ASEAN nations are experiencing rapid growth and
the online and citizen media space is only set to grow in media
production, audience and importance.
Whilst broadband access in the region is still often constrained to
urban areas, citizen video is also being taken up as a political tool
from those on the economic and political fringes. Initiatives such as Citizen Journalists Malaysia and EngageMedia are working to develop strategic networks of new citizen video producers.
In this discussion, Andrew Lowenthal, co-founder and Executive Director
of EngageMedia, will outline their approach to video4change and their
work in the region, in particular looking at West Papua, (a remote
region of Indonesia that has been waging an independence campaign for
more than 40 years), the development of regional, cross-border and
multilingual video networks, and the effect and possibility of the
internet and online media to generate new post-national political
configurations and collaborations.
About Andrew
Andrew Lowenthal is Co-Founder and Executive Director of EngageMedia, an Asia-Pacific human rights and environmental video project begun in 2005. EngageMedia builds the capacity of video activists and campaigners to strategically use video and online technologies by building open source technologies, creating networks and conducting trainings.
EngageMedia also undertakes a number of research initiatives that look at the uses and effects of video as a social change tool. Current research partners with the MIT Center for Civic Media to explore the impact of 'video4change', another, with the University of Western Sydney, explores the citizen translator in the networked public sphere.
Andrew has been working in the field of media and technology activism since 1998. His work traverses the fields of new media and video production, NGO management, network building, research, media and technology activism, software development, and project and event management.
Andrew was active in the Indymedia network from 2000-2006. From 2006-08 he worked with the UK based Tactical Technology Collective as their participatory media project lead, editing the NGO-in-a-box series of free software packages and the more recent Message-in-a-box.
A past life as a video maker saw his works screen at the Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the National Gallery of Indonesia.
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Last updated December 04, 2012