2014: Year in Review

by Groundviews - on 12/13/2014

Groundviews published over 300

articles in 2014. Since its launch in 2006, the most amount of traffic to the
website was generated over May this year, around the compelling content
featured in the End of War: 5 Years On Special Edition. Selecting the most
engaging content from this vast selection is impossible all of the articles
deal with issues often not covered at all by mainstream media in Sri Lanka,
or only dealt with in passing.
The following articles represent a cross-section of the topics covered
onGroundviews, this year and since its inception. Use them to go through
the sites archives more thoroughly, to share, re-read, reflect and I hope,
comment. The unwavering adherence to a framework for civil debate is
what, since 2006, makes Groundviews a unique civic media platform in Sri
Lanka.
Complementing the content published on the site are hundreds of
thousands of shares and likes over Facebook, Twitter and Google+. In

fact, Groundviewsis now far more active on a daily basis on Twitter and
Facebook. In recognition of this, @groundviews is the only account from the
country featured in Vision of Humanitys Global Twitterati list first published
in May, a selection of the most influential names in the Twittersphere
shaping global conversations about peace.
In 2014, Groundviews was proud to be a launch partner with Project Galileo,
a pioneering global effort by led by CloudFlare to secure and safeguard
websites at risk of being shut down through denial of service and other
web-based attacks.
In arts and culture, content from the site was uniquely featured or
embedded in both Colombo Art Biennale 2014 and Colomboscope 2014 by
international and local artists. OverWrite, performed at the British Council
library in Colombo in October, was a journey through books, exploring
challenged literature, bodies, memories and lives, co-conceptualised by the
Editor of Groundviews and Ruhanie Perera from the Floating Space Theatre
Company.
In defence of and supporting whistleblowing and investigative journalism
long before the Snowden revelations, Groundviews had for years featured
my public PGP encryption key. Given however the technical complexity of
encrypted emails, in October I made the shift to the Telegram app, allowing
anyone using their computer browser, desktop client or mobile app to get in
touch with me securely and with a minimum of fuss, using
@editor_groundviews.
2014 was a tough year for more than just the constant curation of content
on the site. I will miss Sanjaya Senanayakes acerbic, inimitable wit and
occasional emails chiding me for what I could have done better. I will miss,
more than words can ever capture, Mel Gunesekaras company. We
inexplicably lose, so often, the voices we need the most going forward and
suffer those whose demise cannot come soon enough.
2015 will kick off with a Presidential Election, guaranteeing in its wake an

eventful year. As it has in the past, the site and its social media ecosystem will be there to bear witness and help you make sense of whats
going on.
Groundviews is with me every day, all the time. It is what I wake up to and
what I sleep thinking about. It is exhausting, frustrating and often thankless
work to keep it alive through the contributions of thousands who have
found in Groundviews a reason and a place to express themselves. Because
of this and looking back, it is also the most rewarding work I have engaged
in, for over eight years. Groundviews (along with Maatram and Vikalpa)
allows me to experiment with new forms of journalism, innovate using web
and mobile technologies, produce compelling trans-media stories, support
artistic collaborations and also share ways to keep contributors and readers
secure from increasingly pervasive surveillance.
It is an example of what media can and should be, and I hope you support it
by contributing regularly, sharing what goes up on the site and
commenting.
Seasons greetings and may you all have a peaceful, prosperous New Year,
Sanjana Hattotuwa
###
January
Letter to the President from Bradman Weerakoon
Sinhalese and their fear of freedom
February
Groundviews featured at Colombo Art Biennale and Colomboscope 2014
Remembering Mel Gunasekera
Sri Lanka: Reconciling and Rebuilding: Framing the lies
Archive of #askcbsl: Twitter Q&A with the Governor of the Central Bank
On forgiving and forgetting
March
In conversation with Lakshman Joseph de Saram

The invisible sexism in mainstream media

Colossal Mihin Lanka losses: Some context
From mass grave to cemetery: Questioning the claims in Mannar
Video of Ruki Fernandos interview with the BBC
April
The arrest, detention and torture of Tamils in post-war Sri Lanka
The Mad Monk Phenomenon: BBS as the underside of Sinhala-Buddhism
The President and his apparatchiks: Loving children most, their toys even
more?
2 Years after Not In My Name campaign
May
End of War: 5 Years On Special Edition
In conversation with Kalana Senaratne: Religiosity, politics and identity in
Sri Lanka
June
A modest proposal for the development of the Buddhisms and Tourisms
also
Happy Sri Lanka
Partnership to protect free expression online: Project Galileo
Aluthgama riots and deaths: Vital updates
The aftermath: Aluthgama two weeks on
Sri Lanka redefines curfew in Beruwela
The Politics of Aluthgama
July
From shanty to home : Myth vs reality of Colombos Urban Regeneration
Project
Where are the Sri Lankan Female Scientists? A Case of Democratizing
Science
Is it the NGOs in Sri Lanka that need straitjacketing?
Responding to Aluthgama

Invisible architectures: Thoughts on Walking Path

SITA MAMI
Relevance of Freedom of Association in 1992 and today: Ratawawi
Peramuna and its players
Five years of vanquished journalism: A self critique
August
Mob disrupts meeting of families of disappeared: Police & Government
hound participants
We the People: Reflections on Governance and Civic Engagement in Sri
Lanka
Verifying user generated content online: Rough guides in Tamil, Sinhala and
English
Slums, shanties or stories?
When press releases become propaganda
Prioritising Truth in Post-War Sri Lanka
Remembering 1994: Violence interrupted, democracy restored
Colombo Development: A Highway to a Very Hot Place?
September
Comrade Bala Tampoe, the Legend Is No More!
The Legacy of A New Woman in Our Generation: Sunila Abeysekara (19522013)
9/11 and My Muslimness
Terror, Performance and Anxieties of Our Times: Reading Rustom Bharucha
and Reliving Terror
October
Letter to Nonis the Chris
DO WE NEED AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO THE THIRD TERM QUESTION
BEYOND TEXT AND INTENTION?
Pusswedilla is a Trojan Horse
Securely communicate with Groundviews

November
The Role of Women in Countering Extremism
NOT SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES: SARATH SILVA AND THE LEGALITY
OF MAHINDA RAJAPAKSAS THIRD TERM
The Koslanda landslide: Photos around the aftermath
Koslanda landslide: Before and after images now on Google Earth
The new Yarl Devi to Jaffna: What do people in Jaffna think?
Critically Supporting the Anti-Regime Campaign
Posted by Thavam