Congratulations on submitting an entry I strongly endorse. I recognise and share with you the urgent need for the development of Kottu / blog aggregation to widen and deepen Sri Lanka's growing blogging culture. Kottu for me, over 4 years ago was the first introduction to blogging and compelling new writing from Sri Lanka. To be aggregated on Kottu is to be noticed, and to be noticed is for (most) bloggers incentive to write more, write better and interrogate traditional media's lethargy.
You mention in your PDF proposal that "The only criteria to join [Kottu] is to have a working XML feed and basic ethics (avoiding plagiarism, libel or obscenity)". And yet, many blogs aggregated on Kottu frequently publish libelous comments as well as hugely insulting, vindictive posts that have bordered on hate speech. You and I have often been the targets of hate speech for what we say and do. Are you going to in the future more rigorously apply content standards? If so, how will you deal with the fact that less diversity may lead to less interest in Kottu and the emergence of more open / unmoderated aggregation portals? You are aiming for an extensible aggregator architecture PLUS upgrades to Kottu. Will the first be free for anyone to download / use - leading to perhaps many 'Kottu's' in Sri Lanka? How will YOUR Kottu deal with this competition and differentiate itself?
More info on meet-ups (a VERY useful idea) would be great. Not everyone knows Barefoot, lives in Colombo to come there for meetings or cares to meet there. It could be one venue, but not the only? Do you want to have more across the country?
Love the English education angle - more on how that would work and fit with your central idea of developing Kottu? Finally, Vesess looks great, but it is not the *only* web design firm implementing international Web Standards for accessibility and usability!
"many blogs aggregated on Kottu frequently publish libelous comments as well as hugely insulting, vindictive posts that have bordered on hate speech. Are you going to in the future more rigorously apply content standards?"
I think Kottu actually polices those standards OK. Libel is something very rarely prosecuted and 'opinion' and 'public figures' are generally acceptable defenses. I think you and I kinda fall under the latter. There has been stuff like padashow and maharajah of bad which makes fun of bloggers, but I haven't seen anything that crosses the border into hate speech. Yet.
"You are aiming for an extensible aggregator architecture PLUS upgrades to Kottu... How will YOUR Kottu deal with this competition and differentiate itself?"
Dunno. Maybe a better one will come along. Kottu is a community and as such it's not the technology that matters so much anymore. Competition is probably good for the scene as a whole, but the extensions are seen more for other countries/communities.
"More info on meet-ups (a VERY useful idea) would be great. Not everyone knows Barefoot, lives in Colombo to come there for meetings or cares to meet there. It could be one venue, but not the only? Do you want to have more across the country?"
That would be great, but in this case I'm suggesting what I know can work. The vast majority of bloggers are still in Colombo, tho I think there was a Kandy meetup. That could be supported.
"Love the English education angle - more on how that would work and fit with your central idea of developing Kottu? Finally, Vesess looks great, but it is not the *only* web design firm implementing international Web Standards for accessibility and usability!"
The rural bloggers become dead nodes, post once or twice then stop. For them to contribute (and Kottu to benefit) I think they need some training. Again, Vesses is what I know. In my experience there are very few web standards companies in Sri Lanka.
I think Kottu provides an alternative marketplace for ideas and a forum for interaction. In a country where traditional media have been muted Kottu's importance in terms of disseminating information has increased.
The project needs to expand and attract as wide a readership as possible and I understand that partnering with Changemakers will make that happen.
Comments
Indi,
Congratulations on submitting an entry I strongly endorse. I recognise and share with you the urgent need for the development of Kottu / blog aggregation to widen and deepen Sri Lanka's growing blogging culture. Kottu for me, over 4 years ago was the first introduction to blogging and compelling new writing from Sri Lanka. To be aggregated on Kottu is to be noticed, and to be noticed is for (most) bloggers incentive to write more, write better and interrogate traditional media's lethargy.
You mention in your PDF proposal that "The only criteria to join [Kottu] is to have a working XML feed and basic ethics (avoiding plagiarism, libel or obscenity)". And yet, many blogs aggregated on Kottu frequently publish libelous comments as well as hugely insulting, vindictive posts that have bordered on hate speech. You and I have often been the targets of hate speech for what we say and do. Are you going to in the future more rigorously apply content standards? If so, how will you deal with the fact that less diversity may lead to less interest in Kottu and the emergence of more open / unmoderated aggregation portals? You are aiming for an extensible aggregator architecture PLUS upgrades to Kottu. Will the first be free for anyone to download / use - leading to perhaps many 'Kottu's' in Sri Lanka? How will YOUR Kottu deal with this competition and differentiate itself?
More info on meet-ups (a VERY useful idea) would be great. Not everyone knows Barefoot, lives in Colombo to come there for meetings or cares to meet there. It could be one venue, but not the only? Do you want to have more across the country?
Love the English education angle - more on how that would work and fit with your central idea of developing Kottu? Finally, Vesess looks great, but it is not the *only* web design firm implementing international Web Standards for accessibility and usability!
All the very best,
Sanjana
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Sanjana Hattotuwa
Ashoka News & Knowledge Entrepreneur
Editor, Groundviews (www.groundviews.org)
"many blogs aggregated on Kottu frequently publish libelous comments as well as hugely insulting, vindictive posts that have bordered on hate speech. Are you going to in the future more rigorously apply content standards?"
I think Kottu actually polices those standards OK. Libel is something very rarely prosecuted and 'opinion' and 'public figures' are generally acceptable defenses. I think you and I kinda fall under the latter. There has been stuff like padashow and maharajah of bad which makes fun of bloggers, but I haven't seen anything that crosses the border into hate speech. Yet.
"You are aiming for an extensible aggregator architecture PLUS upgrades to Kottu... How will YOUR Kottu deal with this competition and differentiate itself?"
Dunno. Maybe a better one will come along. Kottu is a community and as such it's not the technology that matters so much anymore. Competition is probably good for the scene as a whole, but the extensions are seen more for other countries/communities.
"More info on meet-ups (a VERY useful idea) would be great. Not everyone knows Barefoot, lives in Colombo to come there for meetings or cares to meet there. It could be one venue, but not the only? Do you want to have more across the country?"
That would be great, but in this case I'm suggesting what I know can work. The vast majority of bloggers are still in Colombo, tho I think there was a Kandy meetup. That could be supported.
"Love the English education angle - more on how that would work and fit with your central idea of developing Kottu? Finally, Vesess looks great, but it is not the *only* web design firm implementing international Web Standards for accessibility and usability!"
The rural bloggers become dead nodes, post once or twice then stop. For them to contribute (and Kottu to benefit) I think they need some training. Again, Vesses is what I know. In my experience there are very few web standards companies in Sri Lanka.
I think Kottu provides an alternative marketplace for ideas and a forum for interaction. In a country where traditional media have been muted Kottu's importance in terms of disseminating information has increased.
The project needs to expand and attract as wide a readership as possible and I understand that partnering with Changemakers will make that happen.
Posted about this on my blog and had a some responses, they had difficulty registering here.
Kottu, What Next
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