Describe yourself and what your blog is about.

I study technology and social change, I am often traveling speaking at technology/culture events and studying how people are making use of internet and other technologies in their daily lives. I was also the regional editor for Global Voices Online, a social media aggregation project launched by Harvard's Berkman Centre. Global Voices online tries to give you a daily snapshot of what is happening in a particular country via its blogs and other online platforms. We aggregate, translate and provide context to what people write in their blog so that people outside that country can figure out what are the important issues and what people feel about them.


What part have you played in contributing to Social Media in Cambodia?

I have [organised] workshops/panels at the two big events - the blogger summit and the barcamp. I also try to attend the Sunday tech meetups whenever I can. I introduced the Cambodian bloggers at the recent Saigon Barcamp in a session titled "Meet the sexy Cambodian bloggers". The 4 Cambodian bloggers then spoke about their initiatives and urged the Vietnamese tech community to collaborate with them. I try to showcase the Cambodian projects at my presentations at various events and urge the participants to join in the events in Cambodia and have successfully gotten notable people to help out at events in Cambodia.


Where do Cambodians Meet Online?

Most of Cambodia's Social Media Scene is in the two big cities - Phnom Penh and Seam Reap. Mainly Phnom Penh. The active social media users tend to be young - 20 to 30 years old. The blogging scene is very active. Facebook, Twitter and Hi5 are other preferred platforms. Gmail is widely used for chatting. Skype is another popular tool.

There is a strong culture of peer-learning, they often organise meetups in cafes and teach each other interesting tools.


What Language do Cambodians Blog In?

English is very widely used, Cambodia has more English language blogs compared to Vietnam and Thailand. And that makes it easy for an outsider to get information and interact with them.


What are the Major Blogging Events in Cambodia?

The bloggers organized two larger international events too - the Cambodian Blogger Summit in 2007 and Phnom Penh Barcamp in 2008. These events were attended by locals, expat bloggers, people working for the government and NGOs.


How do Cambodians Use Social Media?

They use wikis and google docs for scheduling and organization. At the actual event they skyped in speakers from abroad. The Khmer guys are a good study in how to get the max out of minimum resources.

There is also a strong desire of using blogs and social tools such as Facebook to rally support and organise activities in the provinces. There is an ongoing project called "Personal Information Technology Workshop" pioneered by early bloggers back in 2005 which is still going strong with new members joining in and continuing the work. The bloggers travel to schools, institutions in the provinces and conduct courses on blogging and new media.

Cambodian netizens are active on forums and Google groups dealing with governance, gender issues, education etc.
There is also a very good synergy between the locals and the expats with expats bloggers attending and supporting a lot of the initiatives.