New Mandala is the leading academic website on Southeast Asian affairs. Hosted at the Australian National University since June 2006, it has grown to become a highly visible and influential forum for public debate on the region’s political, social and cultural issues. The New Mandala @ Ten Symposium will showcase the website’s role in pioneering digital outreach activities that have helped to create a vibrant culture for interaction with the public in Australia and around the world.

New Mandala was launched by Professor Andrew Walker and Dr Nicholas Farrelly on 16 June 2006. Its day-to-day operations are now managed by James Giggacher. He leads an international team of sub-editors and contributors. With its vast readership and track record of significant contributions to public debate in Australia, across Southeast Asia, and around the world, New Mandala has played a major role in developing the ANU’s reputation as a leading global centre for the study of Southeast Asia.

This Symposium will consider the past, present and future of digital platforms like New Mandala, and their role in pushing the frontiers for today’s academics.  This session will also offer a chance to hear some of the personal reflections of those who have been heavily involved in the development of this unorthodox academic activity.

This event forms part of the Bell School’s 2016 Horizons seminar series, Digital vision: agency, power and the future of Asia-Pacific affairs. 

The symposium will be preceded by a light, free lunch, and registration is essential.

Sypomsium schedule

12.30pm — Lunch served in the Hedley Bull Atrium

1pm — Introduction

1.10pm —  History of New Mandala

1.25pm  — Academia online

1.40pm — Anecdote and Analysis on Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Malaysia)

2.50pm — New perspectives on the digital realm (Power and politics; Undemocratic regimes)

3.30 pm — Questions, discussion and future directions

3.55pm — Wrap-up

4pm — Close and drinks

ABOUT HORIZONS
Hosted each year by the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, the Horizons seminar series aims to enhance research innovation by supporting and showcasing collaborative, interdisciplinary, innovative and accessible thinking and work in Asia-Pacific affairs.

The 2016 series, Digital vision: agency, power and the future of Asia-Pacific affairs, explores how and why academics need to take scholarly debate and knowledge to wider audiences.