Introducing the Digital Media Across Asia wiki

I’m a little late on this but I wanted to dedicate a post to the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the updated version of its excellent Digital Media Across Asia wiki which was published last week.

Building on the initial 2007 version (here), the revised wiki is perfectly timed to provide a comprehensive level of facts, commentary and insight (including interviews with local experts) into key markets in the region as Asia’s digital influence continues to grow and increasingly capture attention worldwide.

Run as a project for the comms 27 students who specialise in digital at the university (oh to be a student again?!), the wiki is driven by course Professor Michael Netzley at SMU, a pre-eminent digital thinker in Asia and someone I’m proud to call a colleague.

The wiki is an excellent addition to the digital landscape providing facts, figures and detail on a number of significant markets in the region including: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

But why no Thailand?

I’m surprised to see my adopted country is an absentee at this stage though but I’m sure it is on the list of countries to be added to the wiki in due course – such is Thailand’s potential significance as I blogged in my column over at ZDNet Asia.

To see the wiki in full detail visit https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/digitalmediaasia, while an impressive video and infographic from the student’s that tackled Indonesia can be seen over at Penn Olson.

Taken from his blog, here are some thoughts from Professor Netzley:

A Ten Month Work in Progress Toward a Rich-Media Wiki

We have launched with eleven wiki pages: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. This summer, starting the first week of May, I anticipate updates to markets such as New Zealand, Philippines, Brunei, and perhaps Pakistan and UAE to name a few more. In the fall, starting in late September, we will capture any remaining markets and hopefully have this wiki at top speed by the end of 2011.

What I am most excited about is a wiki server migration which will take place this summer. Once completed, the wiki will most importantly take on a much stronger rich media flavor. Students are creating infographics, videos, audio podcasts and more. While currently being hosted on sites like YouTube and Posterous, these will in just a few months be embedded directly into the wiki for a better user experience.

I’m certain that with Professor Netzley’s long-term drive and his students’ keenness to study, learn and develop, the wiki will further expand and develop into a much referenced resource for a great many people.

I also owe a significant amount to the project as it is one of the reasons I began blogging after being interviewed on digital in Thailand in 2008. That interview prompted me to read up on pundits and bloggers covering digital media and the web in Thailand, finding no one writing in English, however, got me thinking and subsequently, a few months later I found myself beginning my blog.

I’m happy to say I was involved in the revised wiki too providing responses to a number of questions on digital in Indonesia.

But don’t just take my word for it, have a look at the site and familiarise yourself with digital in Asia.

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