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Welcome to Kawan—our vibrant community of data heads and storytellers. We’re all about improving data literacy and sharing nuanced stories about Asia. Come hang!
spectrum of accessibility— issue #65
I first took interest in sign language as a middle schooler. My friends and I, all hearing, learned some signs from the internet—most likely American Sign Language (ASL), as resources on it were more readily available than local sign languages—and used them to communicate with one another during
Ways of seeing accessibility with Equal Dreams
Accessibility is becoming an increasingly ubiquitous term used by practitioners in different fields, from researchers to designers to developers. Yet how the term is understood and how it’s practised are constantly being shaped by personal experiences, power dynamics, histories, contexts, and community dynamics. We sat down with Equal Dreams,
Humans of Kontinentalist: Zafirah Zein
Today we chat with Zafirah, who in her short time with Konti has produced a slew of awesome stories on sex trafficking, racism against…
Part III: Everything visual about the eighteen levels of hell
A few weeks ago, the Kontinentalist team published our narrative-based game, Hell’s Apprentice, based on the Buddhist-Taoist folklore of…
Eighteen levels of hell (Part II): Writing and designing
Embracing uncertainty and life’s surprises is a large part of growing up. Even then, making a game about hell two months out of university…
Women hold up half the sky — issue #15
Was there a defining moment in your life when you decided you might be a feminist? Personally, I don't know when mine was. Looking back, there were fleeting moments ever since I was a young girl. I studied in a convent school, and I remember being perplexed at
Eighteen levels of hell (Part I): Conceptualising our game
Kontinentalist created our first-ever narrative game, Hell’s Apprentice, based on the Buddhist-Taoist folklore of the eighteen levels of…
Humans of Kontinentalist: Avel
It’s cliché, but we learn from our interns as much as they (hopefully) learn from us. One such was Avel, a design intern with us during…
Have you eaten rice? — issue #14
The first time I tried Korean tteok-bokki, I hardly knew whom I was eating it with. We'd just moved into our new house, and it was one of our first meals together—the same week Singapore's COVID-19 lockdown closed all our favourite dine-in restaurants. My housemates
Conducting a virtual data storytelling and visualisation workshop
With a bonus peek into our writers’ dietary habits.
Humans of Kontinentalist: Hiang Ling
Hey Hiang Ling! Tell us a little bit about what you do in Konti.
Thoughts on Making the Migratory Bird Map
One of my work goals of 2020 is to work with Mapbox GL JS and Scrollama JS to create a decent scrolly-driven map. Born to fly: The life…
Noticing is an act of love — issue #13
How much do you know about the everyday objects around you? As a history major, one of my favourite topics is cultural and material history. So common are the things that we use and see everyday that we rarely think of their pasts, and how simple objects can connect multiple
Recommending our favourite Asian movies with dingbats
When Parasite won Best Picture for the 92nd Academy Awards, I, along with my friends and the Asian Twitter community, was euphoric. We…