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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!

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Kontinentalist
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the power of play— issue #64

My childhood was distinctly marked by improvisation. In the days before screens and social media, we played masak-masak and make-believe, using the everyday things around us to bring our imaginary worlds to life. The corridors of our HDB block became a makeshift supermarket aisle, a blanket transformed into a fort,

Ananaya Mittal
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Bite-sized indulgences

There's something magical about childhood snacks. They're time machines wrapped in crinkly packages, portals to simpler days when 20 cents could buy happiness and sticky fingers were badges of honour, rather than inconveniences to be sanitised away. When I think about my own skittish excitement licking

Recent Posts

Samira Hassan
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It's the era of community-centred journalism

For a long time, journalism was often pictured as a solo endeavor. The mention of the word “journalist” may conjure up an image of a solitary writer squinting at a screen in a dark room, typing furiously on their laptop to churn out the next ground-breaking piece. To some extent,

Loh Pei Ying
Members Public

🌏 Dataviz in Asia (July’ 23)

Who’s who in politics, and what are their relationships? In this month’s Dataviz in Asia, we look at how different publications are visualising the often intricate political networks in Asia. Last October, Bloomberg did an amazing interactive on how Xi Jinping rewrote China’s rulebook to build the

Kontinentalist
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When was the last time we touched grass? — issue #44

I’ve been thinking about what it means to return to the land. This was sparked after we published our recent story on land reclamation. To promote it, I posted about it on Instagram, which was when my cousin noted how apt it was that I had written the story

Kontinentalist
Members Public

Kawan is here!

After months of working on this baby, we’re finally ready to share it with the world. If you’re not already caught up, Kawan is our new membership-based community! Meaning friend in Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia, it symbolises our mutual desire for a closer connection, and what you,

Angel Martinez
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Meet the Community: Irma Garnesia

Thank you for making time to have this little chat with me, Irma. First things first—how has life been like as a "recovering fact checker", as you mentioned in your LinkedIn post? (laughs) Thank you for having me, Angel. I’ve been transitioning through jobs—I moved

Leong Man Wei
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Making a map of land reclamation in Singapore

How familiar are you with the shape of the land(s) you call home? On the map, most of us identify Singapore as a little red dot, or a diamond at closer view. In our recent story on sand mining and land reclamation, we created a map to examine the

Loh Pei Ying
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🌏 Dataviz in Asia: June' 23

The Society of News Design’s Best of Digital Design 2022 results are out! The largely US-centric awards tend to be dominated by the likes of New York Times and Washington Post, but here are some of our favorites from Asia-based publications that bagged big prizes: * Asahi Shimbun published a

Angel Martinez
Members Public

Biggest highlights of the year (so far): The Kontinentalist mid-year review

Launching our own membership programme has been a longstanding goal of ours and now that we’ve finally created this little community of our own, we can’t help but feel a little nostalgic about how far we’ve come! 2023 has been very kind to us folks here at

Kontinentalist
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Migrant workers: Where would we be without them? — issue #43

When the pandemic hit Singapore’s shores, there was an outbreak of cases within the dormitories where migrant workers lived. While there were lockdowns for the general public, there was a sense that the migrant worker community was separate from the locals. Their cases became outliers, not counted as part

Kontinentalist
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For the love of animals — issue #42

I was always more of a people person. A friend now jokingly calls me an animal activist because of all the animal content I send her on Instagram (and the occasional rant on the welfare of stray cats). I am far from being an activist, but I can definitely say

Kontinentalist
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What if we centred women's joy & leisure? — issue #41

I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with true crime. I listen to podcasts about murders and other violent crimes while on the bus, out for my Hot Girl Walks, and even when I’m brushing my teeth. (My Spotify Wrapped was way more macabre than I wish

Samira Hassan
Members Public

Live, Love, Lepak: How We Do Leisure at Kontinentalist

We just put out a story called A Woman’s World, where we explore women’s access to public spaces, and specifically how it facilitates their…