Cambodia-watchers react to Obama visit — and speculate on Myanmar as a new-found role model
Should Cambodia’s Hun Sen regime be taking cues from Myanmar, and will Obama’s historic visit change anything for the better? GlobalPost asks Cambodia watchers for their take.
On July 19th, Khmerican went into partnership with its first artist client, Phanith Rama Sovann, of Long Beach, California. The agreement stipulated that the news agency, Khmerican, would lead a publicity campaign on Phanith’s endeavor with the Queen of the Universe Pageant where she will represent Cambodia. But after the initial phone called that Thursday afternoon, I knew that Khmerican could offer much more than just the occasional status update or tweet. That night I couldn’t fall asleep thinking of the possibilities of exploring the relationship even deeper.
With three pages of notes, I shot an email requesting a follow up phone chat. We reconvened Saturday afternoon during her break from leadership training in Washington, D.C. I proposed to let Khmerican function as her social media content manager and press officer.
This entailed a few things. First, we would be responsible for generating new content for her social media accounts, namely the Tumblr page and Twitter. Secondly, we would be in charge of providing consultancy and technical support with her fundraising campaign. Thirdly, all media inquiries would go through Khmerican. The objective is clear: maximize readership and achieve its fundraising goals.
Phanith is Khmerican’s first managed client. Its success will serve as a measuring stick for the company future expansion plans to include professional services like social media content management in its portfolio. We would offer these service to public figures, non-profits and corporate clients.
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Notes:
Website traffic since launch on 7/24: 3,124 page views, 27 countries
Press coverage: 4 total, all from Cambodian medias
Twitter: 41 followers
Photo: Sotheara Chhay
How I became a Khmer language ‘specialist’
According to DC-based National Language Service Corps (NLSC), a US Congress initiated and funded organization, I am a Khmer language specialist. I have been a charter member since January 2010 after going through three months of examinations and background checks. Despite this distinctive title, which I laugh at sometimes, there was a stage in my life when it was unimaginable to believe where my Khmer would be as it is today. Let’s go back in time one decade ago.
I was 22 then, a junior at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. It began with informal non-credit courses offered by two graduate students from Cambodia, Visal Chan and Sokunthea Ok, who were husband and wife. They volunteered to teach Khmer on campus to members of the Khmer Student Association, which I was vice president at the time. I was horrible to say the least. I remember my classmate, Leakhena Leng, would always tease me of how pathetic my pronunciation was. Even lok kru Visal jokingly said, “you sound like a Vietnamese speaking Khmer.” (I never knew what that really meant until I lived in Cambodia).
But then again, I wasn’t taking theses classes all too serious when I think in retrospect. But I had to that summer.
I enrolled at the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute, or SEASSI, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Each summer they offer intensive language courses on their beautiful campus. My program at UW required 2 years of an Asian language of choice, and I selected Khmer.
There under the direction of instructors Frank Smith, Sokhary Khun, and Sambath Chan, my first serious attempt in developing my Khmer began. There were about 16 students total, half were first or 1.5 generation Khmericans like me. By default of being Khmer American, the program put us under the “heritage learner” category. In 5-6 hours of classroom instructions for 8 straight weeks, my Khmer started to take form.
At 12 PM PT earlier today, Khmerican went public to announce our newest online venture, Phsar, an online marketplace for original products and hand made crafts. Phsar will be a place to support independent artists, entrepreneurs, and creative professionals, a demographic that we feel make a large percentage of our current readership.
Phsar, which means “market” in the Khmer language will start off as a listing portal for old and new goods. Items may include anything from clothing, music, art, jewelry, and other relevant items. Phsar was created to provide a central place where people can find Khmer-related items or items created by Cambodians. But as Phsar grows and matures, so will the expansion of the service to reach out to other populations. For the time being, listings will be open to US and Canadian residents only.
Since the news portal Khmerican launched September 5th, a growing number of our daily published content via our social feeds have been Khmer-related merchandising. In our observation, there is demand and interest for Khmer-related goods. And when we share, our readers react virally. Our recent Facebook analytic indicates that our monthly reach as 238,000 people.
Phsar is the first of a series of new products and services to be introduced to the public in the coming weeks and months ahead.
Help us reach 5,000 friends by Fourth of July to begin the Khmerican’s “Summer of Giving.” ♥
Here are a few ways to help us max out 5,000:
1) reblog this photo to your network
2) befriend us
3) promote the link http://facebook.com/khmerican
Happy Fathers’s Day weekend from Team Khmerican.
“Being Khmerican” by Ana Knauf, The International Examiner.
Read the full article at http://khmr.cn/being-khmerican.
KHMER-I-CAN “Dream Without Fail” designed by JP Neang.
Limited edition printing of t-shirt only available with a pledge of $30 or more towards Khmerican’s online fundraising. Campaign ends April 30, 2012.
KHMER-I-CAN “Vote 2012” by Vidal Men.
This limited edition t-shirt is only available through your pledge of $30 or more to the Khmerican’s online fundraiser which ends April 30th. Learn more at http://khmr.cn/our-campaign.
