Ending the busiest week of 2011 at Beşiktaş TV tonight

I have been expecting calmer weeks to come so that I can start working on some writing projects or planning new web related projects. However, I have had more and more challenging weeks recently. Hopefully, this week was the summit and it will be the end of a series of busy weeks.
Apart from the routinized reading, blogging, socializing, watching, university related duties that I loyally try to keep doing, the week started with an interview with me and some other colleagues in santralistanbul for MediterRaid. A group of Italian journalists travelling around Mediterrenean countries and focus on internet usage practices? Later, I met with a friend for brainstorming for a civic journalism seminar. Then at night, I did fly to Ankara to attend a workshop between Turkish, Armenian and American journalists on Tuesday. I was the only non-journalist, invited as a political blogger. On Tuesday, along with the journalists, I have met Turkey?s chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış, then moved back to workshop and in the evening I have attend the reception at the American Ambassador?s Residence, having opportunity to talk to the Ambassador Francis Ricciardone briefly.

After missing the late night flight, I came back to Istanbul with an early morning flight. I later met with a director of a news channel that day in addition to more brainstorming for the civic journalism seminar.

On Thursday, most of the day passed with interviewing the Media MA program applicants with my colleagues. In the evening I have met with a grad student to talk about her thesis project and the I moved to a meeting in which we are brainstorming for a possible crowdsourcing project to come. I have also learnt today that there were not enough students to register to my summer school class. This was a disappoinment. That means no teaching in summer.

On Friday, an intellectually intensive workshop began at Boğaziçi University, Ordering the Social – Producing Change. New Ethnographies of Turkey in Transformation, that took place at the Sociology Department and organized by Nurhak Polat, Michi Knecht, Stefan Beck (Dept. of European Ethnology, Collaborative Research Unit 640, ?Representations of Changing Social Orders?, Humboldt-University Berlin), Levent Soysal (Chair of the Dept. of Radio, Television, and Cinema, Faculty of Communication, Kadir Has University)

However, before attending this workshop which still continues (Saturday, 17:00), I have made a talk on social media and youth at Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfı on Thursday morning.

Hopefully, I will finally have time to breath after attending tonight at 21 to a TV show at Beşiktaş TV?