Erkan as a lecturer

A fashion week in the campus

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Istanbul Fashion Week happened to be at the campus I work in. Santralistanbul’s large parking lot was turned into a tent town and fashion people showed around in the campus, frequenting our cafes and all. There was a Meg Ryan scandal. She showed up for a moment and then was frustrated with the crowd and she escaped basically. I don’t know who is really guilty there but we could not figure out why so much money spent for a person who is not really in the fashion business and not a hot shot any more. Or is she? I don’t know really.

It was the registration week, that meant one of the busiest periods in our academic year and I had only two ways connecting with this giant organizations. Instead of our usual parking lot, we had to park farther away, which was annoying with all rain and cold air. We swore a lot. There was a low profile clash of logics between university personnel and security people for the fashion organization. Secondly, well, it was beautiful to see around fashionable women. A friend of mine who happens to be in fashion circles sent me an invitation to one of the lingerie shows, but i wasn’t interested in that really.

via Hürriyet. Meg Ryan next to a minister and all.. More photos here.

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Erkan talks to Changing Turkey blog

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Interview with Dr. Erkan SAKA on Media and Politics February 1, 2010 by Changing Turkey 1. Could you tell us a bit about your recent/forthcoming publications? I had produced three articles/essays during my dissertation research. One was related to a theoretical discussion on Assemblage (Marcus George E. and Erkan Saka, 2006, ?Assemblage?, Theory, Culture & Society, … Read more

Online tools for my students

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This is an arbitrary list. These are what I basically use/rely on and what I recommend when my students ask. I intend to develop the list and of course all recommendations and comments are welcome:)
1. A blogging software: Blogger or WordPress.com Nowadays, I prefer WordPress. Inbuilt statistics, better templates…
2. A Gmail account. Gmail. All Google Applications require a Gmail account. I wonder why you don’t have one already…
3. Google Docs. It is a great tool to produce collaborative work. It has also Forms to creating surveys..
4. Open Office. In case you are pissed off with Microsoft Office. You can download this Office software which is free. Not as good as Microsoft Office yet but it is still satisfactory. Well, I have written my dissertation by using Google Docs and Open Office programs…
5. Bibme. A free, simple place to create your bibliographies in several Biblio formats. Honestly, I used this to create my bibliography for my dissertation.
6. Paint.Net. A free image editor. That’s the one I use constantly. Some recommend GIMP but I haven’t tested that at all. Let me know if you recommend, too.
7. InfraRecorder. An open source cd burner. That’s what I use for my CDs I listen to when I drive:)
8. For file storage and sharing, in addition to Google Docs, I use Box.net. For a better sharing, I feel like Scribd becomes a better place though…
9. Google Reader. An excellent tool to follow blogs and sites through RSS feeds. I follow more than 400 at the moment and Reader is just great…
10. Tweet Deck. Saved my life. I could not figure out how to use Tweeter more effectively and now I am getting used to Twitter usage:)

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the Euprera Social Media Awards 2010

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Erkan is  jury member in this event:

Euprera

Enter the Euprera Social Media Awards 2010

Are you a PR student, researcher or educator doing great things with social media?

Here’s your chance to have your achievements recognised, boost traffic, link to leading colleagues, present your work at one of Europe’s leading social media conferences  – and win 250?!

As part of its EuroBlog investigation into the impact of social media on public relations practice Euprera will make three awards at its February Symposium at Ghent, in Belgium, February 2010. Each winner will receive a prize of 250?.

Timetable

Shorlist announced: Sunday, January 24

Entries and nomonations open Sunday, October 11

Deadline for entries: Friday, January 1, 2010

Deadline for final blog postings to be considered by judges: Friday, January 8

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A first in Erkan's lecturing life

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In two hours, I will be lecturing on “Representation” to a group of Media and Communication Systems MA degree students. This is the first time I will be lecturing at MA level. For seven years, I taught at undergraduate levels and now here comes a first in my life and I am actually a little … Read more

My new office, new officemate

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post-service settlement -Part II As of September 29, Prof. İsen and Dr. Saka become officemates. A power team emerges! 🙂 I had been a TA for Prof. İsen before and I owe him lots about socialhacks I have now and his great help in the last minutes of dissertation writings.

A day of recommendation letters and write-ups

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I have spent most of my day preparing recommendation letters for my students who apply for Fullbright fellowships. Tomorrow is the deadline for yearbook write-up and right now at this mid-night I am thinking of producing two write-ups for two of my dear students…

Registration week begins…and Erkan offers some weblinks…

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  The busiest week begins at Bilgi. That is, the course registration week. I got up at 8 am and I have slept only three hours. It is always good to recognize how good the early morning is but then you got up late again whenever you find the opportunity… Anyway, this week i am … Read more

Bologna Process at Bilgi

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What do we do in the campus now? It is the semester break for students but we work on several bureacratic tasks. I change readings every semester so now i have to work on two syllabi for the courses I will be lecturing in the Spring semester. The classes will begin on 16 Feb. But … Read more

From Black Friday to Good Friday

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Erkan in a modest but excellent fish restaurant- another hidden secret of Istanbul- with his colleagues from Child Studies and Youth Studies units at Istanbul Bilgi University. Last Friday was another down moment in Erkan’s life. It started with exchanging civilized words with a girl who first flirted with me and then backed down. Since … Read more

Erkan's 10-day writing camp begins

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After a few very angry and agitated days, I am alone and relaxed. Turkey has entered a 9-day official break. An ultimate statement of a lazy society. The occasion is Ramadan Bairam or Şeker (sugar) bayramı. Naming the bayram is an ideological act- oh i begin to be agitated again. For a person like me … Read more

President Abdullah Gül was at Bilgi!

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santralistanbul seems to be the headquarters of Istanbul 2010 organizations.  From L to R: Aydın Uğur (Rector), Kadir Topbaş (Mayor of Istanbul), Abdullah Gül (President), İhsan Bilgin (Vice Rector), Oğuz Özerden (chair, Board of Trustees). Mr. Gül chaired a meeting on Istanbul 2010 organizations at santralistanbul.