My new post at GV: Turkish President’s Columbus Comments Trigger “Mosque on the Moon” Mockery Turkish President Recep Erdoğan never shies away from an opportunity to offer an outlandish quote. Recently he claimed that Muslim pilgrims, rather than Christopher Columbus, discovered America, and suggested a mosque should be built in Cuba to honour the fact…… Recent … Read more
Türkiye’den Başarılı Olabilecek bir E-Reader Projesi: Calibro İlk e-reader’ım olan Sony Reader’ı alalı 7 yıl oldu. Sonrasında 3 tane e-reader modeli daha elime geçti. En sonra olarak da denemek üzere gönderilen Calibro cihazıyla tanıştım. Sony Reader’ımdan bahsedeceğim kendime özgü nedenlerden dolayı hala vazgeçmiş değilim ama zaten üretimi durduğu için yeni arayışlar kaçınılmaz. Okuyucuya bir … Read more
Geçen haftalar içinde Galaxy Note 4 tanıtımına gittim. Genelde yaptığım birşey değil ama zaten kullandığım bir araç olunca neden olmasındı… Daha önce kullandığım S4’ün kamerasından ve ekranından vb çok memnun olsam da sık sık donmasından dolayı Samsung‘a devam edip etmeyeceğimden emin değilim. Sonra Note 3 aldım ve bu donma olayı büyük ölçüde bitti. Sanırım son … Read more
The AK Party’s social media strategy: controlling the uncontrollable The AK Party seems to have taken the same approach to social media as it took to traditional media. Instead of a long-term social media production strategy, the party seems to prefer containing social media externally. This will not deter many users, who are skilled at … Read more
What is most disappointing about the Turkish official position that hosts IGF is that in internet governance matters not a single inch change occurred. They do not have the manpower to make their propaganda or change discourses to try to persuade critics. One of the major panels Turkey hosted was unsurprisingly on “child safety”. One might admire how Turks are so sensitive … Read more
#IGF2014 notes- Google Big Tree event with Vint Cerf and a panel afterwards #FHDel I was a pleasure to see Mr. Cerf and he opened up with his adovacy for open internet. Unfortunately he later angered most of us by stating that “some countries need time for open internet” and he kind of whitewhashed … Read more
#IGF2014 notes- Meeting with Facebook Officials #FHDel Politicians always want to control mass media and it is now social media/ internet. This is also a concern for us said one of them. Russia’s new blogger law is even more direct that Turkey’s 5610 Law. Snowden was a turning point even in IGF. An official … Read more
I have extensively written in Turkish about the meeting we had with Twitter officials last week. (English version is coming very soon) Today at IGF, as Freedom House delegates we found opportunity to meet with Colin Crowell, Vice President at Twitter. Mr. Crowell underlined the fact that Twitter is one of the most transparent internet … Read more
Yakın zamanda ofis açılmaz. Twitter’dan yeni strateji. Twitter Ekibinin 2. Ziyaretinin Ardından. Erkan Saka Twitter ekibi Nisan ayında yaptığı gibi hükümet yetkilileri dışında sivil toplum ve akademi çevrelerinden bir grupla da sohbet etti. Ben de davetliler arasındaydım, buradan birebir aktarma yapmayacağım ama hem o sohbetten hem de yansıyan haberlerden kaynaklanan gözlemlerimi aktaracağım. Twitter’ın bazı … Read more
Last week I heard the news that Sony quits selling e-readers. I have been using a Sony reader for more than 6 years now. I have also used Nook for 2 years and tried Kindle. Sony’s is not the best design, and it does not have some juicy accessories but none other brands can challenge it. I suspect because … Read more
Yusuf Kaplan in an article entitled, 20 suggestions for Erdoğan, published in AKP’s Pravda, Yeni Şafak declared that: 19- Bogaziçi, Bilkent and ODTÜ, which are being the volunteer agencies of other cultures, should be ‘demolished’ and in their place pilot universities, which are similar to Ivy League universities in the U.S.A. that trace the American culture and world … Read more
Turkey’s Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek today tweeted the message above. Not that American media is in its best situation but Mr. Şimşek has the arrogance to question press freedom in US while his own country’s press freedom can even be compared to US’. Most of the time, authoritarian conservative critics rely on leftist critics or intellectual debates that … Read more
Geçen hafta Dağhan Irak’ın bazı yurttaş gazeteci pratiklerine cepheden bir eleştirisi oldu. VivaHiba nasıl cevap verdi, takip edemedim, zaten o meşum yurttaş gazeteciliği sertifika programına yönelik eleştirilerde ben de bulunmuştum. O konuda diyebileceğim fazla birşey yok. 140Journos cephesinden de bir cevap gelmiş. Kendilerine de söyledim, uzun ama üretim tarzlarına da pek uymayan bir üslup olmuş. Bu kadarına gerek yoktu. Olgusal meselelere cevap … Read more
I feel like what happened in Istanbul Municipality election will happen at a national level. HDP offers a good candidate that does not have much chance. Most Kurdish HDP voters vote for AKP candidate, especially those consertivative citizens, most leftists vote for HDP and AKP wins. I personally like Mr. Demirtaş very much but I … Read more
Global Voices: Murder Trial of Slain Protester in Turkey Live-Tweeted P24: Deutsche Welle BOBS ödülleri ardından? VivaHiba: SosyalKafa?nın 3. Sezonu biterken İnternet Televizyonculuğu üzerine notlar