I liked it so much that I subscribed to the pro version. I recently used it to gather news on the topics I wanted to blog about. I asked for a roundup of the pros and cons of using Perplexity. below. Well, it did not include a few crucial pieces written recently about it. A … Read more
The very first post archived here I came back to Istanbul for the fieldwork in 2004. Chris Kelty recommended blogging as a research tool. He set up the first blog at frazer.rice.edu, which does not exist now. I defended my thesis in 2009. However, I kept blogging. It has become a life-long project and a … Read more
POINT organizers were just great. We felt at home, productive meetings, exchanging ideas, and some sightseeing… One of the last places I meant to see was Gazi Husrev-beg’s library When you enter the library, the smell of books hits you. I did some reading there with many in the reading room but did not … Read more
I have landed today in Sarajevo. It is a lovely city that I first visited nearly ten years ago. It was again for a POINT conference. The conference will be followed by IFCN’s summit, and maybe I will see some of the fact-checker friends. The program is very loaded, and I guess I will not … Read more
In the last three weeks, I virtually had no time to document what I was up to. During this physically tiring but mentally satisfying period, I attended several conferences, training programs, and countless graduate thesis meetings. The period started with our Wikipedia event in Arhavi, which I have already blogged about. In four days after, … Read more
We use Turnitin, which also offers AI similarity reports. There is nearly universal acceptance of Turnitin similarity reports in higher education, but AI similarity reports are a different case. I know a few students whom I trust had high similarity rates. This week, we discussed this with my colleagues. Some colleagues are very aggressive and … Read more
Dear Friends and Colleagues, I have started a project with my graduate students that is becoming an edited volume. With an ethnographic sensibility, we are conducting research and collecting case studies on generative AI usage in different fields. I would love to get scholarly contributions from those who read this message. Please feel free to … Read more
Last weekend, I attended the Wikipedians’ gathering in Arhavi, a lovely Black Sea town in Artvin. A group of Georgian Wikipedians also participated in the meeting hosted by Artvin’s only private high school, Artvin Koleji. Wikipedians are very agreeable and hard-working people. There were many young users, and I hope we conveyed the message to … Read more
This piece was originally published in Turkish here. Translated via DeepL How AI will transform education We are in the early years of the productive AI revolution. It is hard to predict what kind of transformation will take place in which sector, but it will undoubtedly affect every industry. Education is one of the most … Read more
This piece was originally published in Turkish. It was translated with DeepL to English. Possible US ban on TikTok could deal a major blow to the fight for internet freedom. The possibility of TikTok being banned in the US has been on the agenda for a while. Prof. Erkan Saka from Bilgi University Faculty of … Read more
This week has been overwhelmingly busy. A few days ago, we met in Istanbul for the Istanbul session for our GRADE COST project. My colleague Ivo Furman did a fantastic job of organizing the event in a lovely place in Istanbul (check out the place, Postane). I also participated in organizing a Wikipedia session … Read more
19:15 The higher Election Council does not allow to announce results yet, but the vibe in opposition is that AKP may be losing. 18:20 Istanbul mayoral contest takes centre stage as Turkey votes in local elections Turkey local elections marred by irregularities in Kurdish provinces As polls close: YSK bans journalists from taking footage of … Read more
Instead of questioning her in Istanbul, she was taken from her home and sent to Mersin. The alleged crime is that she made an interview with a person under investigation (!). Prof. Sirman is a rare kind of anthropologist with a permanent emphasis on the field. I was stunned when I heard that she learned … Read more
We have been keeping a tab on Turkiye’s elections for years. The whole project is here. It needs a design overhaul, but the content is still valuable. It depends on students’ willingness to contribute, so the data we can collect differs in every election. Still I try to supervise and hopefully it will be more … Read more
Google’s increasingly faster re-branding efforts. Google Bard is now Google Gemini. This was fast. I asked Gemini to gather all rebrandings after I saw and lost a twit making fun of Google’s rebrandings. Google AdWords → Google Ads: Streamlined for a broader understanding of its functions. DoubleClick Digital Marketing & Google Analytics 360 Suite → … Read more