Early childhood and new technologies (MultiMedia Entry)

Travelling by car or by train, going out to restaurants or visiting the family; those are situations when children often don’t have much patience. They start yelling or crying because they feel bored.

What to do with those kids? For many parents an iPad, iPhone or other digital things are the solution.

But is it a good solution? Meanwhile we have so many Apps; even for small children or babies; where the kids “learn” how to draw, can hear animal sounds and so on. They also designed storybooks where a digital voice reads the story for the children. Mothers and fathers are replaced by technology! I think we have to be careful with those trends. Children under the age of 4 have enough to find out and realize in the real world! When children are older than 4 years than and are allowed to use this media; there should be a time limit (something about 15-25 min). Parents should never force a kid to use technology because their interest will increase automatically. I don’t want to judge about people who give their children the chance to use this media but it should be under control and in a balance with “traditional” games and adventures.

This type of learning and pastime will never replace time spent with parents or other children. Only when children have contact to other human beings they can learn how to read mimic and what emotions are and how to identify them. So my point of view is that children under the age of 4 shouldn’t get in contact with electronically media like iPad and generally I think we should try to keep this digital stuff away from children as long as possible.

India - Slumdog Millionaire (Reflection Entry)

Did you ever heard about the film “Slamdog Millionaire”?

If not, here: The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”. But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slums where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show?

Well, if you want to know the end I really strongly recommend seeing this film!

But I would like to reflect about the film now.

You haven’t been to India before seeing this film; me neither. I saw the film and I was shocked about the cruelty which was shown; child trafficking; clipping and so on. I couldn’t believe that people can see those scenes on the street in India. The film won 8 Oscars in 2009 and was published in 2008 and this year, before coming to turkey, in spring, I have been to the northern part of India.

This film shows us the cruelty of poverty. It shows us why children are sitting on the streets asking for money; why children in age of eight are high. It sounds brutal but I Think we could get an impression how it’s going on behind “the scene”. When I was in India I saw parallelisms, things I wrote down before, I saw it. There were kids in age of eight; which should normally go to school; but they were high and tried to steal. It was fun for them to make us scared because me and my friend have never seen children so aggressive not to mention on drugs. If I think about film and the reality I have seen there in some parts I can really say that the author of the book; which the film was made of; reflected the situation in India’s poor parts skilful. I am even of the opinion that he could have shown us this situation of the poor people and children in a more ungentle way.

To my mind this film; and the book as well; is a successful job. Now the western civilization got an impression of the life of the majority in countries we don’t care enough about.

About sitcoms...

My favorite shows on TV are often American sitcoms. I like this main stream shows like Scrubs, King of Queens, How I met your Mother etc. .

But today I want to tell you something about the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory; released 2007. This sitcom is centered on five main characters: Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter ( they are flat mates and both are physics but with different focuses),  Penny ( their good looking, not nerdy neighbor), Howard Wolowitz ( an Engineer) and Rajesh Koothrappali ( an Astrophysics from India who still speaks with a strong accent).

The four guys are close friends and similar passions like comics, science fiction films, video- or computer games. All of them are working at the same institute.

The intellect and nerdy behaving of the four guys is contrasted for a funny effect with Penny's social skills and common sense. While this sitcom Penny and Leonard become a couple at least two times. This is one actuality which is continued through all seasons and always commented by the other characters. Not only this five characters but also Amy Farraf Fowler and Bernadette Rostenkowiski are important for the new seasons. At the beginning males were the majority, yet also the female part became more intellectual, funny and rose ( I mean the number of “main” characters). I forgot to tell you neither Bernadette nor Amy are simple girls both are working at a physical faculty and have studied before. Amy: neurobiologist ; Bernadette: microbiologist.

In the end the sitcom is not only about science but also about fantasy and comic fandom, Leonard’s and Penny’s relationship, after a while Sheldon’s and Amy’s relationship, about religion and how the characters grow up; and of course how it influenced on them and their behavior.

For me it’s fun to see the sitcom and maybe someday if you will see one episode I hope my description helps you to understand it better!

Istanbul Modern

Istanbul Modern is a museum of contemporary art in Istanbul.  Its opening was on 11^th December, 2004. By opening this kind of museum Istanbul associates with European and International developments.

The museum prominently features work of Turkish artists what makes it very interesting for Europeans.

The museum is located on the Bosporus in a converted warehouse. The exhibition is outspread on two floors. Work from the museum's permanent collection, as well a shop and restaurant, are located on the top floor, while temporary exhibitions are located on the lower floor. On the lower floor you can also find a cinema and arts library, which is really nice!

It is not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibition area. Currently there is also a part of the Bienale located, for which you have to pay extra ( Bienale is a contemporarily art exhibition; it is every two years held in Istanbul and it is organised by the “Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts” . By the way, I forgot to tell you about the entrace price; it’s 5 TL (for students)! Really an adorable price for this kind of exhibition!!! However even if non students have to pay more; it is good invested chips!

I really enjoyed to see so many new artist and a lot of them were Turkish or from other eastern countries. I completely felt like in a different world because I’ve been out of this noisy area, no hectic, not that crowded and so much nice pieces of art. I saw installations, traditional painting, concept art, mixed media and different materials which were used.

I put a picture of one of my favorite installation here. It is the one with the books; I don’t know what you think when you see it on a picture but I was impressed by the effect.

Maybe you also have been there once?

What was your favorite?

Here is a video and the artist (she is femal ) who is shown  from Minute 4:20 (she is taking all the scarfs down) is quite popular in germany. She is half german half turkish.

I brain ODTÜ ( + other slogan)

When I came to ODTÜ I felt like in an American Film about students and their life. I met a lot of people who are in a sport team here at ODTÜ and they are very proud of their “Team-Shirts”. I have to admit that I was jealous about these cool ODTÜ shirts. Of course I fall in love with this mainstream “I  _(fill in with, brain, love, smile…)  _(fill in with ODTÜ, Hamburg, NY, London…) ” – slogan.  Even after some discussions with natives about that slogan I still wanted this shirt.  By the way, my Turkish friends told me that they really don’t like this campaign; it doesn’t express the spirit of ODTÜ…

Well, after reading this text I am so peeved at this people who made this spot! They named all the good habits of ODTÜ students  but then they transmit, to my mind (!), that ODTÜ students are better humans and that people who are not graduated (at ODTÜ) are not that successful in their life’s.

“What makes him/her a METU person is the culture of success and "making a difference" that is special to METU.”

“His/Her sphere of responsibility is not limited to his/her immediate environment”

These are just two quotations, which I picked out to show how they discriminate people who chose (or simply had no other chance because of different factors) another way of live/education and are mechanics, nurse, caretaker or whatever!

I’m not angry about the slogan itself but about this spot. The slogan is mainstream, hip and young.

My idea for an ODTÜ shirt/ slogan would be:

Open-mindedness

Devrim

Tolerance

Üniversite

I’m not sure if it is creative enough but the important thing for me is NOT to have a spot like they did. I don’t like the idea of making everybody notice that “ODTÜs are something better”. Actually I don’t think that the first ODTÜ alumni generation wouldn’t be happy when today’s students would think like that.

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Another slogan who is worth to be discussed is:

Mc Donalds -  I'm lovin' it

Mc Donald’s published this slogan in 17 languages and in more than 40 countries. The slogans literal meaning is sometimes a little bit different “I am loving it; I just like (China, Malaysia, Singapore,…); of course I love it (Egypt, Kuwait); It is everything that I love ( France); I love this ( Philippines ); I love all of that (Chile); I love all this a lot (Brazil); This is what I love (Turkey); I like it (Latvia); …” but on the whole it always describes a positive and emotional connection to this fast food restaurant.

We know that language is always changing, even from generation to generation, and that’s why I am scared of this slogan; it uses a word with a strong meaning. What is love? I have a lot of associations when I hear this word but actually no one of them has something to do with food! Is it possible to have such strong feelings for a franchise restaurant? I don’t think so; or at least I don’t hope so. Because of this campaign we can see how the account of the word LOVE has changed. Or did it changed because of the campaign? That is something that we can think about; do slogans modify our understanding of words? If it would work like that, than Mc Donald’s  relativises the meaning of the word LOVE. How does slogans influence on us? Why does everybody enjoy a slogan from a fast food restaurant with this pregnant word?

Finally I still think about if the meaning of the word, love, has changed before the slogan or after? I think especially our generation should think about how to use such pregnant words and if we are ok with it that suddenly people love cheeseburger, fries and milkshakes instead of their grandparents, sisters, brothers, parents and environment.

Well, maybe I am too radical and there is no influence on the meaning of the word but I guess it has changed and I think it is worth to talk about it.

Ideal University



My idea of an ideal University starts with the setting. It can be like ODTÜ, with green areas, forest, chestnut trees and a ring-bus. The buildings should be different in their architecture. The building of humanities would be a kind of art nouveau, engineering would have more modern structures in their building, and faculty of education would have big windows and floating shape. Of course the other faculties also have a specific architecture BUT all have the same color at the frontage, because it should be a kind of unit.

This unit can be changed by students, but just by their own work! They can let run color down from the top of their building, but only when they are able to organize it. It is allowed to put posters or kind of street art on the walls of the building, as long as the majority of the faculty is ok with it. If not, every student is allowed to put it away or change it. I hope that this helps student to identify themselves with their building and that they create a message they want to tell people who come to their faculty.

Studying at this University would be more for yourself and not for your potential employer! There would be an international system ( like bologna is) but it would be more open and it would be without pressure of time. You are able to choose courses from other studies, if you are interested in. At this University it would not depend if you graduate with 23 or 32 because everybody would know that you took your time to learn things for yourself and not only to be a “good”-member of society.

In my ideal University everyone is allowed to come in because it is a place where you can swap ideas and opinions with every type of human being. Working class, graduated, undergraduate, professors, grandfathers and grandmother are discussing and every opinion is worth the same. Of cause my ideal University is utopia but when I reflect this short text and ideas I wrote down, I have to admit that I took things I experienced in Bremen and here at ODTÜ.

Being a student at Middle East Technical University

My home University is the University of Bremen, now I am at METU (Middle East Technical University) for studies abroad.

My first impression of METU was that it’s like American Universities. It was new for me that a Campus side is separated and people only come in with an ID, it was new that teachers and students can live directly at the University area and also the feeling of an own society at METU was new for me.

I don’t really know how to describe my feelings, because I’m just a temporarily student and that’s how some people and teachers treat me. I think that I am lucky to be in our department , here it is different than in my other classes. My impression is that teachers are fine with it when foreign students are coming to their classes, they are interested in others opinion, they take care and want to include you as a “normal” or real METU-Student. That’s what I really appreciate!

My other classes are stricter (means: you shouldn’t ask why to do something, just do it because the teacher said it!), the teachers are not interested in different opinions and often they keep talking in Turkish and other students have to translate it for me and other foreign students. The simplest thing to recognize that they are not interested is, when they never ask you “What’s your name?”. I’m sure that at least two of five teachers didn’t ask me about that. But well…

Let’s talk about nicer things. I really like the fellow students! All people I really talked to are open minded, polite, interested and take care of other people. It is amazing how helpful students are at METU. I enjoy discussions we have with each other, the curiosity from both sides.

In the end I would like to say that, for myself, I feel like a METU-Student. It took around about two weeks at University but since that time I do identify myself with the view I have from METU-Students and I want to take this attitude back to my home University.

My Dvolver Film - MY BOAT, MAN.

http://www.dvolver.com/live/movies-784394

Fall Term in Ankara

Selam! As you know I'm at METU/ODTÜ...

I start this blog because of a class named "Contextual Grammar".

Here at ODTÜ we have a lot of classes wich are so nice, but also nice sportsclubs, nice studentgroups and very, very nice people! It's a place to be...

Probably it is a kind of art, isn't it?!

By the way, when we are talking about Art, I found a report about something interesting in Hong Kong:

Art on an overpass in Hong Kong

Until 10 November, visitors can look down on 16 giant portraits pasted high above one of the city’s busiest

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thoroughfares, part of a global project by award-winning French artist JR.

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Most Hong Kongers spend a lot of their time looking upwards -- to admire the striking skyscrapers; to
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observe the nightly light show; or to suss out the day's pollution levels. But with his new public art
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installation, French artist JR has a different mission: to make people look down.
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The award winning 29 year old assembled16 black-and-white portraits of Hong Kong residents, set them against black polka-dotted backgrounds and pasted them on the roof of an overpass above one of Hong Kong's busiest thoroughfares, Connaught Road in the Central district. To see the installation you will have to find a high-rise vantage point and look down -- way down.
This piece is the latest in JR's Inside Out project, a series of photographs embedded in dozens of urban landscapes from Los Angeles and Shanghai to Perth and Nairobi. The large-scale portraits are pasted up in prominent locations -- on walls, floors, facades, roofs or any available exposed surfaces – and his subjects, all residents of the city, are kept anonymous in an attempt to grapple with the issue of personal identity and to make people think about the untold stories of everyday citizens. The visages gracing the Hong Kong walkway, measuring a massive 6m by 6m each, were selected from a pool of 175 applicants who were all photographed for the project.
The adorned overpass, co-organized by French art gallery Galerie Perrotin, whose Hong Kong outpost is just five months old, and the French consulate in Hong Kong and Macau,  runs concurrently with Pattern, an exhibition at the gallery that features other works from JR's Inside Out project, as well as a photo booth for Hong Kongers to take their own portraits. Both the indoor and outdoor elements will run through 10 November.
Worry not, visitors to Hong Kong will not have to sneak past security guards at the tall office towers surrounding the walkway to catch a glimpse of it. There are a number of public lookouts, including Galerie Perrotin itself, the 55th floor of the nearby skyscraper Two International Finance Centre (IFC) across the street, and certain northern-facing parts of the IFC Mall.
Hana R Alberts is the Hong Kong Localite for BBC Travel