formspring.me/ please?

Geçtiğimiz günlerde kayda değer bir süredir bilgisayar monitorlerini süslemiş olan, benimse varlığından yeni haberimin olduğu bir internet çılgınlığıyla daha tanıştım; www.formspring.me. Bilmeyenler için kısaca açıklayayım; formspring.me facebook ve twitter gibi bir paylaşım sitesi. Teknolojinin kötüye kullanımı tabirinin hayat bulduğu bu sosyalleşme alanı,  dedikodu ve takipçilik için harika bir altyapı sunmakta. formspring.me tanıdığınız ya da tanımadığınız kişilerin sizlere özel hayatınız, beğeni ve ilgileriniz, aileniz, cinsel yaşamınız gibi daha akıllara gelmeyecek bir çok alanda sorular sorabilmesi için dizayn edilmiş bir web sitesi. Sanırım bu sosyal şölene yeterli krediyi vermiyorum; siz de aynı şekilde onları sorgulayabiliyorsunuz! Tüm bu eğlenceye ek olarak, size sorulan ve başkalarına yönelttiğiniz sorular cevaplarıyla birlikte oluşturduğunuz profilde ve karşılama sayfanızda yayımlanıyor. Şimdi hep birlikte bu sosyal saçmalığın işlevini inceleyeceğiz.

 İnsanlar konusunda yazdığımı bilen bir tanıdığım: 'Hey, yeni tanıştığın ve seni etkileyen kişilerle ilgili yazıyorsan mutlaka formspring ini kullanmalısın.' demişti. Bu diyalog benim neden bahsedildiğini bilmemem, masadakilerden aldığım kuvvetli 'Hangi çağda yaşıyorsun sen?' tepkisi, sitenin işlevinin bana ayrıntılı olarak açıklanması ve kişisel deneyimlerden verilen örneklerle devam etti. Sosyal deneyleri seven ve bunları kariyer yolculuğumda da uygulamak zorunda olacak olan ben, bilgisayarımın başına oturdum ve www.formspring.me dünyasına adımımı attım...

İnsanları tanımak için bir klavye ve monitore ihtiyacım olmadığı için minnettar olan ben, kimseye bir soru yöneltmedim; ancak bana sorulanların hepsini dürüstçe yanıtladım. İşte formspringe kayıt olduktan tam beş gün sonra aldığım sonuçlardan bazıları:

Nutella mı damak mı?
         

Should I stay or should I go? (Gitmeli mi yoksa kalmalı mıyım?)


If you had to throw away either your TV or your computer, which one would you choose? (Tv ya da bilgisayarından birini atmak zorunda kalsaydın, hangisini seçerdin?)


What did you eat for breakfast? (Kahvaltıda ne yedin?)


Sabah uyandığında kendini travesti sanar mısın?   


En son ne zaman zil zurna sarhoş oldun?


If you could be invited to one person's birthday party, who would it be? (Bir kişinin doğumgününe davetli olabilseydin, bu kim olurdu?) 


Benim bu dahiyane sorulara verdiğim cevaplar ise şöyle şekillendi;

1. Damak
2. Kesinlikle gitmelisin! (Lütfen!)
3. Aslında televizyon cevabını vereceğim bu soru; internet dünyasının güzellikleri(!) ile bilgisayar cevabına doğru ilerliyor.
4.Kruvasan.
5. Pek sayılmaz.
6. formspring hakkında bilgi edindikten sonra.
7. Ringo Starr (Lütfen formspring den bana kim olduğunu sorma)

İşte bir sosyal paylaşım deliliğini de bu şekilde arkamda bıraktım. Söylenecek fazla bir şey olduğunu sanmıyorum tüm bunlar üzerine; yalnızca tüm formspring çılgınlarına bir insanı tanımak için bazen tüm hayatımızın bile yeterli olamayacağını belirtmeliyim. Dikkat dikkat! Beni tanımak isteyen herkes! DO NOT formspring. me!

More on Street Art

How many of us pay attention to the subway singers or dancing gypsies at the pier? What about the graffiti that some considers as vandalism? We could all agree on the fact that art brings us together. What about the art on the street? Does art have to be signed by Picasso to be appreciated?

           

            If you have taken the ferry to get to Kadıkoy lately, you have probably been amazed by things other than the beautiful view of Bosphorus. A group of friends and I took the ferry from Beşiktaş to Kadıkoy to celebrate the amazing weather on Sunday, March 13^th and came across even a greater celebration. People of Istanbul surely bumped into the gypsy dancers before at the pier; but what about the dancing college students, businessmen and all the others who cheer for the performers in a circle? We were shockingly impressed by the enthusiasm in Kadıkoy on Sunday that brought people together at a time like this, considering people were fighting at Taksim Square, about the same time for the journalism protest.

High school students dancing at the Kadikoy pier

 The dancers got me thinking. Street art is

everywhere in İstanbul waiting to be spotted by its audience, trying to get us to question and criticize or simply appreciate things that are taken for granted such as a beautiful day after the days of harsh storm or a high school kid spraying the walls of Cihangir to tell the adults that something is just not right.

Many of us should be familiar with the Thriller performance that was held in Fall 2009 at Taksim Square. The over crowded city centre was filled with laughter and cheers and many were simply acting like crazy fans while watching the college student performance at the Square. The show was an actual thrill for many people who were watching the first live performance of their lives. I thought, again. İstanbul does have a nice voice sometimes.

           

College students doing Michael Jackson’s famous Thriller routine at Taksim Square

            Coming back to the hot debate: Graffiti: street art or vandalism, taking a trip to Cihangir on Saturday cleared it out for me. I have realized that there was no problematic in this situation; just problems that are created by the elite residents of Cihangir whom could not bear the fact that teenagers were trying to ask questions to the well educated intellectuals of Istanbul. Some of the very promising graffiti I got to see on Saturday were designed by high school students. Extremely gifted teenagers sparing time to talk to us through art, I would love to be a part of vandalism of this kind. As a citizen of İstanbul, it truly makes me happy to see that İstanbul still has voice besides the fights in traffic or the beggar children. İstanbul also talks through dance, art and music. I would recommend everyone to take a weekend off just to see the street art and maybe join the street performers. Who knows? You might end up hearing something a lot different from the music itself.

Graffiti on Başkurt Street, Cihangir.

---

[1]

[2] http://istanbulenphotos.canalblog.com/archives/2010/07/05/18478479.html

[3] http://istanbulenphotos.canalblog.com/archives/2010/07/05/18478479.html

Istanbul Voices- Street Art

I have been trying to spot street art that brings out political and artistic awareness in İstanbul for over a year. Since a trip to the modern art museum costs money and unfortunately is considered as an activity that a certain group of people would attend, street art teaches a lot to the people of İstanbul. Graffiti, street musicians, street dancers-shortly all kinds of performers bring people together. Young gypsies who are incredibly talented musicians get everyone’s attention by playing their music, singing and dancing in Kadikoy everyday. Businessmen take their shirts off to dance, college students sing along and everyone around create a circle to applause and cheer for the musicians.

Another example would be the graffiti in Cihangir. I believe street art brought lots of culture and political awareness in the process of Cihangir gentrification. Hilarious political jokes are definitely newsworthy. I would like to watch the street artists and performers closely for a couple weeks and write about how they contribute to the colorfulness of the crazy town we live in.  

Article 26

As media and communication systems students, I believe this article especially concerns us. Hopefully one day, I would like to be a journalist who is free to speak her mind, write or broadcast what matters but more importantly what the truth is. Sadly today, applying this article seems to be banned just like youtube, blogspot, blogger and all the other multimedia tools. Banning facebook and twitter in Turkey is also considered as hot topics. I cannot blame the government for this tragedy, none of us can. If our people are in search of a scapegoat, we are to blame. Our representatives try to sugar code the fact that they are banning all kinds of media tools that oppose to the actions of the government. The ones that are still allowed to broadcast distort the truth, bend the reality to serve the government’s best interest.

People who dared to criticize and ask the question: ‘What are you afraid of?’ are not only banned from newswriting and broadcasting, they are now banned from living as free men. Mustafa Balbay, the editor of Cumhuriyet has been arrested for almost 800 days now. This blockage only appears to exist in a dictatorial state. Are we aware that we are living in one? Freedom of expression is the most fundamental asset to a free, democratic country that is supposed to be protected by law. Today, it is almost impossible to write for masses. Gandhi once said: ‘You can only wake a person who is asleep; but if someone is pretending, it is impossible to wake that one.’ He was right. How many of us are pretending and ignoring the fact that our essential right has been taken away from us? I found a way to keep my blog alive, so I will keep writing and follow the law that gives me the right to speak my mind. The truth matters, so tell it.

Ex and the City

Welcome back everyone to the city lights, bad student apartments, work overload- long story short; spring semester. I have realized that it has been a long while since I logged into the blog. Now, after a long pause here is what I have been up to. Winter break as wonderful as it was- is unfortunately over. That means getting back to reality and dealing with the tough situations caused by the irresponsibility during the break.

I thought I'd make a guide list for damage control:
1. Do not miss the add/drop week. You do not want to be stuck in a class that you have no hope of passing. If it's a core class, well- hopefully you will be able to find  a legal way to get a D.

2. Try to go to bed early! Since we haven't really been sleeping at nights, it is going to be tough to get back on track.- I should also follow this one-

3. There is no such thing as:' It's the first week, I'm sure the classes are cancelled. Guys, come on that's not even wishful thinking. That's simply ignoring the painful fact that it's school time and you do have classes.

4. If you had already made a resolution list, try to follow it. Self respect, people! If you had not, don't do it. You are never going to follow that.

5. If you have a complicated relationship status that got a lot more confusing over the break, let it go. It's spring time, it's having fun time and you never know what's around the corner.

6. If you want to be in good shape for spring and fight the spring fever, get a job. Yes you can do it both, and if you are lucky enough to find a job in your area of interest- well, there is absolutely nothing like it.

7. Summer is on its way, so eat well and fresh. You do not have to rush anything. So, quit eating fast food and try to exercise- I should definitely hang this one over my bed.

8. Learn to care! Yes, do it somehow. We are lucky enough to see people making history. Follow the news and make up your own mind on what's going on. So, yes. Sapere Aude!

9. If you are even remotely close to being talented, get in touch with your artistic side. Especially if you feel like you do have a lot to express. Sing, dance, act, paint whatever. It does feel good at this time of the year.

10. Courage. Be courageous enough to take risks that you did not last semester. You know it's not a class you can take later on. Do not postpone anything on anyone else's account.

Well, this list can go on forever but I have a job, school work overload and a dancing session I have to get to later tonight. So, keep up the good spirits- it is spring time after all.