11th International Communication Days started at Üsküdar University

The 11th International Communication Days started with the participation of important figures at the international level, which was hosted and organized by Üsküdar University. Making the opening speech at the symposium held with the main theme of "Digital Inequality and Data Colonialism", Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "Fortunately, there is social media. If there was just the classical media, we would not be so aware of the recent events in Gaza and what is happening there." Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör stated that "How much of the information we will receive and how much we will receive is determined by someone." Advisor to the Rector Prof. Süleyman İrvan stated that "There is a new imperialism that we can call digital imperialism."

The 11th International Communication Days started hosted by Üsküdar University. Within the scope of the main theme of "Digital Inequality and Data Colonialism", a total of 50 sessions will be held during the 3-day symposium. The symposium includes speakers from national and international universities who are experts in their fields.

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: "Fortunately, there is social media, otherwise we would not have been able to see the Gaza events"

President of Üsküdar University Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan started his speech by expressing, "Fortunately, there is social media" and stated that "When we saw the recent events in Gaza, after seeing the inequality in Palestine and the situation leading up to the genocide, if there was classical media, we would not have been so aware of what happened there and we would not have been able to see it. We would only see the information that was presented to us. As in the periods before social media, there would be a serious manipulation of information. With this manipulation, we would see that many prejudices persist. Our biggest enemy is prejudices, and our greatest need is dialogue."

Tarhan: "Social media has disturbed manipulation..."

Stating that there was manipulation through communication at a time when there was a need for a global dialogue, but social media disturbed it and this situation reduced global information inequality, Prof. Tarhan said that "I hope they will find a way to do this and not lead the world to a digital dictatorship."

There are 3 types of communication styles that are effective in people's communication

Explaining that there are 3 types of communication styles that are effective in communication, the first is cognitive style, the second is communication, and the third is coping style, Prof. Tarhan noted that these 3 styles form the character of a person, global inequality emerges by affecting the way of thinking, and racism is also a serious change in thinking.

Stating that research was conducted in Germany on how people became so bad after Hitler and that it was seen that Hitler manipulated science, Prof. Tarhan expressed that people made evil ordinary with the Nazi doctrine.

"If one tries to solve every event with war, the only tool in their hand is a weapon"

Stating that automatic thought patterns shape society, Prof. Tarhan reminded that Maslow said that the one who has hammer in their hand sees all the problems as nails, and the one who has the only weapon in their hand tries to solve the every issue with war.

"The reason for the insensitivity in Eastern societies is authoritarian rule..."

Stating that inequality is widespread at the political level in the world, Prof. Tarhan expressed that "We have seen this in the Gaza events, but it is not like that at the base. We do not see this inequality in universities. Especially in western societies, there is a greater sensitivity at the base level against this global inequality. There is a lack of apathy among young people towards global inequality in Eastern societies. There is insensitivity to imperialism. Why? I think the reason for this has to do with the authoritarian rule of eastern societies. Imagine a family, if there is parental pressure, bullying, authoritarianism in the family, children's self-esteem will be low, there will be children who cannot defend their rights. After reaching their first adolescence, they either become passive or leave the house. The same thing happens in oppressive societies.”

"The most important thing to improve global inequality is to be able to say, 'This is my idea.'"

Stating that people have low self-confidence in oppressive and authoritarian governments, Prof. Tarhan said that "I say that there is ‘I don’t care’ or ‘It is not my problem’ is in the background of this insensitivity in Eastern societies. The most important thing to fix global inequality is to be able to say, 'This is my idea.' To be able to say, 'That's how I think.' To be able to say 'no'. The institutions that can say this the most are universities. Structures that can say this should be found among scientists."

Prof. Nazife Güngör: "There has been a technological revolution in the world for many years"

Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör stated that there has been a technological revolution in the world for many years and said that "Humanity is in an evolution process that has started for a long time and has gained a revolutionary quality with the corona."

Emphasizing that it is necessary to process the positive aspects of the digital revolution and to be sensitive to the negative aspects, Prof. Nazife Güngör stated that if people are made aware of the problems, they can be sensitive and resistant to the exploitative aspects of technology.

"Humanity uses technology and digital, but it uses them as desired"

Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör said, "Whether the power is at the head of politics or the head of the economy, they are always in alliance to keep the masses in their own areas of exploitation. Therefore, the whole world is facing the direction of forces in the transformative effect of digital technologies. Humanity uses technology and digital; however, they use it as they are asked."

Stating that there is no world where the desired information is obtained, Prof. Nazife Güngör expressed that "In fact, how much of the information we will receive and to what extent is determined by someone."

Prof. Güngör stated that "We want to put a stop to the negative course of events in this world. We must stand together as conscious intellectuals in the world."

Prof. Süleyman İrvan: "We should also be sensitive to the problems created by technologies"

Stating that the theme of this year's 11th International Communication Days is Digital Inequality and Data Colonialism, Üsküdar University Advisor to the Rector Prof. Süleyman İrvan expressed that "In this period of rapid development of digital technologies, it is of course not enough to focus only on the opportunities created by technologies. As academicians, we should also be sensitive to the problems created by these technologies." Stating that 5.6 billion of the world's population of 8 billion have mobile phones, 5.3 billion have Internet access and 5 billion use social media, İrvan continued his remarks as follows:

"There is a new imperialism that we can call digital imperialism"

"Looking at these figures, we can say how fast humanity is digitizing and adapting to the new media environment. On the other hand, we can bring up that there are millions of people who lack digital opportunities. In the developed parts of the world, there is a situation that we can call digital fatigue. We can talk about a digital information flow that has reached incredible dimensions.

In undeveloped parts of the world, there is digital deprivation and even digital hunger. The digital gap between rich countries and poor countries is getting bigger. Inequalities exacerbate exploitation. There is a new imperialism that we can call digital imperialism."

Prof. Natalie Fenton: "Media and communication systems cannot serve any form of democracy"

Speaking at the opening session moderated by Prof. Halil Nalçaoğlu from Istanbul Bilgi University, Prof. Natalie Fenton from University of London made a presentation on 'Inequality and Exclusionary Regimes in the Digital Age: Thinking Towards an Egalitarian Imagination'. Prof. Natalie Fenton expressed that “In this conference, I will talk about the multifaceted dimensions of inequalities arising from digitalization, as well as a nuanced discussion of the various forms of colonialism that emerge through data colonialism." and in her speech, she touched on the regimes of inequality and exclusion and gave the following information:

"When we say that democracy brings equality, we can say that capitalism also feeds on inequality, so democracy and capitalism cannot be reconciled. Although we say that most media and communication systems are based on capitalist principles, they cannot be democratic in their own right or serve any form of democracy."

Prof. Haluk Geray: "If we want to create a better world, we must start with ourselves"

In his speech, Ankara University faculty member Prof. Haluk Geray pointed to the issues of 'techno capitalism' and 'cloud capitalism' and explained that the IMF and the World Bank do not want developing countries to benefit from funds for research, and that their reports emphasize that there is no need to invent the wheel again.

Stating that the cloud technology economy finances the Nordic countries, Prof. Haluk Geray said that "If we want to create a better world, we must start with ourselves. We must break free from cloud slavery in our own lives. We also need an artificial intelligence in the public interest."

Prof. Ümit Atabek: "Digital technologies can reduce the value of labor"

In his presentation titled 'The New Stage of Capitalism: Colonial Order Triggered by Digital Data', Emeritus Prof. Ümit Atabek, one of the speakers of the session, touched on the differences between terminology, analog and digital data, the differences between conventional exploitation order and the exploitation order triggered by digital data, and how Turkish information technologies contribute to this order.

Stating that the Turkish IT sector follows global trends, Prof. Ümit Atabek expressed that "We cannot think that the Turkish information technologies sector is an isolated sector. They follow global trends and are dominated by global financial institutions.

My prediction is that the hegemony of global oligarchic corporations will continue. There is no short-term solution. We will face some problems as a result of the problem of the continuation of this digital order triggered by digital data. These technologies do not reduce employment much, but they cause a contraction in some business groups. They can also reduce the value of labor."

In the symposium, which will last for 3 days, 250 papers will be presented in 50 sessions

Üsküdar University Assoc. Prof. Bahar Muratoğlu Pehlivan, London School of Economics Prof. Nick Couldry, State University of New York Prof. Ulises A. Mejias, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University Prof. Tuğba Asrak Hasdemir and Moscow State University Prof. Elena Vartanova, where 250 papers will be presented in 50 sessions with the participation of important international names.

In the symposium, where various aspects of digital inequality and data colonialism will be discussed, the abstracts of all the papers to be presented and then the full texts will be published as a book and shared with the public. Moreover, all sessions of the symposium will be archived on the symposium web site as video recordings and will be accessible to all interested circles.
 

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)