A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF ISTANBUL MEMES IN THE MILLENNIUM

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF ISTANBUL MEMES IN THE MILLENNIUM Feride Zeynep Güder Erdem ÖNGÜN Aşkın Demirağ İstanbul Kültür University Kadir Has University Yeditepe University Istanbul / Turkey Istanbul / Turkey Istanbul / Turkey f.guder@iku.edu.tr erdem.ongun@khas.edu.tr ademirag@yeditepe.edu.tr Abstract As humans we display individual differences, some of which are thought to be embedded in our genes that bear the basic characteristics of our life. Genes work as replicators. On the other hand, not all our characteristics are genetic. They may be transferred like genes but they are still vulnerable to change over time. For example, inspired by the Darwinian theory of evolution, Dawkins (1976) characterizes language as a structure that “evolves” by non-genetic means. Cultural transmission is unique to humans. So, the new name for this replicator that transfers the idea of a unit of a cultural transmission, a unit of imitation is called meme that originally comes from Greek root “Mimeme”. A meme, as coined by Oxford zoologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, is a linkage of concepts that is repeated over time without the additional dissemination. Memes propagate through communication – in books, movies, television shows, media reports, songs, paintings, and in simple conversation. They are contagious patterns of “cultural information” and “psychological behavior” that get passed from mind to mind and directly generate and shape the mindsets and significant forms of behavior and actions of a social group. To survive in a context, memes must be readily copied and passed from mind to mind relatively intact, spread within a time constraint and be successfully transmitted in the long run. From past to present, we might have preserved our genetic codes but our mindset ranging from values to relations have been evolving constantly and continuously. Operating on material and industrial principles and logics, the world now basically operates on non-material, cyber spatial and post-industrial principles and logic. It is getting de-centered” and “flat” rather than “centered” and hierarchical, in which social relations are realized in “digital media space” with increasingly image and texts in flux. Diffusion and evolution of today’s highly dynamic on-line information, topics, ideas, and “memes” are increasingly intensified as they evolve over time and spread across the web. The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, the study aims at examining successful online memes on Istanbul, a popular city in Turkey connecting not only continents but past and present, in order to see whether features in addition to those first outlined by Dawkins could be added to a substantive definition of this kind of meme. Second, the study aims at developing a typology of memes on Istanbul in order to look for possible patterns of purpose, use and take-up within and across different affinity spaces and change in time. Combining quantitative—qualitative analysis of visual and textual data sampled from a “meme pool” consisting of versatile forms of media ranging from popular websites, blogs search engines to data bases, we aim at yielding a map of the main themes emphasizing a massive corpus of memes on Istanbul. Overall, the study provides its readers with a different perspective on the change in the city of Istanbul over time through distinct category of memes. The study is finalized with the discussion of the findings and further suggestions that will contribute to further studies in the field are made. Key Words: Memes, Istanbul, Culture and Society, Media and Technology, Communication Technology

A CASE STUDY ON THE COMMON ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE STATE OF FACEBOOKLESSNESS

A CASE STUDY ON THE COMMON ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE STATE OF FACEBOOKLESSNESS Erdem Ongun (PhD) Feride Zeynep Güder (PhD)  Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul Kultur University, Istanbul, Turkey, erdem.ongun@khas.edu.tr f.guder@iku.edu.tr In his quote the Greek philosopher Aristotle describes man as a social animal by nature. This human sociality is based on a network of complicated but unique principles and relations that were maintained on a stronghold of bonds and ties through cultures and traditions. Again man has never been silent; s/he has been quite reactive to everything going around him. S/he is able to use a unique and complicated system called language for communication. The medium for communication has been changing over time due to technological advancements and innovations. These have brought him to a point where s/he may be muted verbally but virtually s/he is louder than ever. Today s/he socializes himself online through interactive media on social space called "social media". Consisting of a group of internet-based applications social media is an interactive platform through which people create, share, exchange, and comment contents among themselves in virtual communities and networks. It allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Facebook, gathering millions of users and established vast increase in sharing private information among people on voluntary basis has become one of the most popular forms of social media applications. It is so contagious that not having a Facebook account has been conceived as not following the latest technological developments and it caused a new type of alienation or isolation. Despite that negative assumption, many people resisted to this dominant trend and seemed not to have a Facebook profile at all, or they freeze or delete their account deliberately. The sample of the study consists of randomly selected 150 people who were found eligible for the study out of 600 scanned and over 18 years of age in the city of Istanbul. Participants in the sample were divided into three groups as those who never created a Facebook account and those who did so for a while but froze or deleted their accounts being Facebookless now and finally those who froze or deleted their accounts for a period and then decided to reactivate their accounts being Facebook users now. The study focuses on the reasons underlying the attitudes and perceptions of the choice of being Facebookless. Therefore, three different questionnaires were conducted on three different user types. The data from the questionnaires were quantitatively and qualitatively classified as the takers’ age group, gender, educational background, their profession, time spent, which were analyzed through various statistical methods. Overall, the study intended to open new dimensions to new media literature by attracting attention to social media use through Facebook from social, cultural, and psychological points of views and references by current intellectual trajectory. Keywords: Sociality, Communication, Media, Social Media, Social Networking, Facebook, Facebooklessness Sociality

Ethos, Pathos and Logos: The Hidden Discourse of Social Media

Ethos, Pathos and Logos: The Hidden Discourse of Social Media Feride Zeynep Güder (PhD)1 Erdem Öngün (PhD)2 1Istanbul Kultur University, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey, f.guder@iku.edu.tr erdem.ongun@khas.edu.tr The concept of social media, online social networking increasingly represents a revolutionary new path and attracts the interest of many people. A new medium which is the new communication platforms of the 21st century allow people multiple ways to reach their particular aims. These interactive and social platforms provide people online opportunities to persuade cyber readers by implementing some emotional instruments and give alternative means to increase the credibility of arguments implementing specific convincing tools. We live in a society whose members are both vertically and horizontally connected with each other in virtual spaces: We are entrapped in a network where complicated cultural, social, and psychological issues can be uttered freely. The name of this new arena is social media. The audience in this arena now have become the part of that game which was structured in a way that there are no losers and no winners. Characters disguised in cyber identities wage their war using different shields as a protective mechanism. Aristotle frames three modes of persuasion as ethos, pathos, and logos. The purpose of this study is to redefine social media through these three modes as instruments of persuasion on information channels by consuming the subject from linguistic and cultural point of view with factual examples. Based on relevant literature and research findings, they will be conceptualised in the context of this study. The study ignites thorough cognition of their implicit existence on social media to differentiate them explicitly. Key words: Ethos, Logos, Pathos, Language, Social Media, Culture

MEDYADA GERÇEKLİĞİN İNŞASINDA OKURUN ROLÜ

MEDYADA GERÇEKLİĞİN İNŞASINDA OKURUN ROLÜ (Hürriyet gazetesi okur yorumları üzerine bir analiz) Onur DURSUN Zeynep Feride GÜDER Öz Günümüzde medya organizasyonları, haber metinlerinde gerçekliği inşa etmede yetersiz kalabilmektedir. Bu gibi durumlarda devreye okur girerek, yorumlarıyla haberde ifade edilmeyen bilgileri ifade etmekte veya metnin boşluklarını tamamlamaya çalışmaktadır. Veya haber metnini, metnin sunmuş olduğu bilgiler dışında tartışmaya açabilmektedir. Özetle liberal medya, olayların gerçek boyutlarını veya olası sonuçlarını haber metinlerinde açık bir şekilde anlatmamakta ama okurun bu doğrultuda bir tavır takınmasına izin vermektedir. Böylece sorumluluğu kısmen okur yüklenmektedir. Bu çalışmada metinlerin özellikleri, okur türleri üzerinde durulmuştur. Farklı düşünürlerin alımlama kavramına ilişkin düşüncelerine değinilmiştir. Sosyal medyada yayınlanan haber metinlerine okuyucunun, yorumlarla nasıl müdahale ettiği üzerinde durulmuştur. Örnek olarak Hürriyet gazetesinin internet sitesinde yayınlanan dört farklı haberi ve bu haberlerin yorumları analiz edilmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: metin, okur (alımlama), medya, metin tamamlama, metin yorumlama. THE ROLE OF THE READER IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY IN MEDIA (An analysis of the reader interpretation of Hürriyet newspaper) Abtract Nowadays, media organizations are able to inadequate to construct reality in the news texts. In such cases readers try to express informations, which has not been expressed in the text of news, or complete the blanks of the text by joining in the process with her/his interpretation. Readers bring the text of news up for discussion in the context of informations which have not been expressed by the text of news. In sum, liberal media could not tell the real dimension of events or possible consequences in the text of news but allows reader to assume an attitude in that direction. Thus reader partially assume the responsibility. In the study features of texts and types of reader are emphasized and focused on various reception theories. Text of the news and its reader’s interpretations published in the social media are investigated. It examines that how reader interferes news text in the context of the reality by making interpretation. Four different news texts and their reader interpretations published on the website of Hürriyet newspaper are analysed. Key Words: text, reader, (reception), media, complementing of the text, interpretation of the text.

GÖÇ, KİMLİK VE MEKAN

GÖÇ, KİMLİK VE MEKAN Feride Zeynep Güder Ağustos, 2012 f.guder@iku.edu.tr Abstract: In this paper, immigration, identity and being part of a space will be conceptualised in the context of urban dwelling. From an amateur or an expert point of view for a city reading, Barthes ironically proposes that one could not be an architect, a city planner, a historian, a topographer and a semiologist at the same time. This study will focus on the concepts of immigration, identity, identification and settledness via modernist and postmodernist outlook. Heidegger’s insight of Dasein as “being itself” and Schultz’s identity and settledness will be analysed. “City life” and “speed” as the epitome of superficiality and emptiness for Kundera are the first phenomena an immigrant experiences. Along with the speed in modern and postmodern philosophy with Kundera’s relation to speed and anaesthesia, the phenomenon of slow city, Cittaslow, will be examined. In addition to these insights, Smith’s controversial thoughts on corruption in city life will be discussed as he defends that living in a city discourages to be a good individual both physically and morally. Keywords: Immigration, Identity, Identification, Cittaslow, Corruption

Fahrenheit 451

GİRİŞ
1. FAHRENHEIT 451

Ne gelecek? Gelecek ne getirecek? Bilmiyorum hiç bir şey sezmiyorum. Bir örümcek, belirli bir noktadan hedefine doğru indiğinde, önünde hep, ne denli çırpınsa da ayağını basamayacağı boş bir uzam görür. Benim durumum da böyle; önümde hep boş bir uzam; beni öne doğru götüren ise, arkamda kalmış bir sonuçtur. Bu yaşam ters ve dehşet verici, dayanılacak gibi değil.
Kierkegaard[1]

AÇIK YAPIT-UMBERTO ECO

AÇIK YAPIT
Rahat bir okuma yapılamıyor Açık Yapıt'ta. Ele alınan konu çetrefilli. Ve yazarın bu konunun hemen her katmanını açıklaması. Açık yapıt kitabı, basitçe modern sanat eserlerinin geleneksel sanat eserlerinden ayrılmasını tanımlayan bir sanat kuramı. Ancak kitap verdiği örnekler, açıklamalar ve bölümleriyle, bir sanat kuramı çerçevesini aşmakta.
Bir çırpıda okunabilecek sıradan bir kitap olmaması yüzünden, Açık Yapıt özel bir yaklaşım gerektiriyor...Hatta entelektüel bir savaş. Bir ön hazırlık yapmalı ki bilgi birikimimiz yeterli olsun ve yapılan göndermeler havada kalmasın. Kitabın kabuğunu kırma işlemi postmodern okumaya geçmeden az önceki durak. Girizgah olarak, kitapta bahsedilen temel kavramların tanımlarını iyice oturtmam gerekti. Sırasıyla gerekli gördüğüm kavramlar, kitaplar, eserler ve isimler şunlar;poetika, logos, pragmatizm, arketipal yolculuk, yananlam, göstergebilim, etkileşimli psikoloji, kavrama evreleri, chaos, cosmos, anlamsal çokluk, entropi, olasılık dışı, Gestalt teori, Piaget, Ulysess, Finnegans Wake, İlahi Komedya, Dewey, Wiener Sibernetik.
Benim kabaca verdiğim bu ön hazırlıktan sonra, Okurken belli bir içe kapanıklık gerekiyor. Tıpkı karanlık odada filmin banyo edilmesi gibi beynimizdeki karanlık odayı, fikirler yavaş yavaş otururken dış dünyanın gürültüsünden uzak tutmaya çalıştım. Kitapta geçen ilginç örnekleri kaçırmamaya çalışayaım derken paranoyak bir okur haline gelmeniz an meselesi:)
BÖLÜM 1 -AÇIK YAPIT POETİKASI
Bu bölümde açık yapıtın tanımı üzerinde durulmuş. Günümüzde, müzik eserleri bestecileri yorumcusuna kendi değerlendirmesi için belli bir özgürlük alanı sağlamaktadır. Açık yapıt bir müzik eseri ise yorumcusuna kendi yorumunu katacak özgürlüğü veren bir eserdir. Burada geleneksel yapının katı yaklaşımından uzaklaşılmakta. Kitapta adı geçen klasik eserler; Eine Klein Nacht Music, Aida yapısı gereği pek de açık olmayan eserlere örnek teşkil ederlerken, Scambi gibi eserlerde açık yapıt olarak açıklanıyor.
Bu yüzden, bu noktada estetik kuramcılar, açık yapıt konusunu iki açıdan tartışmışlar: Bir eserin tamamlanmışlığı ve açıklığı. Standard duruma göre bir sanat eseri tamamlanmış bir ürün olmalıdır. Diğer bir değişle, bir sanatçının bir dizi iletişimsel etkiyle, kendi yarattığı özgün kompozisyonu her izleyicinin kendine göre anlamlandıracağı şekilde düzenleme uğraşının so ürünüdür." (Eco 9-10)
Pousseur bu konuya açıklık getirmiştir. Açık yapıtın poetikası yorumcu açısından "bilinçli özgürlüğün, edimlerini kolaylaştırır, onu sınırsız bir iç ilişkiler ağının odak noktasına koyar." Yani yorumcu, kendi formunu oluştururken dış zorunluluklardan çok kendi iç ilişkilerine bakarak düzenlemelerini yapar. Açık yapıtı tamamlanmamış eser diye niteleyenlere karşı bir savunma geliştirir. Açık yapıt bir eserin bitmemiş olduğu anlamına gelmez. Açıklık kelimesini geniş anlamda ele almalıyız der ve şöyle devam eder; "Herhangi bir sanat yapıtı izleyiciye bitmemiş bir durumda aktarılmamışsa bile özgür ve yaratıcı bir yanıt ister." Çünkü der, "yorumcu yaratıcıyla psikolojik bir işbirliği içinde yapıtı yeniden yaratana kadar yapıttan haz alamaz" Tabii burada önemli bir noktayı kaçırmamalıyız. Açıklık sadece sanatsal yorumun kaçınılmaz bir öğesi değil. Açıklık sanatçının kendi üretiminin olumlu bir yanıdır ve sanatçı işini en üst düzeyde "açıklığa" ulaşacak şekilde sunar (Pousseur qtd. in Eco 11).