***Editie online: Anul nr. III

februarie 6, 2025

Interview with Prof. Dr. Nilüfer PEMBECİOĞLU- Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television, Cinema, and a Member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Association for Content for Children (ÇİÇEK).

Nilufer Pembecioglu has completed her undergraduate education at Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Foreign Language Education Department of English Language Teaching. She took her MA from; Marmara University, Institute of Social Sciences, Atatürk Education Faculty, Department of Foreign Language Education, Department of English Language Education. Upon completion of her Ph.D. in Istanbul University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, she also continued her education graduating from Cambridge University English Language Teaching Department DOTE as well as European Union Department. She also graduated from Health Institutions Management Department, and Civil Air Transportation Management Department.
She has done many academic studies and field research in the field of education and communication. As a teacher trainer and education professional she provided training at national and international level and produced many publications, documentaries and short films in these fields.
She is the organizer of the International Children and Communication Congress and International Children Films Festival starting from 2003. Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Pembecioğlu is a faculty member at Istanbul University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television, Cinema, and a Member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Association for Content for Children (ÇİÇEK).

Information sources: https://www.cocukicinicerik.com/yonetimkurulu/prof–dr–nilufer-pembecioglu-1

Mrs. Pembecioglu how did you come to specialize in communications and why did you focus on disadvantaged groups such as children, young people and refugees?

My main areas of competence include teacher training, education, and English language teaching. I started my teacher training in 1986, and I’m still working on it today. In the meantime, I organized and took part in a number of in-service teacher training sessions, the majority of which dealt with advice on how to teach English to young learners, specifically preschoolers. My MA in Testing English as a Foreign Language was then completed. Later, I pursued a Ph. D. in linguistics, but at the time it was in another location, and after passing the classes, I chose not to continue with the dissertation. Instead, I began a new Ph.D. in the discipline of communication. I believed that media played a significant influence in learning a foreign language. Media was both the aim and aid to language teaching. I decided on the Radio Television Cinema Department to assess the media’s educational value, capacity, impact and other factors. But then I realized something more significant! Childhood and the child stood at the intersection of the fields of education and communication. Thus, „Children and Communication” blossomed to me as my main issue.
As my research on children, communication, and education widened and deepened, I came to the realization that there was not just one type of childhood, contrary to what we had previously believed, and that different childhoods could be shared at various points in history and across various geographies, even in the same city and on the same street. I too had seen both the advantageous and negative implications of life as a city girl and a village girl. Unfortunately, inequality, a lack of access to resources, inadequate care, and lack of education were rendering youngsters vulnerable. And as people aged, the Information Gap that had developed in childhood grew larger and deeper. Because of this, I believe we should concentrate on disadvantaged kids, especially those that lag behind in terms of their health, education, social status, and economic status. Sadly, due to recent wars, this group now includes refugees! Working with them, in my opinion, is helping to build a new society with new values and priorities in addition to assisting with healing them.

What inspired you to organize events like ICCC & ICFF and JMComm and how do you think they contribute to the development of education and communication?


At this point, on the one hand, you need to overcome the vulnerability of children and strengthen them. Yet, on the other hand, the parties who come into touch with children, such as parents, teachers, education administrators, curriculum designers, as well as media professionals and media producers, need to be made more aware of the delicate issues of children. This indicates that many groups need to collaborate, identify issues, and provide solutions. Thus, in my opinion, a congress layout appeared to be the ideal solution for bringing all of these groups together. Governmental and non-governmental organizations from all over the world met under the cover of the Congress to discuss the issues, conduct field research, and share their findings, fears and applications. On the other side, the media provided the youngsters with the best examples of media by bringing its best products.
Sustainability is crucial, of course. We had the chance to run the congress for seven years, but things change when presidents are replaced and when there is no formation outside the university that feeds the congress economically.  Another solution was provided by TRT (Turkish Radio Television), which concentrated on the media sector of the industry rather than the educational sector. TRT organized numerous events of this nature at which media creators for children gathered and had highly successful conferences. Due to the epidemic, we have been taking an extended break from these conferences, but we intend to resume them as soon as possible.
All of these conferences, seminars, and workshops increased participants’ knowledge, aided in the information’s quicker and more efficient spread, and contributed to establishing the child concept as a crucial one. Children’s bookstores developed new, higher-quality works, and all child-oriented productions were assessed in a healthier approach. Numerous children’s channels were also established. These activities must continue as long as the „vaccination” of each and every individual in the society on this issue is achieved. Furthermore, it seems that field research and the quest for improvement will never come to an end as more pressing issues like the number of the refugee children increase everywhere in the world.
Being unique in its content and function, the Children and Communication Congress aims to make the following possible
➢ Establishing a more sensitive society to consider children’s issues carefully and having a national and international contribution to “children and communication” issues through creative projects and collaborations;
➢ Motivating the researchers and academicians to have and take part in more projects concerning the “Children and Communication” issues and fundraising – financing these projects through national and international institutions;
➢ Establishing a rich platform having the opportunity of sharing the results of national and international research;
➢ Preparing an effective substructure and updated infrastructure to disseminate the project results to maintain the highest contribution and sharing;
➢ Establishing a network to include all the institutions having research and collaboration on a national and international basis and strengthening the previously established contacts through new projects;
➢ Creating a platform in which all the related data is kept and updated, new Project Works and topics are announced and results are shared in a multidisciplinary, multi-dimensional, multifunctional network;
➢ Having traditional annual academic events as one of the most respected congresses of the world;
In this regard, the congress was successful in forming collaborations with numerous national and worldwide organizations in order to offer educational services and spread values. Additionally, it welcomed a large number of domestic, foreign, and independent filmmakers to contribute their short films and documentaries for screening at children’s film festivals.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTPEVV1CjEk&t=42s; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcaiYtE0iTU&t=559s; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyeCDgJKMUI&t=11s)
How do you see the importance of the concept of the child and children in the field of education and communication, and how do you try to give them a voice in your projects and articles?
First of all, parents run the risk of making several mistakes when caring for their children since they are not fully aware of how to be good parents. Concepts like the environment in which the child grows up, families with many children, generational disparities, glocolocal challenges, and the impact of media are frequently used to explain how children cultivate themselves negatively. Rather than taking the responsibility of raising their own children, the majority of families hand them over this responsibility either to education system and schools, teachers or to the media. But neither the media nor the classroom have full authority to rule the youngster. In other words, these institutions are not suitable for undertaking the responsibility of raising children.

Both education and the media present patterns that make children look alike and constantly desire that they be the same, which kills their ability to be creative and unique. But today, we can more clearly observe that people who don’t foster their creativity as children, fails to contribute to society. The relevance of art, aesthetics, music, rhythm, literature, body language, communication skills, and benevolence in the upbringing of children is emphasized in all research. Children internalize what they frequently consume and later on they begin to put it into use in their own living forms and spaces. Children who are exposed to violence from an early age grow up to be rude, disruptive careless, and selfish people. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure the youngster is well socialized and educated through  a real and functional participation in education, and experiencing good examples in the society through good media.
On the other hand, parents may believe that they are protecting their kids by giving them the best opportunities or that they are excellent parents, but this strategy might fail to yield results that are sufficient. The kids can openly and explicitly tell us what’s wrong when we ask them. Therefore, it is extremely important to extend the microphone more to children and to make their voices more audible. Because kids typically don’t speak until they’re prompted to and because they don’t always know how to express themselves effectively. Adults frequently fail to hear the feeble screams of youngsters because they are preoccupied with other things and do not focus on their children.
I made sure to plan events that were primarily centered on children’s creativity for this reason. For instance, we placed a high value on the scenarios created by children, as well as the movies and television shows they made, the artwork they created, and all of their experiences. In this approach, I believe that we have been successful in utilizing children’s perspective, imagination, and creativity to come up with beneficial outcomes, and that by understanding more about kids, we can better empower their voices. Given the large child population both in our country and the rest of the world, we absolutely need this. Children make up 2.850 billion of the world’s inhabitants.


What are the main topics you address in your research and publications and how do you choose your research topics?


All fields of study relating to children and children’s issues should be covered under the research themes. Childhood studies, children’s rights, civic access to information, family communication, children’s involvement in culture, children’s studies, and children’s social and communicative development are all significant. Today, we are aware that most children spend more time at school than with their parents. As a result, communication in schools is becoming considerably more essential. Time management, health concerns, the impact of the curriculum, peer pressure, affective learning, and career decisions are therefore crucial, as is homeschooling for disadvantaged or talented kids. Playgrounds, healthy city designs, games, and innovation in the arts, as well as performances, are vital subjects since they are a key component of children’s plays. Mass media does not give much importance to children in general that’s why we need to put a special emphasis on the production of children’s publications, periodicals gain more importance. Sustainable circumstances for development, health, and education are hindered by war. Wars also prevent democratization, economic development, and children’s rights, as well as their involvement in society and use of freedoms. Nowadays, digitalization is becoming one of the hot topics to be discussed as well.
All recent scientific discoveries are actually about childhood and children. We must realize that every discipline of science—from technology to economics, history to culture, archeology to architecture, linguistics to sociology and psychology—is concerned with children. Furthermore, it’s important to respect children’s creativity, perception, and intelligence. Children are able to come up with really original answers and creative solutions when they are offered participation in  issues. For instance, TEKNOFEST, one of the kid-friendly events, presented ten different technological competitions in Baku Crystal Hall in 2022. 1,010 teams and 5,636 competitors participated in these activities. (https://www.teknofest.org/tr/corporate/about/).
Every minute, kids make you observe a brand-new phenomenon. To improve their awareness of art, for instance, and to see what they could write about it, we intended to present to 250 kids various works of art. At the end, 250 excellent short stories were presented. Later on, though, we wanted to look at these narratives as well. I’m curious about the heroes the kids choose for their tales—are there more female or male ones? Further even more, you ponder the names they have given their heroes, including whether they are national or international names. At every stage, it seems as though you are discovering childhood and kids and their genuine perspective all over again while still adding new scientific findings to the field. This is an extraordinarily beautiful workspace when you focus on children and childhood and communication.


How do you see the role of foreign languages in education and how do you encourage students to learn and use foreign languages in the field of communication?


Consumption and childhood are strongly related phenomena. Children employ all of their perceptions, values, experiences, and yields in the process of becoming adults. The degree to which the youngster is raised in each culture and which one he assimilates and utilizes more becomes crucial at this point. The media is becoming more significant. The media has the ability to provide examples to kids from all over the world because of its visual nature, accessibility, and closeness to them. It matters where children are in the globalization process in terms of their own upbringing, families, locations, and cities.
It is usually limited by how open the child is to other cultures, the attitudes and behaviors s/he develops against them, the stereotypes s/he has acquired, the languages s/he can speak and how much s/he can understand and perceive life. In this context, it is possible to see that multilingualism provides an incredible advantage starting from childhood. Because when we concentrate on the connection between input and output, it becomes clear that children who experience more foreign cultures and have the ability to absorb input more quickly due to their multiple languages can produce superior output in their life.
At this point, the importance of early childhood education emerges. Knowing different languages offers the child the opportunity to understand and experience the world in different ways. However, beyond that, the important issue here is not only the difference of language, but also the importance of experiencing different language skills. You know, children first learn the language by listening and then they start to speak. They need to be trained to learn to read, and then we expect them to write. Unless we put these four skills into life in a balanced way, we cannot expect healthy children to grow. One of the biggest dangers today is that children put aside all these language skills and focus only on visuals and move away from their motor skills. This means a process that negatively affects their reasoning ability, accessing information, processing information and producing new information. Therefore, the richness and creative use of language in the childhood world is extremely important for the child’s future and success.
Children with limited language skills (restricted in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure) may lack the ability to express themselves in a variety of ways and may not be familiar with language arts techniques like metaphors and allusions. Like a parrot, the young child can only communicate by repeating what s/he watches on television. He might not know how important each occurrence is in the sequence s/he is recounting. He is unable to construct a cause-and-effect link, which prevents him from connecting events, circumstances, and facts and from drawing the appropriate conclusions when making judgments. Furthermore, s/he might not be aware of the dangers of miscommunication. This indicates that the child repeats the same routines without contributing anything new to himself, without invading the language capacity, without revealing his creativity, and without feeling any sense of necessity to express himself / herself to the others.


What do you think is the key to success in language teaching and how do you ensure that your students develop their language skills?


Language is the most important treasure handed down to us from our environment. The mother is the most effective factor in the child’s language acquisition. When a suitable communication language is established between the mother and the child, it is observed that the child is informed very quickly, is peaceful, happy and creative. Earlier studies argued that the more words a language has, the more effective it is. However, nowadays, the importance of creativity, that is, languages that can express the most with the least number of words, has been grasped. For example, children born in Nigeria, where more than 500 languages are spoken, learns five languages as their mother tongue. As a result, Nigeria’s creativity can be seen in almost every field today. For example, the Nigerian film industry has managed to attract attention in the global film world with its creativity and productivity. In Nollywood, the number of movies shot in the last 4 years is more than 2,000.
We carried out a pilot project in three kindergartens about ten years ago and tested whether children in kindergarten could distinguish between 5 languages and learn 100 words from each in a week. Our work yielded positive results, and we observed the success of each of the children attending different schools with children from families from different socio-economic levels.
Knowing a language and being able to use it successfully and functionally are two very different things, of course. In order to assist children develop the habit of using the right language, we advise parents and instructors to specifically support their own language use and correct any errors of the children may make when necessary. Additionally, communication with people who have healthy language awareness is required for the child’s language use to be healthy. The child won’t speak or participate unless they feel like they are actually being heard. Conversational skills, bargaining skills, politeness and the ability to apologize are all things that are learned in childhood. There are big differences between all these and the slang language, which is widely used in the media today.
From a different angle, it is important for the other children to match his level of excellence in order for the quality to improve. It is not enough for just one child to be good. Otherwise, even the most educated and well-equipped child may stop talking and listening owing to what we refer to as peer pressure. Or, in an effort to blend in with his friends, he might start using inappropriate words.

How do you integrate art and communication into the learning process and how do you think it can enhance the student experience?

How to integrate art and communication into the learning process is actually a phenomenon that begins and ends with the student. We, as parents or educators, can only give them examples, guide them or enable these productions. We are aware that students who begin creating once and become notable for their products within the social structure can go on to produce better and more advanced work as a result of the inspiration they receive from their accomplishment. Therefore, I think we shouldn’t provide a negative assessment of any artistic or communicational production. We should, of course, evaluate this reasonably and make assessments without exaggerating the case. Evaluations such as „this is not beautiful enough, what is this, I do not understand” should not be made in a negative way, which will hinder the hope and creativity of the child. Because the child will shape his/her later productions with the feedback s/he receives. If, at first, they consider art and aesthetics as something artificial outside the subject, this will be the case and their impression throughout life. However, communication, art, and aesthetics are all aspects of life that can only be acquired via experience. For this reason, it is important to provide a positive example for students in this area. Success stories can also be shared, and chances for experimentation can be made available until pupils are sufficiently successful. I believe that in these situations it is vital to emphasize exhibitions over competitions. Because the first, second, and third place winners in the competition win, every other competitor is disappointed. When the event takes the shape of an exhibition or a festival, however, everyone takes part having their own creation, and everyone is pleased.
We worked on a project with school-dropout kids in Adana a few years ago. We were aware that many children drop out of school and turn to crime because Adana has a high rate of crime. We gathered the dropouts together and had a discussion about why they left school. We sought to determine what support they required to return to school and further their education by asking them about their goals in life. Many were musical but did not know how to play a musical instrument. We asked them which musical instruments they wanted to play and we bought them. We have created an environment where they can receive musical education. Some of them expressed a desire to dance, and we organized dance groups for them by inviting teachers to instruct them in folkloric dances. Soon after, other school pupils began to participate in these dancing and music groups, and soon a lovely harmony was created. We recruited well-known performers to perform at large concerts with these kids. After each concert, the kids felt better, and they were excited when their news made it into the paper. They were brought back to school when their success developed as they became aware that they had produced something and had been successful.


How do you see the evolution of journalism in the digital age and how do you prepare students for the challenges and opportunities brought by new media?

The public is no longer informed of the prices of food and beverages by the press, nor are the official rules made known to everybody. Journalism has new functions in the 21st century. We can see that in the digital age, journalism—mostly political, agenda-setting news—has taken the lead as one of the most important sources of information for people. However, information security is crucial, as are the sources of your information, the amount and types of information you share, as well as how you react to new information. It becomes crucial to be adaptable and quick to replace both outdated information with new one. Information ethics, journalism ethics, media pedagogy, media literacy proficiency, and speed all become crucial at this stage. These skills are the basics for the new curriculum at school.
Along with saving paper, new media also brought about a shift in the reader and journalist roles from passive to active. Now, anyone could serve as a journalist, photographer, or information source, and they can use digital media to share their news and creative works. In addition, he has the option of commenting on the news he hears, fostering greater interaction between the giver and the recipient. Additionally, people might become aware of skewed or one-sided news by reading the same news from other sources of information. News archives can be developed and used in a useful way, and the dissemination and follow-up of news in local, regional, national, and international news can be viewed much more clearly.
It is a challenge for those who would like to become part-time journalists, to be the news-source or to express their opinions or comments on the news. But it also brings a lot of infollution (information pollution) that everybody sings the same song in a different way, in different tunes, in different languages. The chorus is becoming an enormous one, so much so that there appears a doubt who is listening to them all. Sometimes there occurs the need to purify things. We call it a kind of „media diet” not to make use of any media to get rid of the negative impacts of it.

What do you think media literacy means and how do you contribute to the development of this competence among students?


In its very broad terms, Media Literacy means being aware of the fact that the media creates a media culture that shapes our worldview, identity, personality, learning styles and our environment, and that everyone should be sensitized on this issue. When it comes to teaching, Media Literacy includes the skills to access, analyze, evaluate and transmit messages directed to society or individuals through various forms of mass media. Having Media Literacy skills means that individuals are able to perceive, receive, evaluate and interpret the system of signs and images called the media sufficiently well and effectively. Media literacy means, on the one hand, developing the infrastructure that will enable the individual to understand and analyze the media. On the other hand, it means empowering individuals to produce their own original messages and announce them to the masses. This is the only way to create a democratic and civic, digital society in the 21st century. Media literacy emphasizes that it is important to ensure that the messages conveyed by the media are read objectively and correctly, to understand the functioning of media institutions, to be aware of the manipulation power of the media, and to understand that the media also has the function of managing individuals and societies.
Media Literacy is not just for children. Professionals like parents, educators, teens, legislators, industrial engineers, artists, and policy makers should all be media literate.
The ability to adequately and successfully consume and interpret the system of signs and images known as media is referred to as media literacy. Being a semiotician is necessary for media literacy in order to comprehend indicators and raise awareness.
An individual should have the ability to handle media messages critically in addition to merely consuming them. It’s important for people to form the proper media habits to avoid falling prey to the media’s allure, which is growing more varied and alluring every day. Each member of society must be able to analyze what the media is.
In their daily lives, people spend more than 60% of their time with media. It implies that we must ascertain what the media genuinely provides for and what it receives from the public. Media developers, message designers, producers, agenda setters, and „conscious consumers” who know how to use the media well are some of the people who gain media literacy skills.
Men can position themselves correctly, be critical readers, manage their perceptions, and control their knowledge by understanding the media world. A person who is exposed to the various emotional states that the media presents can balance their emotional intensity in addition to being a thinker in a multidimensional perspective.
How we try to contribute to the development of this competence among students is a complicated way. We want children and young people to think beyond perceiving the media as a goal. Restricting the use of the media for simple needs such as appearing on social media, being famous, promoting a game may mislead them about the purposes of the media. So we want them to understand that the media is just a tool and should be used for more important purposes. We also strive for them to understand that media visibility is not a goal. We need to open their horizons to what the real aims of the media might be. Only in this way can we prevent the manipulative use of the media. We have so many workshops and conferences regarding this point.
Also, we do not want the media to be portrayed as a bogeyman and to restrict children’s media skills. Instead, we want examples that children and young people can use safely. Thus, the media can cease to be a concept that is avoided and seen as an enemy and can become a sharing area where individuals can communicate in a healthy way. Of course, we need the cooperation of parents, teachers and all educators, broadcasters in guiding children, in guiding their media awareness and skills. Competence and performance are important concepts. Competence needs to be developed first, only then performance can be improved. We also care about children’s media competencies, this is necessary for their future media performances to be healthy, sensitive and meaningful. Competence and performance are also important concepts. Competence needs to be developed first, only then performance can be improved. We also care about children’s media competencies, this is necessary for their future media performances to be healthy, sensitive and meaningful.

How do you see the role of peace journalism and how do you encourage students to address sensitive topics and promote dialogue and understanding?

I have received and given trainings on peace journalism many times. In order to be able to talk about Peace Journalism, we must first be people who have adopted the concept of peace. It is necessary to talk about a society where there are individuals who are at peace with themselves, who can control their anger, and who are ready to negotiate. The journalist’s job should not lie, distort or add fuel to the fire so that the media he works for can sell more. Peace journalism cannot go hand in hand with an understanding that unnecessarily enlarges many issues for the sake of visibility, maximizing or minimizing issues that do not work for them. An understanding that normalizes or neutralizes events is also something that the media should not do in the real sense. However, unfortunately, many magazines, newspapers, daily or weekly newspapers are setting up clickbait type news in order to sell and be read more. How can we expect journalists to think and broadcast on more sensitive issues when this is the case on the most general and mundane issues? We need to develop a deep common sense to see the parts of a news we have read that we have not read. However, not every individual of the society may be so conscious or educated. Therefore, journalists need to develop a truly sincere and careful understanding of journalism. A language that aims to enlighten the reader instead of leaving him wondering, and that prefers simplicity rather than complicating events and situations is required. We need to train journalists who are aware of the many different sensitivities that all types of readers may have. Only then, we can have journalists who really think about every detail, from headlines to photos attached to them, from which points to highlight and which words to choose. The identity of the journalist who is the closest to the subject and reporting on the most sensitive issues, for example crime scene reporting and war journalism, is extremely important. There is a very important saying: „Trust me! I’m a journalist!” says. However, it is really sad to see that many journalists today do not take this as a principle. Peace journalism, in a sense, presents a situation where journalism would be „redundant”. However, this creates a contradiction for the media who want to sell more. Because in times of peace, when people are happy and peaceful, news is not watched, and news seems more necessary when people are restless, unhappy and in conflict.
Therefore, it can be thought that the main task of today’s journalists is to make the newspaper sell. Not only the traditional media, but also the social media, which has been on the agenda for the last ten years, seems to be problematic in the context of peace journalism. We can see how effectively social media is used to spread fake news. Apart from this, the fact that people live in groups of their own choosing and live among ideas that are similar to their own, in other words the echo chamber effect, brings with it a separate conflict. I think people need to relearn the „culture of living together” and choose to compromise rather than fight and conflict with each other. Otherwise, it does not seem possible to talk about a culture of peace. As Peacemakers or Peacebuilders, the only thing to do is just to help people to see the truth not through the newspapers but through different sources to make them capable to evaluate the bits and pieces.

How do you see the relationship between film and communication and how do you encourage students to explore this connection in their studies?

Mankind has been telling and listening to stories since the first pages of history. The rise of movies today is not a coincidence, and therefore the number of movies shot around the world has approached the number of stars in the Milky Way. We know that people have limited time to live, only one life, and certain geographies and time zones. We can only imagine what someone in the 15th or 17th century now thought and felt at the time. Yet, through films and digital media we can not only make it real but also make the others feel as well. Movies have a transformative and thought-provoking effect, driving dreams and bringing them face to face with reality. That’s why people love and watch movies.
A part of a movie, a line or a scene is enough to disconnect us from the real world. Of course, depending on the purpose of watching, this can also create a structure that strengthens the connection between the film and communication, or it can mean a blow that breaks this relationship. For example, individuals can model good and beautiful behaviors in movies, they can deduce what it would feel like to be in a different city by looking at the images, and they might feel a desire to go and see them. All these can be considered as positive reflections of the fictional film on the real communication. However, people have increasingly started to prefer virtual life over real life.
With the films shot in studios and exhibited by the cinema industry, instead of the films made with individual efforts and with limited budgets, people began to be directed and manipulated by films. We live in a 21st century where movies set the agenda. Each film constructs its own reality and directs people to think and evaluate in a certain way. Of course, in line with the theories of uses and gratification, people limit themselves through movies and experience more of what they long for. This means that movies offer an escape opportunity to all humanity, in the context of escaping from reality, society and even from self, humanity begins to prefer a designed reality to the real reality. For example, when young and middle-aged people come together, they choose to go to the cinema, watch a movie on TV or a movie platform at home, instead of telling each other about their experiences and sharing their feelings and experiences with them. Thus, as they watch more movies, they become less communicative people. They add to themselves what they see in movies as if they had tried it in real life.
In the past, the same was said for literature. It was emphasized that the world’s leading authors should be read, and reading lists were given to the students. There were very strong judgments that the reading brain and the non-reading brain would not be the same. Now we experience the same thing in the context of movies. We think that the brain of someone who has watched thousands of movies and the life of someone who has never watched them are not the same, we give movie recommendations to those around us, we choose the endless richness of the movie world by ignoring real life.

What motivates you to write and direct documentaries and how do you think they can influence social and cultural consciousness?

The French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS) is one of the world’s leading research organizations. Within this Center, my participation in the Nice – Lazaret and Tautavel excavations in France in 1996 under the direction of Prof. Henry de Lumley provided an incredible experience in the field of archeology and anthropology. After the publication of my book titled „Writings on Documentary Films” in 2004, I started to shoot documentaries in the field of archeology both in Turkey. Afterwards, I was the co-coordinator of the “Caria, Carians and Mylasa Symposium” where the results of Aegean archeology excavations in Turkey for the last 15 years were presented. My decisions, production and vision have been influenced by my experiences. The films I produce and my experience in the world of filmmaking can also be considered to be influenced by the actions of all these various disciplines. It is not a coincidence that I have six documentaries supported by the Ministry of Culture and Istanbul University.
I have a 30-minute archeology and history documentary titled „The Lost Civilization of the Aegean, Lelegs”, supported by Istanbul University. This documentary emphasizes that the only thing that brought the Leleges, who lived on the Aegean coast around 500 BC and did not have a written language, to the present day are the settlements and the structures they built, and that the structures they produced in a total of 7 settlements still stand up to time. Similarly, my 60-minute documentary film titled „Passing Through the Doors of the Past”, supported by Istanbul University, focuses on the doors of Istanbul as well as visualizing the vanishing wooden doors and doorknobs today.
One of my books published in 2018, „Between Past and Future – Antract”, is the product of a project called „Creative Industries and Sustainable Development” that I and my colleague Jūrate Černevičiūtė at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University in Lithuania worked on.
The book analyzes the Turkish film industry by comparing and contrasting its past, present and future. I also have a documentary film titled Turkish Cinema Industry, which includes part of the book and the interviews with the Turkish filmmakers. About my filmmaking experience, there is a 60-minute art documentary called „The Genius whose Works Before His Name: Sıtkı Usta”. For the „Little Footprints” project, there are 30 short films produced with young children, scripts written by children, and all the creativity in front of and behind the camera is realized by children. There is also a short film called „Çanakkale Women” shot with the support of the Ministry of Customs to support Women Entrepreneurs.
Joining „Animanie International Summer School” I also found the chance of working with Czech Republic and Croatia teams on animation and had 8 animation films to be screened in „Festival Animanie”
In the period of 2014-2018, I was one of the faculty members of the Turkish-German Joint Master’s-Master’s Program in International Media Studies. This program was a collaboration between Istanbul University, Bonn University, Bonn Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and International German publisher Deutsche Welle based in Bonn. In this context, professors Dr. I am also happy to have the privilege of working with Michael Krzeminski and Christoph Schmidt. Within the framework of the program, I taught many courses titled Journalism, Media, Politics and Society, Media and Science and Media Education and Communication, and worked with many thesis students on their documentary film projects (http://www.dw.com/en/). dw-akademie/masters-degree/s-12276).
When the Syrian war broke out, I became more concerned with immigration issues and the situation of Syrian refugees and children, especially because of their growing importance for Turkey.
We collaborated on a “Peace Journalism” project with Dr. Steve Youngblood of the Park University Center for Peace Journalism in Missouri, USA. Since 2015, we have organized three workshops on Peace Journalism and an international journalism summit in Adana, Malatya and Istanbul. My 90-minute documentary “Puzzle”, which I prepared to visualize the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey, was produced with the support of the US Embassy and was screened in Turkey, Greece, Hungary, the USA, the Czech Republic and various international conferences, as well as other face-to-face and online environments.
Looking back, I see that each of these studies has a scientific basis that extends beyond just filmmaking and necessitates a research-based methodology and process. Additionally, I think of documentaries as social commentary products that attempt to combine several academic fields like anthropology, art, architecture, politics, history, and history. A transformational instrument, documentary aims to reexplain society and the cosmos we inhabit to the public. And I believe it to be quite effective. When viewers of the documentary „Leleges” come across a building while out on nature excursions, they share their photos with me and let me know about it by submitting the coordinates and other details of it. This reveals that they realized the importance of our Intangible Cultural Heritage as well as our historical and cultural assets.
People who watch the documentary „Doorknobs of the past” take pictures of doorknobs from different nations and send them to me or tag me on social media. This demonstrates that the movie helped them to have an aesthetic pleasure of the doorknobs and admire the beauty of the past. Furthermore, the film is not only watched and forgotten but has an impact on them. I frequently hear additional immigration and refugee stories after „Puzzle” screenings, and people want their stories to be told as well. I believe the magic of „documentary” is responsible for all of this. The documentary film, like all other films, includes a component that permeates people’s lives, but it stands out from other fictional films and creates tangible linkages with reality while also raising awareness.
How do you see the impact of new media and digital technology on communication and how do you prepare students to adapt to these changes?
I have focused mostly on digital education and media literacy issues for the past 20 years, and via the active policies of the Turkish Ministry of Education, we were able to provide online training for 32.000 teachers who participated in schools as instructors of elective „Media Literacy”courses. We continue to organize the „Teacher Academies” and „Parents Academies” with the Ministry of Education through regular lectures, conferences, and workshops. In each training session, the participants were uneasy, a little confused, standing at a point that did not know what to do. After the training was over, I was very happy to see that they turned into individuals who were self-confident, understood the media, could question the media and produce their own media. In 2004, I participated as a teacher training trainer in a Grundtvig 3 project supported by the EU through INFO PROJECT, an international adult education center, and „Project Management and New Technologies (IT) in Education” in Romania. Hudrea Mariana Gabriela (Info Project SRL – Colegiul Național „Mihai Eminescu” in Baia Mare, Maramures, Romania) was responsible for the project. In three separate periods and in six teacher groups, we organized in-service training courses that support all teachers in Maramures state to acquire and use IT skills in their lessons. They were very happy when teachers were able to use the media effectively as a part of their classroom teaching techniques. This information is extremely important not only for teachers, but also for parents and even grandparents. It allows individuals from different age groups to understand and share something with each other, preventing the formation of an intergeneration gap. We must not allow the media to become something that changes our understanding, our world, our reality, or prevents us from perceiving reality. I liken the media to a jam, it is very colorful and attractive, the fruits in it contain very sweet and nostalgic flavors, its smell and taste are also very attractive. However, it is harmful to health and once it sticks to you, you can’t get rid of it and it leaves a mark on you, so everyone can see what you’ve eaten. Our digital footprints document our stalking of others without communicating. Every subject we watch can appear as an advertisement and lead us to consumption in some way. At this point, individuals need to be media literate and conscious in order to use their right to say „stop” or „no”.


How do you see the role of citizenship in education and how do you encourage students to become active and responsible citizens in society?


Up until now, training has been easy. Due to the availability of a number of books, people who understood them best became teachers, while those who did not could still learn by reading. Today’s learning environments are far more complicated. On the one hand, we have pupils of all ages, and on the other, we have a student community that is overflowing with knowledge and has already read the textbook. Teachers must foster a culture where self-improvement is required in order for them to not feel miserable. Students should also be open to peer learning practices and feed themselves independently. The fact that „knowledge can be anywhere and anybody could be the source of information” is the most crucial reality in this case.
This demonstrates the best approach for people of all ages to learn from one another. It is essential to look over all the settings where information is available and to look for and find information. The amount of knowledge is not as small as it once was to contain in a single book, and it is also growing every day. In addition, a teacher is not the only source of knowledge. This implies that members of a learning community share knowledge. I think that teachers may learn a lot from their pupils as well. Every classroom should be viewed as a unique laboratory, and we should ask ourselves, „What can we find in this classroom that other classrooms do not have?” We must remember that we reside in a world where information is constantly increasing exponentially, and we should pursue real information without creating information pollution.
Being human is not enough, we need to develop an understanding of betterment, being a good human is much more important. We need people who are generous, unselfish and who consider others around as well. I don’t believe that simply caring for your friends and family counts as being a nice person. A truly nice person is one who is willing to stand out for the rights and well-being of individuals s/he has never met. Humanity, true justice, and democracy demand it. Respectable people who are known for their accomplishments are needed to foster a culture of tolerance, respect, and love for all. Even if there is more media all around us, human to human interaction brings much more serenity, happiness, and sharing than anything else. As a result, we must place a high priority on creating a social structure in which people from all professions may coexist, depend on one another, and treat one another with fairness, respect, and love without losing their inherent humanity. Nobody should ever lose sight of what it means to be a human being, whether they are in the desert, the deepest part of the ocean, the poles, or outer space. It must not lose sight of the fact that they are dependent upon each other and require one another to survive. So, citizenship could only be experienced in such a “human-based” society. Active citizens do not only vote but decide and apply their decisions into society. They love each other and care for each other.
How do you see the importance of smart cities, smart transport and smart agriculture in the context of communication and how do you encourage students to explore these areas?


We need to educate our students not just for tomorrow, but for the future. It’s not just about understanding the differences between traditional media and digital media or social media. Preparing for the world of the future, learning to code, knowing that each object can talk to another object via IOT (Internet of the Things), deep web, 3D productions, AI-supported products and actions, augmented reality, virtual reality etc. They need to be able to grasp different dimensions such as Now we need to help them realize that communication will be different in the future and how important actions, words and commands will be. We need to do this not only for them to adapt to the environment, but also for them to produce and contribute to their own smart environments. They need to be accustomed to concepts such as smart cars, smart agriculture, smart cities and be able to design them as well as use them in a healthy way.


How do you see the connection between archaeology, anthropology and communication and how do you encourage students to explore these connections in their studies?


Today, knowledge is continually being rediscovered and history is being rewritten. We need to start over and learn everything afresh, forgetting what we’ve learned so far. We must approach it with new perspectives and with an awareness, a comprehension that bridges across disciplines.
Thus, learning about the past, understanding today and thinking about the future is essential. It is a world of all possibilities, syntagmatic and paradigmatic choices to make up a new and better world. Recently, I thought of a fairy tale I’ve read when I was a child. Remembering the details of it, I found that it was involving many different disciplines such as Anthropology, Mythology, Folklore Practices. It was a a fairy tale with roe deer and I just wanted to check its overlap with scientific reality. I found out that it may even help us to understand how the Iceman – Ötzi, who was discovered frozen in the Alps in 1991. So, everything is somewhat related to everything in the world. The signs are oscillating. If we can grasp and understand this oscillation, perhaps we can see that even the things done or said in the most primitive times can find a place for themselves in today’s modern world.

What are the most important achievements in your career?


​It is truly a great achievement and absolutely remarkable for a person to be „whole”, to be „human” and to „remain human” despite everything. Life’s ups and downs, coincidences, and our decisions together somehow shape who we are. So, in reality, coexisting with society for society is the essence of achievement. I can summarize it in this way. The society of today constitutes a system in which everything interacts with one another. I have a wide range of interests and I love education and all the disciplines I associate with it. I am grateful that the university offers a study and research atmosphere where I may easily fulfill these interests. We owe a large part of this to digitalization. I owe a significant portion of it to my students and coworkers who actively seek out and find information. Of course, we shouldn’t forget about my family, who have always encouraged me. We have access to a vast abundance in life where we can look for and discover anything. It is up to each person to identify what they are seeking for, then go out and discover it.
At this point, I believe that as a teacher trainer at the university, getting the university exam once more and attending classes of a different discipline might sound somewhat insane to others. Even if it was enjoyable for me accepting the position of a student might not be acceptable to most teachers not only in those years but even today. Most people think that there is an X point you reach and you no longer need to forward. This is the point when you stop learning new things and believe that you can manage life afterward. I think I do not have such an X point where I can stop learning and this is my greatest handicap.

Interview conducted by reporter Manuela Dan

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