The opening program of the first international symposium organized by our University's Faculty of Communication, the "1st International Communication Days Digital Transformation and New Media Symposium", was held in the Congress Center Bordo Hall.

The symposium, which will be held on May 13-15, 2024, will feature presentations by national and international researchers and academicians who are experts in their fields.

The opening program of the symposium was attended by Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Alişarlı, Secretary General İhsan Ağcan, Dean of the Faculty of Communication Prof. Dr. Emre Tandırlı, guest researchers and academicians, academic and administrative managers and staff, and students.

Dean of the Faculty of Communication Prof. Dr. Emre Tandırlı, who made the opening speech of the symposium, stated that they had put the idea of ​​organizing a Communication Symposium befitting the 100th anniversary of our Republic and the Century of Turkey on their agenda with great excitement, and said, “The background of the symposium; We have set the goals of hosting valuable scientists who touch on current developments in the field of communication globally, providing useful and auspicious service by opening up space for scientific studies, and revealing the facts about disinformation, which is both a global and local communication virus.”

Providing information about the content of the symposium program, Tandırlı said that over 100 applications were made to the symposium from our country, Azerbaijan, Iran, Malaysia and Greece.

Rector Alişarlı: “Technological developments are changing the dimension of communication.”

Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Alişarlı pointed out that this important symposium was the first international symposium organized by the Faculty of Communication, thanked the academic and administrative staff and students who contributed; and wished it to be a productive and beneficial symposium.

Rector Alişarlı, who touched on the importance of media in terms of being the voice of oppressed people, noted that technological developments changed the dimension of communication and in summary said, “With the introduction of computers into our lives, we experienced a period that would trigger developments not only in communication but in all areas. Developments started to occur even faster with the use of the internet. With the widespread use of the internet, the borders on the world have disappeared and the world has become a global village. With the introduction of social media platforms into our lives, one-way communication in traditional media has given way to two-way communication. Now, all internet users have become content producers and communicate with each other by making comments on the internet. Technological developments, the digital transformation process and digitalization continue unabated. These developments have facilitated access to information, communication and interaction, and have brought many innovations to our lives. It would not be wrong to express the most negative aspects of technological developments as disinformation. For example, deepfake, which is an application that serves to create and spread false and misleading information and visuals. These important issues will be addressed by experts at the symposium we are opening today. Every development can bring negativity. Our aim is to minimize these negativities and adopt our purpose of use as a benefit to humanity.”

“Every society will benefit from technology and digitalization as much as the steps it takes.”

Following the opening speeches, a panel on Digital Transformation and New Media was held. Dean of the Azerbaijan State Administration Academy Prof. Dr. Murteza Hasanoğlu, who participated in the panel online, emphasized the importance of radical changes in state administration, public service, communication and the internet, and in his speech he summarized, “While digitalization is changing our world, both Azerbaijan and Turkey are trying to strengthen their commitment in this area with new steps. Technology is the unchanging changemaker of today’s world. In fact, it is a tool that has affected, changed and shaped the living conditions of societies, states and inter-state relations since history. The development that started with cause-effect relationships in the 16th and 17th centuries continues in the world that is becoming digital with the help of technology today. Therefore, every country, every society gets a share of the future according to the steps it takes in this regard. Just as the trends that took place in the industrial period were not sufficient in the transition to the information society, if there are no new steps to be taken in this period, the transitional information will not be sufficient in the digital period in the future either."

“Every society will benefit from technology and digitalization as much as the steps it takes.”

Following the opening speeches, a panel on Digital Transformation and New Media was held. Dean of the Azerbaijan State Administration Academy Prof. Dr. Murteza Hasanoğlu, who participated in the panel online, emphasized the importance of radical changes in state administration, public service, communication and the internet, and in his speech he said, “While digitalization is changing our world, both Azerbaijan and Turkey are trying to strengthen their commitment in this area with new steps. Technology is the unchanging changemaker of today’s world. In fact, it is a tool that has affected, changed and shaped the living conditions of societies, states and interstate relations from history to the present. The development that started with cause-effect relationships in the 16th and 17th centuries continues in the digitalized world today. Therefore, every country, every society benefits from the future as much as the steps it takes in this regard. Just as the trends that took place in the industrial period were not sufficient in the transition to the information society, if new steps are not taken in this period, the transitional information in the digital period will not be sufficient in the future.”

“Museums cannot give up on digital technology.”

Kütahya Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Fine Arts Dean Prof. Dr. Levent Mercin made a presentation on “Museums’ Need to Communicate and Digital Transformation”. In his presentation, which included museums’ need to communicate, digital transformation and application examples, he emphasized that we cannot give up on digital technologies.

Underlining that museums should take digitalization into consideration in order to take part in global competition, Mercin said, “Because new technologies have fundamentally changed culture and its access tools, cultural policies and applications. The future of museums includes technology-supported accessibility, immersive AR experiences, guided audio tours, interactive digital screens that will replace physical screens, cloud-based ticketing, numerous QR codes, discoverable collections (websites), hybrid virtual programming.” and showed examples of exhibitions made with digital technology in international museums, such as the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep and the Ephesus Experience Museum, which will open in 2023.

He explained the use of augmented and mixed reality, virtual reality, hologram technology, panoramic technology, immersive art experiences and similar technologies in museums.

Is artificial intelligence a threat or an opportunity for journalism?

In his presentation titled “Journalism Ethics in the Internet Exam”, Üsküdar University Faculty of Communication Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan explained the basic universal principles of journalism, which he describes as the profession of telling the truth. He explained ethical problems in internet journalism under the titles of speed, click journalism, SEO journalism, news theft, prevalence of false/baseless news, advertising news, crumb journalism on social media, and hate speech.

In response to the question “Is artificial intelligence a threat or an opportunity?”, he emphasized that although 2 news articles written by artificial intelligence received the Pulitzer Prize, artificial intelligence could be a threat to journalism and in summary, he said, “As in many areas, artificial intelligence programs have begun to be used rapidly in journalism. There are now news sites operated entirely by artificial intelligence. I see artificial intelligence as a threat to journalism. "AI will not only cause more journalists to lose their jobs, but it also seems to cause ethical problems. For example, if a news story written by AI turns out to be wrong, it is not clear who will be responsible for it," he said.

The opening program of the symposium ended after the presentation of certificates of appreciation to the invited speakers.