Propelled by new digital technologies, the world is changing at breathtaking speed and forcing every kind of institution established during the industrial era to do the same. Education, like every other field, is fundamentally affected by this change in both positive and negative ways.
The rapid development of new technologies means that the profound transformation of both social behavior and the skill set needed to prepare individuals for an increasingly uncertain future are always one step ahead of efforts to adjust the education system to the requirements of the new age.
With the aim of looking for solutions to issues of this kind, Beginning Node (BN) Leader Mert Özgür has led projects in the field of education since the beginning of 2019 in collaboration with a variety of partner organizations.
Information on the projects underway and completed in the field of education can be found here.
KonuŞu is the first independent talk platform in Turkey that aims to increase the knowledge of the general public on the most pressing socio-economic issues of our time. KonuŞu organizes talks every Tuesday on the technological, economic, ecological and sociological phenomenons. The talks bring together two speakers from different formations to discuss the subject matter without any moderation for one and a half hour. Usually one of the speakers is an academic who studies the subject from a theoretical point of view, and the other is a member of civil society or private sector and knows the practice aspect of the subject matter.
KonuŞu team selects speakers who actively work on the subject matter, has advanced analytical thinking skill and is always open to dialogue. Speakers put forward an intellectual exchange during the talk by asking questions to each other and furthering each other’s points. Therefore, KonuŞu director organizes a meeting beforehand in order to introduce the speakers to each other and decide on the scope of the discussion. KonuŞu aims to prepare today’s generation to tomorrows problems and does not produce content on daily politics.
KonuŞu is open to all. The target audiences are the students and young intellectuals. After every KonuŞu talk, KonuŞu director sends out a report to all participants that summarizes the main points of the speakers and includes a reading list. KonuŞu team records all talks and downloads the summaries to the Youtube channel. The ultimate goal of KonuŞu is to put forward well-rounded discussions with in-depth analysis on the most pressing social matters and contribute to the democratization of knowledge.
Sociologist and Beginning Node leader Hale Ceren Zeytinoglu founded KonuŞu in September 2018. She is still in charge of directing it. Beginning Node has been supporting the project since October 2018.
Blockchain technology has the power to make radical changes to public and individual life and, above all, the business world. Harnessing this power involves much more than using this innovative technology as a tool, it requires a fundamental change in the way we think about and define work processes.
As initially incubated in Beginning Node (BN), The Blockchain Turkey Platform (BCTR) was established on 8th of June, 2018, on the initiative of the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV) and is an independent, non-profit organization. Accordingly, the BCTR’s vision, mission and principles can be read here.