Social Media and Misinformation in Turkey
Social Media as a Space for Social Contact or Polarization in Turkey?
Social Media as a Space for Social Contact or Polarization in Turkey?
Principle Investigators: Assist. Prof. Çiğdem Bozdağ, Assoc. Prof. Suncem Koçer (Kadir Has University, Istanbul)
Project Duration: January 2019 - December 2019
Funding: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Istanbul
Against a backdrop of an increasingly polarized media culture, Turkey ranks first in a list of countries where people complain about fake news, according to the recent Reuters Digital News Report. While fake news circulate through social media platforms and digital communication channels fast and wide, publics in Turkey engage with news and information increasingly though social media platforms and instant messaging services. In a context like Turkey where media are increasingly utilized as a gizmo of political propaganda, users’ engagement with online information is especially politicized. On the other hand, different types of social ties play a key role in publics’ access, assessment, and dissemination of content. Turkey presents a significant context for studying information processing behaviors of social media users in relation to strong and weak social ties (in relation to the strength of their bonding through invested time, emotional intensity, intimacy and reciprocal services) and for understanding dynamics behind the spread of misinformation. Social media users in Turkey develop strategies of content assessment and circulation and tailor their strategies according to their specific target audiences and social ties by utilizing the tools of specific platforms. A cross-platform analysis looking at users’ perceptions and experiences in different platforms and with divergent social ties is key for understanding how and to what end (mis)information is being received and circulated through the Internet. Our project focuses on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram as these are the main information and communication channels, where social ties play a key role. Due to the increased interest of the users for sharing information online and the increased circulation of misinformation in pre-election periods, the data collection of this study took within the 4 months before and after the local elections in Turkey on 31 March 2019.
News and Interviews
Türkiye'deki medya düzeni seçmeni nasıl etkiliyor? Deutsche Welle Türkiye
Türkiye'de sosyal medya ve yalan haber NewsLabTR, Suncem Koçer
Social Media as a Space for Social Contact or Polarization in Turkey?
Social Media as a Space for Social Contact or Polarization in Turkey?
Social Media as a Space for Social Contact or Polarization in Turkey?
Principle Investigator: Assist. Prof. Çiğdem Bozdağ (Kadir Has University, Istanbul)
Project Duration: January 2016 - December 2016
Funding: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Istanbul
One of the basic premises of the liberal democratic model that dominates western democracies today is having a shared public sphere, in which people from different positions come together and deliberative discussions about political issues take place. Given the increased polarized environment in Turkey along political, ethnic and religious lines (Ağirdir 2010; Yilmaz et al. 2012; German Marshall Fund 2015), having such a space for social contact between different groups seems even more crucial than before. Social media carries a potential for widening the existing public sphere and creating new possibilities of social encounters (Papacharissi 2009). The presented research project aims to understand if and how social media contributes to social contact between people with different cultural, political, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The research deals with the overarching research question: What kind of possibilities do social media offer users in Turkey to establish contact with people of different backgrounds in social media in terms of ethnic and religious backgrounds and political orientations?
Based on qualitative interviews and ego-centered network diagrams, the project analyzes different factors that influence the contact between people of different backgrounds on social media in order to understand the potentials and pitfalls of different social media platforms for creating a contact space on the internet.
News and Interviews
Türkiye'de Medya ve Toplumsal Kutuplaşma Paneli Cibali Postası
"Biz duygusunun parçalanmışlığı asıl alarmın çaldığı noktadır" Hurrıyet.com.tr
Trends of New Media Use in Turkey
Intercultural Networks in Schools through ICT
Intercultural Networks in Schools through ICT
Principle Investigator: Çiğdem Bozdağ (Kadir Has University, Istanbul)
Researchers: Prof. Dr. Banu Baybars.Hawks, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eylem Yanardağoğlu (Kadir Has University, Istanbul)
Project Duration: January 2016 - June 2017
Funding: Kadir Has University Funds, Istanbul
Intercultural Networks in Schools through ICT
Intercultural Networks in Schools through ICT
Intercultural Networks in Schools through ICT
Principle Investigator: Çiğdem Bozdağ (Sabanci University, Istanbul)
Project Duration: September 2013 - August 2014
Funding: Mercator-IPC Fellowship
Developing a critical cultural awareness becomes one of the key competences in a world of increasing connections between different cultures and different places. Education, as discussed within the framework of approaches to intercultural education, can contribute to the development of such a competence. This study scrutinizes the potentials of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for contributing to intercultural education and focuses particularly on online exchange projects in schools and their contribution to a better inter-cultural understanding. This report is based on a comparative study that focuses on online exchange projects in Germany and Turkey by analyzing the eTwinning platform for intercultural collaboration between schools in Europe. This exploratory, qualitative study includes interviews with teachers, coordinators of the network and students as well as participatory observations in the classroom and beyond.