A virtual global cafe dissolving int’l borders
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Ceylan Yeğinsu
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 02, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - With the help of the latest developments in technology, people from all around the world can now come together for discussions and meetings. This time it was university students from Istanbul and London using audiovisual tools to communicate
People from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds, and from all around the world, can now meet to discuss social issues without going farther than their local university.
Their meeting place is the "dialogue cafe," a pioneering global public-private partnership led by networking provider Cisco that uses state-of-the-art technology to bring ordinary people together to explore common interests and discuss international social and political issues. Its latest branch has recently opened in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.
Conference calls are primarily used for business, and often associated with the delays and bad connections of Skype conversations. But as technology develops, they are enabling more and more people Ğ both company employees and private individuals Ğ to communicate effectively across long distances.
The dialogue cafes take conference calling to a new level, using Cisco’s TelePresence screens to enable people to chat, exchange ideas and collaborate in new ways, exponentially expanding our collective ability to solve problems and innovate as a global community. Their aim is to bring technology and people together in one forum to generate new and innovative ideas. "Technology has an enormous potential to help better the lives of people," the dialogue cafe ethos states. "However, technology does not solve problems. People do."
Evolving across the world
This new concept is evolving as it spreads across the world, with branches in Amman, Jordan; Doha, Qatar; Istanbul; London; New York; Paris; and Shanghai, China. The Istanbul cafe opened after the the city hosted the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations forum in April. Istanbul’s Bilgi University is currently undergoing a joint research project with New York University and the University of Arts in London to explore ways to employ the TelePresence technology Ğ a life-size and life-like audio-visual communication tool Ğ to enhance dialogue between people and help cultures better understand each other.
During a live dialogue session at Cisco’s Istanbul headquarters Thursday night, the cafe opened its doors to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. Before being briefed on the context and topic of the conversation, the paper’s reporter walked in on five male university students who were gesturing at the female silhouette on the screen while two girls from the London university sat cackling hysterically at the picture in front of them. The topic was "flirting" and the boys were were satirizing the concept of "looks over personality." Omer, 20, a student at Bilgi University said, "It was so interesting to see how they reacted and perceived our ideas and views from a different cultural context."
Enjoyable experience
Cisco Internet solutions manager Ahmet Hasanbeşeoğlu, who has been co-coordinating the research project, explained that the project originally started with a handful of people from the university, but after seeing how much these pupils enjoyed the experience, more people started participating, forming large dialogue groups for in each session. Various departments at the university set the subjects and topics for the dialogues, which range from social issues to hobbies like sports and music. Hasanbeşeoğlu said some pupils even brought their own musical instruments and played for each other in the sessions. "Even groups that do not have common interests manage to find common topics to discuss in the forum," he said.
Over time, the people behind the dialogue cafe hope to link up with a wider range of global organizations to innovate and design solutions that will broaden health-care availability, promote sustainable urban development, improve youth literacy and job skills for the 21st century and support community initiatives by creating greater connectedness among people from various backgrounds.
Their meeting place is the "dialogue cafe," a pioneering global public-private partnership led by networking provider Cisco that uses state-of-the-art technology to bring ordinary people together to explore common interests and discuss international social and political issues. Its latest branch has recently opened in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.
Conference calls are primarily used for business, and often associated with the delays and bad connections of Skype conversations. But as technology develops, they are enabling more and more people Ğ both company employees and private individuals Ğ to communicate effectively across long distances.
The dialogue cafes take conference calling to a new level, using Cisco’s TelePresence screens to enable people to chat, exchange ideas and collaborate in new ways, exponentially expanding our collective ability to solve problems and innovate as a global community. Their aim is to bring technology and people together in one forum to generate new and innovative ideas. "Technology has an enormous potential to help better the lives of people," the dialogue cafe ethos states. "However, technology does not solve problems. People do."
Evolving across the world
This new concept is evolving as it spreads across the world, with branches in Amman, Jordan; Doha, Qatar; Istanbul; London; New York; Paris; and Shanghai, China. The Istanbul cafe opened after the the city hosted the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations forum in April. Istanbul’s Bilgi University is currently undergoing a joint research project with New York University and the University of Arts in London to explore ways to employ the TelePresence technology Ğ a life-size and life-like audio-visual communication tool Ğ to enhance dialogue between people and help cultures better understand each other.
During a live dialogue session at Cisco’s Istanbul headquarters Thursday night, the cafe opened its doors to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. Before being briefed on the context and topic of the conversation, the paper’s reporter walked in on five male university students who were gesturing at the female silhouette on the screen while two girls from the London university sat cackling hysterically at the picture in front of them. The topic was "flirting" and the boys were were satirizing the concept of "looks over personality." Omer, 20, a student at Bilgi University said, "It was so interesting to see how they reacted and perceived our ideas and views from a different cultural context."
Enjoyable experience
Cisco Internet solutions manager Ahmet Hasanbeşeoğlu, who has been co-coordinating the research project, explained that the project originally started with a handful of people from the university, but after seeing how much these pupils enjoyed the experience, more people started participating, forming large dialogue groups for in each session. Various departments at the university set the subjects and topics for the dialogues, which range from social issues to hobbies like sports and music. Hasanbeşeoğlu said some pupils even brought their own musical instruments and played for each other in the sessions. "Even groups that do not have common interests manage to find common topics to discuss in the forum," he said.
Over time, the people behind the dialogue cafe hope to link up with a wider range of global organizations to innovate and design solutions that will broaden health-care availability, promote sustainable urban development, improve youth literacy and job skills for the 21st century and support community initiatives by creating greater connectedness among people from various backgrounds.