My international experience

I have lived and worked in numerous American cities and other countries, gaining firsthand insights into various cultural and social norms. As an expatriate in Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia and the Near East, I learned to read the fine print of each culture. My work included translating Turkish culture on live television for five million Americans and publishing a stereotype-busting book about Turkey. These international experiences enhanced my adaptability and cultural competence, allowing me to navigate diverse environments effectively. They also reinforced my understanding of global interconnectedness and the importance of cultural diplomacy.

Archived: the KIP project

Images and links may no longer operate. Meant as an archive only.

CHECK OUT KIP, IT’S FOR ALL OF US

I have an idea. It’s good for people and good for democracy in the social age. And it’s fun to play?

I noticed we lack the infrastructure to make sense of news and current affairs today, leading to dire real consequences for people and society.

I thought about how I build trust in the sources I follow and ‘play’ the news. I do this for myself every day, as an infovore it’s a calming and even fun way to process what I see out there on my feed… I realized we can do it together with what I’ve built and patterned.

I want to gamify the learning of the world’s complex dynamics - with a daily online brainteaser the public can play, backed by an educational framework for journalism in the social age.

I wonder who’s connecting dots for you in media literacy, critical thinking, civic responsibility, holding power to account?

Disinformation tracks with current affairs and is employed across many fields, but we lack a unified solution...essentially, we are all frustrated sense makers.

KIP (“Knowledge Is Power”) aims to solve that with a current affairs framework for The Fifth Estate, for citizens, and for game lovers.

👇 Here’s my plan to provide a unified solution to the disinformation on social media that harms us as information citizens and voters — harming our democracy in the process.

Knowledge Graph As A Service

👈 Here’s the information ecosystem that the KIP platform aims to connect, showing data flow and network actors to technologies and end user interfaces and opportunities. We can do this today.

KIP means to bring civic participation media/generative content to strategic partners, like schools and organizations.

Our news and information landscape has changed. Our map makers have changed.

This is a playing board we can all use to parse and process news and current events, with KIP’s core value unit being a digital playing card. A bit of news currency. A bit of information that deep receipts can be attached to.

The KIP platform helps people find better information and make sense of this moment, with a pathway to renewed credibility and civic engagement for all.

I believe when it comes to news and current events, in order for us to act collectively in our best interests we need to get on the same page … and the same playing board.

““As much as we want to hold institutions accountable, citizens are constantly left to their own devices. Thinking holistically and user-centred is a necessary step for us all.”

— Scott DeJong, a public scholar making and studying games about disinformation

I also want to give credit to the people who help us understand what’s happening and what we can do about it.

CASSANDRA AWARDS to recognize our sense makers

I’m proposing a new information award for voices explaining this moment best. These are the ones who emerged for me as I used the KIP framework.

I nominate the above voices for the first Cassandra Awards to recognize sense makers among us in this information war. Listen to a 5 minute narration of the bigger picture they created for me here. It’s the big thing, the biggest thing. It’s so big it’s hard to see, hard to have one image capturing it. I strung together a narrative of quotes of the bigger picture that I took years to capture in my framework.

Who would you nominate for a Cassandra Award?

TBT 2011, 2013: false cosmopolitanism & brand mismanagement on social media

The Bellyflops of Social Media Mismanagement

I posted this in 2013 on my Medium page.

On the precipice of war, overreaching false cosmopolitanism continues. Plus, parents plan for unsustainable digital abstinence.

Today the Kenneth Cole Twitter account tweeted something thoughtless about “Boots on the ground” or not, don’t forget about sandals and loafers.

Nope.

Boots on the ground mean soldiers going to war possibly to be maimed or killed, and to wreak havoc on the lives of others. The precipice of war is not an opportunity to remind people you make loafers.

Feels like deja vu for Cole. Because it is. The brand flopped just like this in 2011.

In 2011 I made the connection between global mishaps of high profile brands and the false cosmopolitanism we’re all suffering.

There was Groupon’s SuperBowl ad fiasco, when the company attempted to mix consumerism with sensitive political, environmental, cultural, economic and social issues, and the Kenneth Cole Twitter debacle which appeared to make light of unrest in Cairo.

I wrote about earlier instances of the phenomenon of false cosmopolitanism in 2010. See links to that, and my influences below.

Access to the worldwide web makes us imagine we’re global thinkers. But most of us aren’t. Not even close.

In order to truly be global thinkers, we’d have to be xenophiles, actively and constantly bridging cultures, immersed and knowledgeable about multiple worlds.

Most people hang out in “like-minded microcosms” and when we cross a boundary online the new light shed on everyone’s prejudices and assumptions can take us by surprise.

This “xeno-confusion” is happening more often in the virtual realm, with higher and higher stakes.

Today’s other big story of social media mismanagement has been swiftly answered by Alexandra Samuel of Love Your Life Online. It falls into the category of unsustainable digital abstinence to solve problems that may crop up in the future.

“Don’t be scared to Facebook your kids,” she responds to Amy Webb’s piece at Slate “We Post Nothing About Our Daughter Online.”

Samuel writes: “Parenthood is such a central experience that there’s no way to cut it out of your online life without profoundly compromising your own ability to have authentic, meaningful connections online.”

That’s exactly right. Plus, digital abstinence doesn’t prepare you for the world your child will grow up in.

How are you preparing yourself for a wider world?

TBT, a podcast panel of global citizens

Joining Silicon Valley Jumpstart Program As A Mentor

Excited to join JUMPSTART PROGRAM as a mentor in this startup event produced by the Silicon Valley Forum and Wasabi Ventures Global.

You may recall I've already had the pleasure of working with Wasabi principal Jeff Abbott as a chief mentor for two summers at the European Innovation Academy. I'm looking forward to contributing to his new intensive program.

Launching in fall of 2017, this 6-day hands-on experience is designed for international startups and scaleups seeking to enter the US market. It will address technology, organization, cultural differences, marketing & sales, financing, and more.

It's for you if:

• You want to develop and refine your scaling strategy
• You believe you’re ready to enter the US market
• You want to broaden your network of potential customers, mentors, partners and investors in the US
• You want to jumpstart your efforts and make 6 months of progress in one week
• You want to have a clear plan before investing time and precious resources in developing a US presence via unfocused experimentation
• You’re ready to have an intense, action-packed week in Silicon Valley and make friends for life with other founders facing similar challenges 

September 5th is the last day to apply!

Joining ITUGate as a mentor

Happy to join the global mentors of Istanbul Technical University's International Start-Up Acceleration Program ITUGATE. During their six month stay in San Francisco this year, I'll be mentoring a set of technology-producing companies and entrepreneurs entering the US & international markets.

Read more about ITU ARI Teknokent's program to help companies to enter the US market and to provide access to Silicon Valley. It's based at Galvanize, one of the best startup centers in San Francisco. 

Global women's leadership issues advocacy, TBT

Nine years ago:

Seven years ago: