Akbank Sanat and ICTOP successfully organized five Musical Studies Seminars that took place at the AKBANK SANAT Art Center, celebrating the International Museum Day “Hybrid Connected Museums: New Approaches, New Publics” and the 50th anniversary of ICOM – ICTOP.
In the two-day seminars entitled “Communication-Oriented Museums”, the changing faces of the museums are confronted and negotiated, without denying, the new conditions created by technology, taking into account the communicative aspect of Museology. Speakers, museum, communication and training specialists from both the academic community and the museums of Turkey, as well as professionals from internationally renowned European museums such as the British Museum, the Van Gogh and the National Gallery of Denmark etc., presented their own experiences and presented successful practices on museum issues.
In Seminar V: ICOM-ICTOP: “Communication in Museums Related Trainings / Professional Development” was presented the Mu.SA project with the first results of the research as well as the training phases that will be developed within the project (MOOC, Specialization courses and work-based learning) for Museum professionals, by Panagiota Polymeropoulou, Archaeologist – Museologist MSc and Researcher at the Greek Open University, member of the DAISSy Research Group. Participants as well as speakers and the seminar organizers, expressed their interest and will to participate in the project’s future educational activities.
The topics discussed in the seminars were the spaces and changes in exhibition practices and ways of interpreting museums, participatory approaches to museums, forms of implementation of marketing strategies in museums and the ways in which museums make use of social media networking as well as the importance of the education and training of the Museum’s professionals. The seminars were attended by a total of 137 people from Turkey and Europe and the lectures were held in Turkish and English (with simultaneous interpretation for the public).
Download the conference programme here.
Α one-day festival on combating discrimination against stereotypes and prejudices and promoting respect for diversity and human rights was organized by the 
A focus group involving thirteen low-skilled adults took place in Patras, Greece, on June 6, 2018. The focus group took place at noon (12:00 – 14:00) at the Patras premises of the Hellenic Open University, a convenient location near the city centre. Four of participants were unemployed, four of them were employed, three were migrants, one elder – retired, and one student. Among them, there was also a person representing a rehabilitation and integration social enterprise. Eight out of the thirteen participants were women.
are afraid of their personal data being misused because they consider digital technologies as non-credible.
Tο Ελληνικό Τμήμα του ICOM ως εταίρος του έργου 
A focus group involving ten policy makers (mainly) and training providers took place in Athens, Greece, on May 3, 2018. The focus group took place in the afternoon (17:30 – 19:30) at the Athens’ Premises of the Hellenic Open University, a convenient location near the city centre. Eight of the participants were representatives of governmental bodies (including the Ministry of Employment, the Ministry of Administrative Reform, the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, the Ministry of Economy and Development, the National Centre for Social Research, the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission, the General Secretariat of Coordination) and two were stakeholders from the Adult Learning market. Four out of the ten participants were women. The focus group lasted almost two hours and led to fruitful discussions between the participants.
In general, the groups of the population that DCDS should target include people belonging to vulnerable groups (especially those culturally differentiated, e.g. Roma, people with disabilities, (recent and long-term) unemployed, people at risk of poverty, people with chronic disorders, immigrants and migrants, women, single parent families, etc), people aged 45+, unemployed (and especially recently unemployed), etc. An additional group identified includes the people working in high-level positions (e.g. CEOs, traditional media manager, elder academics, artists, judges, public servants, etc) who are ashamed to declare their lack of digital skills. It worth to mention that every attempt to “bridge the digital divide” should not be accomplished once, but should be repeated frequently on a regular basis, as digital skills require continuous updating and practical implementation.
The establishment of a national strategy (including a “set of rules” for training, accreditation, etc) by the Ministry of Digital Policy that would create a common ground is required. In addition, a change in the Greek mindset is required, i.e. to change this latest tension of “computerising” everything and focus more on user (human) – friendly technologies. This priority should be included in every attempt of developing and adopting information system, including the self-assessment tools mentioned earlier. Apart from the “supply” side mentioned, this change in the mindset should also be implemented in the “demand” side, i.e. the users should recognize and adopt digital technologies in their daily work duties, without asking for additional motivations.
