TEDx Koç University was held on October 25th in KU campus. Organized around the theme of “flashlight,” the event was based on the idea that “an understanding of the past is crucial for a true analysis of today, which then, bears a source of power to predict and improve the future.” This, in turn, encouraged the speakers to reflect on their specific fields to generate motivation and inspiration. Gülay Özkan was also a speaker in the event where she had the opportunity to lecture specifically about “humanizing technology through design.”
The lecture initiated with an anecdote from her experience at the Burning Man Festival where everyone had their own “tools” to utilize and contribute to the community around them. These tools were of utmost importance in delivering meaningful change. In the global context, technology and design are two of these tools that change our lives and expectations. Out of these two, design has a new-found importance of humanizing the technology. Özkan emphasized the role of context and meaning in doing this: “One thing in a culture that has meaning may not mean anything in a different culture” said Özkan. One example from the lecture was Ikepod Hourglass which stems from a play on the meaning of time, from discipline to serenity, from utility to beauty.
Overall, design and design thinking was a pivotal part of TEDx Koç University. Here, Gülay Özkan added the notions of “context” and “meaning” to the on-going conversation with examples from the recent entrepreneurial developments and perspectives.
Image Reference: TEDx Koç University
