Sometimes its hard to explain myself in greek

On: October 3, 2010
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About olga paraskevopoulou
After receiving my MSc in Political Communication and New Technologies from the University of Athens (UoA), I re-enrolled in the MA in New Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam (2010-2011). While studying at the University of Athens my research focused on the use of communication technologies and the emergence of hybrid communication environments. More precisely, i reviewed location-based systems and i was interested in their ability to alter and enrich the perception of space and to provoke social interactions. In 2009, I completed my Master’s dissertation on the theme of “Locative media and Artistic Interventions”. I was also involved in the research activities and projects undertaken by the New Technologies Laboratory and worked for 2 years in the e-MobiLArt project that was funded by the EU and was coordinated by the UoA(www.media.uoa.gr/emobilart). While at the University of Amsterdam i focused more on the mobile device, the mobile industry and software as service. My thesis: Life 'On The Move' - Where Are We Heading? The Mobile Phone, Mobile Ecosystem and Innovation In Services, attempted to provide an overview of the evolving ecosystem and speculate of the future of mobile engineering as well as, to reflect on ways to nurture a free-spirited mobile culture. I am currently residing in Amsterdam and working voluntarily for Appsterdam. @olmageddon

Website
http://olmageddon.blogspot.com/    

It had never crossed my mind to make a Wikipedia entry as I must admit that I never thought of Wikipedia as a reliable source of information and even more as a source that I would refer to in my academic writings. Of course I turn to Wikipedia for more trivial issues,  like chat abbreviations that I am not aware of and I want to instantly check what they mean! In additon, the Greek version of Wikipedia is quite disappointing. Lacks of many or most encyclopedic content that one would expect to find. What makes things worse is that most of the articles are a shorter version of articles in English that lack a lot of crucial information.

This is not too bad though when you search for the translation of a technical term or a term of new technology that is not yet commonly used in Greek and sometimes we don’t even know how to translate it. English words are dominating computer relating everyday language of Greeks so words like “mediated communication”, “interface”, “context-aware”, “instant messaging”, “chat-room” are not easy to be translated and sometimes the translation gets so periphrastic that you don’t immediately understand what they mean!

That is also the case with locative media. When I try to use the Greek translation nobody understands of what I am talking about. Usually I have to explain what I mean by just saying two words: locative media, yes in English.. so my Greek interlocutor can understand to what I am referring to. For that reason I thought that it would be useful to translate the term locative media and the content that exists in the English Wikipedia page to Greek and to refer to some Greek bibliography.

I was also surprised that entries referring to “digital media”, “new media”, “interactivity” and all kinds of terms that relate  to new media and communication studies are missing.  I think it’s a bit strange that there is not an entry for digital media but now there is one for locative media…

My greek wikipedia page can be found here: Μέσα επικοινωνίας δι’ εντοπισμού. My page was not deleted but it has been flagled as “in need of editing”. Though i tried to make some improvements by correcting some of my references, signing the article,  adding an category, i had no response or dialogue in the discussion page.

I found this pic online, thought it’s  funny

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