An Evaluation of Folklore Meetings Held in the Digital Cultural Environment During the Pandemic Period (Example of TOKUAD, UNESCO Turkey and Motif Foundation)

ABSTRACT

During the pandemic, which begans in 2019 and affected the whole world throughout 2020, societies continue to struggle to get out of this process with minimal damage using their own means. One of the important pillars of this struggle is that people tried to keep up with a new order by stepping out of their daily routines. Although the world, which has started digitization in many areas, has had to adapt to the new order much faster with the sudden and severe impact of the disease, various activities in different areas have also been transferred to the digital realm. In this article, scientific meetings and schools, which are among the activities of various institutions and organizations related to folklore in Turkey that were carried out during the pandemic will be evaluated and the reflections of the digital cultural environment in the scientific world will be examined. In the field of folklore these meetings and their activities held in the digital environment will be discussed, participant profiles, challenges experienced in the distance education process and the pros and cons of using the digital world in these schools. For this paper three meetings/schools were chosen in addition to virtual seminars organized by TOKUAD, UNESCO Turkey and the Motif Foundation were chosen as case examples.