Sacip Toker
Turkey
ygenova@npage.org
WG Member – WG1, WG2
1. Potential research contribution in light of, or linked to A. WG interest and Scientific programme:
As a founder and manager of several not-for-profits in the field of books and reading, I am interested in the collaboration between scientific community, policy-makers and the industry. I have a 20+ years of practical experience in setting up and managing programs that support international cultural cooperation, translations, creativity and capacity building in the book sector across Europe and beyond. My primary interests are in the methodologies for assessing impact of public and private policies on cultural industries, particularly in publishing and translations, and in international cultural cooperation. However, I have also been involved in setting up the methodology of a vast study on reading habits covering 9 Arab-speaking countries. Currently, I am a contributor to the interdisciplinary Reading Practices in Bulgaria study funded by the Ministry of Education and Science.
Being deeply committed to promotion of reading, together with two social entrepreneurs, we have recently set up a new educational online quizz-game on books, BookMonster, that aims to support reading comprehension skills in Bulgarian children aged 6-14. The site’s design allows for the impact of the game on users’ reading habits and practices to be monitored, and provides a suitable ground for a case-study on digital tools in education.
Selected publications
What Arabs Read. A pan-Arab survey on readership, Next Page Foundation, 2007, http://npage.org/article63.htm
B. Action objectives (pages 7-10 in the MoU):
My contribution to the Action’s objectives would concern the collaboration between scientific research teams and relevant industry partners, reading promotion initiatives, educational practitioners, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.