Op-Ed Articles for Al Jazeera (2012-2014)
A selection of reports and articles published at the english edition of Kathimerini newspaper between 2006 and 2008
Matrix reloaded in shadow of the Acropolis 27 May, 2008
One Wednesday afternoon Thiseion is busy as usual with youngsters hanging out in cafes, parents with prams strolling along the Dionysiou Aeropagitou pedestrian zone, cyclists weaving through the crowd and tourists taking photographs below the Acropolis. Suddenly eight young people in groups of…
University libraries going online 17 Apr, 2008
There is a quiet electronic revolution under way in Greek universities. Some 100,000 postgraduate papers and doctoral dissertations are already available online, and electronic distance learning is available to all Greeks. Around the world, universities and their libraries are following a trend…
Greek scientists devise foods with antioxidant benefits 3 Apr, 2008
A new discovery by Thessaly University’s biochemistry and biotechnology department has opened up possibilities for developing biofunctional food, a consumer product sector that is flourishing abroad and which can boost the economy of the Greek countryside. Researchers have managed to make a…
The profile of the typical Greek blogger 22 Mar, 2008
By Matthaios Tsimitakis – Kathimerini Around a month after the fuss over the controversial political blog press-gr and less than a year since the sudden mushrooming of the Greek blogosphere, Panteion University has produced the first fully fledged survey on Greek bloggers. Who are these people…
Its impossible to close down cyberspace 13 Mar, 2008
In 2002, US Senator Trent Lott made a racist statement that was only published on ABC’s online edition. American bloggers spotted the comment and relayed it for weeks until the mainstream media were forced to deal with the issue and the senator was forced to resign. It was one of the first cases…
Diseases find perfect new high-tech homes to lurk in 21 Feb, 2008
There is now ample evidence that the radiation emitted by mobile telephones damages the DNA in human cells and, after 10 years of research, scientists are beginning to find evidence linking certain diseases to the use of these phones. According to British studies recently published by the…
Eco wake-up call on big screen 19 Feb, 2008
Already in its seventh consecutive year, the Ecocinema International Film Festival is scheduled to open its doors this Thursday, through February 27. The event, which will take place at the Attikon and Cineak theaters near Piraeus City Hall, aims to sensitize as well as encourage audiences to…
The fast-changing nature of education 11 Feb, 2008
The three new programs for digital activities in schools which Economy Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis and Education Minister Evripidis Stylianidis announced last Monday are a partial embrace of what some see as the greatest revolution ever in education. Given the speed of developments in the…
State contract with Microsoft has its critics 24 Jan, 2008
On the part of the Greek government, it is a major attempt to put some order to the civil service; for Microsoft, it is an opportunity to control software piracy within one of its major clients, the Greek civil service. For the opposition, it is a sinister story rife with irregularities, and for…
Media history in digital form 3 Jan, 2008
Greek State Radio and Television (ERT) launched its digital archive on the Internet just before Christmas, providing Greek web-surfers with free access to 500 hours of video, 250 hours of films, 1,136 programs, and 5,000 photographs and sound recordings – an audiovisual treasure-house. However,…
Loneliness in combat boots 17 Dec, 2007
It took about half an hour’s walk around Exarchia before Constantina Voulgari and I finally agreed on the cafe at which I would interview her. Although she does not avoid the press, she is hesitant by nature and discreet, not just with journalists but with the people in her own field as well. «I…
Greeks help recreate Big Bang in Geneva 11 Dec, 2007
There are many Greek researchers among the 20 employed permanently at the CERN research center in Geneva. Their focus at the moment is the Large Hadron Collider, which is due to switch on in May and will provide long-awaited answers to questions such as the composition of matter and the history…
Captivating, for a certain few 6 Dec, 2007
Any attempt at a precise definition of the 2:13 festival, on at the Small Music Theater in Athens from today through Saturday, would probably result in failure. The festival runs contrary to customary ways – in every sense. Though 20 artists from various parts of the world will be taking part,…
Bloggers are becoming a force to be reckoned with 25 Jul, 2007
One of the most impressive things about a demonstration that took place in central Athens earlier this month to call for the immediate reforestation of the areas of Mt Parnitha destroyed in last month’s fires was the diversity of the participants. They included families with children, cyclists,…
Blogs changing the way we communicate 5 Jul, 2007
Wordpress is one of the fastest-growing platforms for blog software. Though not as famous yet as MySpace or Google’s Blogger, it employs highly developed technology and aesthetics and is used by major Internet publishers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Le Monde as well as…
Human DCA guinea pigs 25 Apr, 2007
This is one of around 500 stories one can find on the websites that semi-legally sell the experimental anti-cancer drug DCA, which Greek doctor Evangelos Michelakis uses in his cancer research: «I’m in the third stage of treatment with DCA. Most of the time I feel fine, thought a little weak, and…
Fetishization of technology 6 Apr, 2007
Everlandia is an online travel agency that invites you to visit exotic locations, encounter rare plants and animals and experience unusual emotions. But the destinations it presents do not exist. Each visitor constructs his or her own utopian land and visits virtual worlds created by other…
Learning for all at the peoples universities 28 Mar, 2007
Far from the turmoil of higher education in Greece, another world of learning is quietly flourishing. Open, alternative schools attract crowds of adults, offering lifelong learning and training, without any of the anxiety attached to gaining a degree. The fees are low or are sometimes waived…
Exarchia: A battleground for would-be revolutionaries and riot squad officers 22 Mar, 2007
Evi, a resident of the inner-city district of Exarchia, relates a telling exchange with a taxi driver. «I asked him to take me to a taverna in Methonis Street and he asked me in surprise if there were still tavernas in Exarchia. ‘I thought they had all closed because of the violence,’ he said….
Greek scientist enlivens NASA missions with groundbreaking space research 23 Feb, 2007
Vassilis Angelopoulos has every reason to feel good. The 45-year-old Thessaloniki-born physicist, who works at the University of California in Berkeley, has seen the fruition of one of his projects. A suggestion he made to NASA a decade ago for a new approach to satellite missions that study…
Digital library with smart cards 28 Dec, 2006
An electronic reading room in the K.T. Dimaras Science and Technology Library at the National Research Foundation offers digital access to the public. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its establishment in December, the National Documentation Center (EKT) has expanded the number of work…
In age of images, are children actors? 30 Nov, 2006
Cell phones equipped with cameras have brought Big Brother into every person’s pocket, allowing the children of the TV generation to become directors, producers and stars of their own films by simply pressing a button. Feigning shock, society is trying to understand what will happen in the rest…
High-tech system enhances visits to science museums 5 Oct, 2006
An innovative technological system to support extracurricular educational activities such as science museums was displayed at this year’s Thessaloniki International Fair in the program «Science and Technology Week 2006» held by the general secretariat for research and technology. The system was…
Video games, a staple of todays digital culture 25 Sep, 2006
There must be very few people over 25 years of age who have never played any arcade or video games, such as the Atari 2600 or even Pong, which one saw in cafes in the 1980s. Although they never became a mainstream activity in Greece, because of the general fear of computers and because people…
Agrinion bids farewell to areas tobacco farms 6 Jul, 2006
One of the first buildings to be seen as one drives into Agrinion is the tobacco institute, a branch of the National Foundation for Agricultural Development (ETHIAGE). Built alongside the huge stone drying halls dating from 1927, it once buzzed with activity. Even today, its warehouses are filled…
Maintaining a tradition of engaging with the future 21 Apr, 2006
Two years after its refurbishment and now celebrating half a century in operation, the Evgenidis Foundation keeps moving ahead. Under its president, Leonidas Dimitriadis-Evgenidis, the foundation has been updated and has expanded its educational activities in the fields of science, technology and…
We should all learn at least one foreign language; we need diversity, we need to have different ideas 28 May, 2003
On May 15, 2000 at an exhibition on Ancient Mathematics at the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW), a smiling Briton was wandering around and photographing everyone and everything with his mobile telephone. Imagine visitors’ surprise to learn that the British «tourist» taking photos with his…
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