New Media M.A. Research Blog | Media Studies, University of Amsterdam | 2011

Nicholas Carr didn’t convince me

I came upon an article today that said that research shows that Facebook popularity might be predicted by brain regions or in more sensational terms “Facebook may be changing people’s brains“. The research was based on 165 people: “One...

By Demet Dagdelen on 10/19/11 2

Interview with an App(le)fan and developer

Interview Philip Plotnikov On this Masters of Media blog we have seen many app reviews coming by. These were all written from a user perspective. I thought it would be interesting to look at apps from the other side:...

By Annet Bos on 10/19/11 1

Do you remember the first time? Music and the rise of the ‘scented candle’

I grew up listening to Pulp. I vividly remember lying outside my older sisters’ bedroom as she played Different Class from her multi-CD changer Hi-Fi, while I pushed myself up against her door, devouring Jarvis’ every word. Outside, unbeknown...

By Jamie Franklin on 10/18/11 Comments Off

Facebook is a self constructed reality

All right, here we go. For this blog post I was asked to write something about social network sites. Geert asked us to think about what we disliked about social network sites, like for example Facebook. Furthermore he told...

By Sebastiaan Smink on 10/18/11 Comments Off

e-culture in the Amsterdam Museum

The Amsterdam Museum uses crowdfunding to fund the restauration of one of the biggest paintings of the Netherlands. An interview with Hester Gersonius about the implementation of e-culture in the Amsterdam Museum.

By Leonie Nijenmanting on 10/18/11 Comments Off

Interview: Moos Lamerus on changes and quality in professional music

New media caused a lot of change in the music industry over the last decade. Comments on such changes tend to focus on general consequences, and overlook the changes as perceived by musicians and other people working in the...

By Joep Hegger on 10/18/11 Comments Off

Blackberry Break Ups

In a fresh testament to how deep our affective relationships are with mobile phones, last week’s Blackberry out(r)age revealed users “breaking up” with their beloved Blackberrys on Twitter. Amongst all the (by now stale) joke tweets about the Blackberry...

By Natalie Dixon on 10/17/11 Comments Off

Interview with A-list Romanian blogger Zoso

This is an interview with blogger Vali Petcu, more known on the Romanian market as Zoso. In Romania, Zoso is considered one of the “A-list bloggers” and has been writing the most read blog for the last six years....

By Luana Pascu on 10/17/11 Comments Off

Jeroen Krouwels: “The educational system must keep up with time”

With a rich history in education and ICT as a teacher, involvement in a governmental educational ICT project ‘Teleleren’, the establishing of an ICT institute for business education, being manager at an educative publisher and a management trainer, Jeroen...

By Stijnie Thuijs on 10/17/11 Comments Off

Love in the Time of Call-era: Rap music videos and the infectious relationship between humans and mobile phones

Attraction: Mobile tools R. Kelly ft. Nas “Did You Ever Think” (1998) The access point of your curiosity is the body, an exciting, new gadget. J. Macgregor Wise describes one perspective of human-technology relations as a received view in...

By Kendall Grady on 10/17/11 Comments Off

Social Media Circus

Last week I saw Boom Chicago‘s ‘Social Media Circus‘ comedy show. With sketches, improvisation, stand-up, video and music the actors provide a hilarious show “deflating the hype, speaking the truth, attacking the fools and celebrating the heroes”. It is...

By Annet Bos on 10/16/11 Comments Off

App review: Appie, groceries 2.0

Some do it on a daily basis, some do it on a weekly basis: grocery shopping. The best known and one of the oldest supermarkets in the Netherlands is Albert Heijn. In november 2009 the company introduced Appie (pun...

By Bree Tahapary on 10/16/11 1

New Media and the Syrian uprisings: one student’s perspective.

Edward Said wrote in his book Covering Islam that historically the western mass media have exercised the power of representation over the (in this case) Islamic ‘other’ and suppresses the possible multiplicity of 800 000 000 global Islamic citizens...

By Jamie Franklin on 10/14/11 1

Richard Stallman: Don’t use Facebook

An interview with the GNU founder about issues with user-generated content in social networks.

By Andrian Georgiev on 10/14/11 3

App review; Pixlr

I am a photographer. I have an app for that. Pixlr is a Flash-based image editing application from Autodesk. Autodesk is well known for its industry standard architectural and entertainment software such as AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max. Autodesk...

By Martijn Dorresteijn on 10/13/11 Comments Off

App review: Do you really want to know who unfriended you on Facebook?

For many people Facebook has become a integral part of their daily routine, helping them keep in touch with friends, relatives, friends of friends and sometimes people they have never really met in real life, but who they know...

By Laura Burlacu on 10/13/11 Comments Off

App review: Sleep as an droid. Or as a cyborg?

I love to sleep. So much that waking up early on Monday for morning classes is a hard and laborious task. I always set my alarm clock about half an hour early to compensate for the time spent snoozing...

By Renoud Netjes on 10/12/11 1

App review: Open Signal Maps

No signal? Mobility and GPS Locative media has always been an interesting topic to write about, especially nowadays of the ubiquitous present of smart phones in society. A smart phone is a very rich tool to research because it has...

By Daan Fliervoet on 10/12/11 1

Cloud storage – Infinite storage for 10 $ a month

Mum, what’s that white fluffy thing in the sky? -Well dear, this is where all your memories are stored. -Huh?

By Clément Adam on 10/12/11 Comments Off

App Review: PhoneGuard. Keeping Parents and Beliebers Happy

Designed with the noble purpose of preventing deadly traffic accidents caused by the distraction of texting while driving, the Phone Guard – Drive Safe application is in fact one new media watchtower for parents and employers to servile teenagers...

By Andrei Florian on 10/11/11 1

Geomium – Live local, live social?

I never found geolocation-based social networks and apps any helpful. Geomium proves once more that my skepticism is not groundless. Geomium a location-based social website which, according to its creators is a “community for people to share and experience...

By Mzia Kupunia on 10/11/11 Comments Off