Author Profile

  • Marc Stumpel
  • Url: http://marcstumpel.wordpress.com
  • Posts: 11
  • About the user: Marc Stumpel holds a MA degree in New Media from the University of Amsterdam. His main research interest is the antagonism within the political and economic dimensions of digital culture. Especially in relation to social media. Marc also holds the degree: Bachelor of Communication & Multimedia Design, Business & Organisation, Interactive Media at the Hoogeschool van Amsterdam (2005-2009). In addition to his academic work, Marc is a musician and producer under the alias of Zuurstof. Follow Marc on twitter: @Zuurstof

Author Archive

Uprising in India: Facebook Resistance workshop at CIS, Bangalore

Marc Stumpel | 16 April 2011, 6:51 am | tags: , , , ,

Earlier this month multiple Facebook users gathered at the Centre for Internet and Society, in Bangalore, to participate in a workshop dedicated to Facebook Resistance. They were given an on-site opportunity to go beyond the laws and constraints of FB’s software. After the participants experimented with browsers hacks to locally modify Fb,…

The Politics of Social Media. Facebook: Control and Resistance

Marc Stumpel | 04 September 2010, 7:33 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hereby I post my MA thesis ‘The Politics of Social Media. Facebook: Control and Resistance’ for anyone who is interested in the political dimension of social media. A link to the full PDF can be found below.

Abstract
This thesis examines the governance of contemporary social media and the potential of resistance. In particular, it sheds light on several cases…

Google, Buzz off! A reflection..

Marc Stumpel | 06 June 2010, 3:03 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , ,

While many technology and media journalists are now focusing their attention on Facebook’s recent privacy moves, I’d like to shed some light on an earlier privacy issue: the implementation of Google Buzz. Some of you might be are aware of its intrusive introduction, five months ago, whereas others might have completely missed it. This is a recap of the actual…

Quit Facebook Day?

Marc Stumpel | 30 May 2010, 12:53 am | 5 comments | tags: , , , , , ,

24000+ Facebook users have publicly committed to quit their accounts on “Quit Facebook Day”, the 31st of May. Thousands of users will revolt against Facebook and not just for the sake of their privacy. The campaigners, from Quitfacebookday.com, argue that Facebook doesn’t give their users fair choices to manage their data; the settings are too complex for the…

The Beast File: Google

Marc Stumpel | 17 March 2010, 8:02 pm | 4 comments | tags: , , , , , , ,

This video, created for ‘Hungry Beast‘, a news program that airs in Australia on the ABC1, depicts Google as a dangerous, pretentious, ubiquitous and ever growing advertising giant: ‘building an empire on your street, in your phone, in your DNA, trying very hard not to be evil’.

The animation features most of Google’s services…

RjDj and the rise of ‘reactive’ music.

Marc Stumpel | 29 October 2009, 8:42 pm | 3 comments | tags: , , , , , ,

As our daily interactions are increasingly affected by the use of mobile wireless devices and technologies, new media seems to become more reactive to our actual environment. Is there an attributable value of our environment to the means of cultural production, consumption and distribution through the use of new media technologies?

The futuristic thought by critical media thinker and researcher…

Interpassivity on Facebook

Marc Stumpel | 16 October 2009, 3:05 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , , ,

Social networks give online opportunities to construct social connections, stay in touch with our friends and create/share user-generated content. They are characterized by interactivity; users are capable to react to each others’ actions. However, as our connections grow, our interactivity inherently might not. Therefore the question arises: what role does passivity play in social networks?

At first sight this may…

The Habermasian implications of the Twittersphere

Marc Stumpel | 04 October 2009, 7:51 pm | 1 comment | tags: , , , ,

‘Blogosphere’, ‘Twittersphere’, ‘Afrosphere’. We’re gradually getting used to a new media terminology whereby we quickly refer to new communication spaces and specified fields as ‘spheres’. As the Twittersphere is still rapidly growing, we might want to look back at Habermas’ classic concept of the ‘public sphere’, which was one of the earliest…

Digital activism: using social media to change to world

Marc Stumpel | 26 September 2009, 4:47 pm | 1 comment | tags: , ,

Online social media nowadays seem like perfect tools for initiating social change in the world. Anyone with a certain goal in mind can reach large groups of individuals, spread awareness, raise a fund and get people to feel involved. Social media like Facebook, Twitter and blogs are popular tools for ‘digital activism’. However, it requires some understanding to turn digital…

White lies and orange experts: WikiTrust

Marc Stumpel | 19 September 2009, 10:13 pm | tags: , , , ,

For a long time, online encyclopedia Wikipedia has been criticized for not being a fully reliable source; anyone is able to edit the encyclopedia anonymously, dis- and misinformation can be posted and might even persist. There is no consistent given indication of reliability. However, starting this fall, the ‘WikiTrust’ feature could have a great impact on…