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

From art to ethical design; Studio Roosegaarde’s quest for a sustainable and aesthetic future

The clock is ticking: sea levels and temperatures are rising, plastic is building up, and animals face extinction. What if art can be the activator for change?

By Victor Loye on 10/20/20 Comments Off

Supercell’s Brawl Stars; a step towards an ethical Freemium design in Mobile Gaming?

Supercell released their newest game, Brawl Stars, in December 2018. Its' business model marks a shift towards a more ethical design of Freemium games.

By Victor Loye on 09/27/20 Comments Off

A Rhetoric of WeWalk-ing. Smart Canes and “feeling of freedom” in the urban environment

The new uses of smart technology are being constantly introduced, and unlike a cat selfie device or a cute planter that aim to add some fun to our humdrum existence, WeWALK smart cane attempt to make a difference. This...

By Berenika Balcer on 09/23/19 Comments Off

Stop trying to script my life

The colonization of the empty state and nudges as contested territory. On another day at the office, something remarkable happens. I manage to clean up my entire email inbox. Not being the kind of person whose inbox is often...

By Sanne Stevens on 09/23/18 Comments Off

Goalpost in the Ozone: The Deceptively Good Intentions of #Climate

As far as scientific consensus goes, it’s tempting to label the ‘debate’ around climate change as being over. However, to do so invites complacency, a willingness to delegate responsibility to a far-off unknown authority. News organisations, politicians and activists...

By David Molloy on 09/24/17 Comments Off

Live streaming; the next big thing?

Recently, I discovered the live stream button on my Facebook page. I have heard about the applications Periscope and Meerkat with which you can live stream your own content: “Periscope and Meerkat are services that enable users to broadcast...

By Zoe Versteegen on 09/22/16 Comments Off

The VR Cinema is the latest attraction to claim a space in Amsterdam’s entertainment landscape. It is the first of its kind in the world, and offers an experience reminiscent of the first movie houses. Unfortunately, that means offering...

By Phillip Morris on 09/21/16 Comments Off

AI: is it just buzz or is it really changing the web design world?

“A.I. Websites. Build for Humans.” It has been quite a while since the non-stop futuristic flashy banners began showing up on my browser. The Grid is an AI web-builder that will build a website for you in a couple...

By Izumi Otsuka on 09/16/15 Comments Off

Stream, and put some money in the tip jar

Are streaming services musicians’ friends or foes? Startup ‘Whitestone’ aims for industry revolution and introduces ‘the music of the future’ in a new, independent music experience platform. Could this be a step towards a brighter future for music online? Over...

By Lisanne Buijze on 09/14/15 Comments Off

A New Kind of Pop-up Book

Early pop-up books are made out of pure paper. Each time the kid opens a page, an architectural piece of art jumps out of the book. In 2014, it looks much different. Bridging Book established a new mixed-media book for children and presents...

By Janina Sommerlad on 09/18/14 2

Deliver the Letter, the Sooner the Better…?

Having a letter in the post box? Always a surprise … and a daily process to manage. Step into slippers, take the key, get out of house, open the box, grab the insides, get back into house, ideally use...

By Janina Sommerlad on 09/11/14 Comments Off

Crowdsourcing for the Creative Industry

The fact that crowdsourcing affects the behavior of the online marketplace is no surprise. But what about the creative industry? Does it benefit from the new business model or the process of finding a job as a creative professional...

By Andreea Mironiuc on 09/10/14 Comments Off

Orto: a New Media solution for horticulturists

A small warning for the reader: This blogpost is not as theoretical as many of you may like it to be. Instead it offers a small case study exhibits the design and decisions of a project I did in order...

By Auke Akkerman on 09/08/14 Comments Off

The Building Blocks of Mobile Innovation

“Mobile innovation is over” – Marcus Wohlsen (Wired Magazine) A lot has happened since the first call from a mobile phone has been made by Martin Cooper 1973 from a Motorola phone. Since then the market has been ruled...

By Inte Gloerich on 10/09/13 Comments Off

Thinking the unthinkable (some thoughts on the production of thought and access to knowledge)

A few days ago, Bret Victor, a researcher and software engineer, announced via Facebook that he had redesigned his talk “Media for Thinking the Unthinkable“, which he delivered on April 4th of this year at the MIT Media Lab. As...

By Fernando van der Vlist on 09/11/13 Comments Off

Snow Fall, the future of online journalism?

We live in a time of dropping newspaper sales and traditional journalists that see their offline audiences shrink each year. Most newspapers have a well maintained online presence and try to employ the medium’s possibilities like showing video content...

By Inte Gloerich on 09/11/13 Comments Off

How Do You Like Your Phone, Sir?

Technology is factually making our lives easier and more efficient, even though this notion comes with the critique that we get more lazy and rely too much on something we know too little about. Smartphones carry much more tools than...

By Ihab Khiri on 09/09/13 Comments Off

Making Visible the Invisible: Information Visualization Through a Fine Art Lens

“Big Data will replace ideas, paradigms, organizations and ways of thinking about the world.” –Steve Lohr It is difficult to mention the present-day ubiquity of data without resorting to clichés. We are frequently reminded that data is in use...

By Maya Livio on 03/14/13 Comments Off

The Not-So-Functional Art: Putting Information Visualisation Back Into Context

“It’s always been a tricky balance between getting the story across, and making a great image. But thanks to some serious computing power, we’ve arrived at a crunch point. In one corner of the ring is information, and in...

By Mathias Schuh on 03/13/13 2

Open Knowledge and Visual Information

Open knowledge takes root What exactly is at stake with the advent of open knowledge and widely shared information? Let’s take ourselves back just over a decade to a time in which information and especially creative information was being...

By Geoff Kim on 03/11/13 Comments Off

[Interview] Juul Spee of Zesbaans: Digital Media Designer

Zesbaans is a digital media and design collective that experiments with media and interactivity. Zesbaans (Dutch for a six-laned highway) has been based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, since its founding in 2007 where it has been involved with projects...

By Joe Mier on 10/17/12 Comments Off

Photoshop facilitates a new generation of image-makers and why it matters

There within most personal computers are applications that resolve the divide between creative thought and creative application. Today, there are hundreds of such applications but few have embedded themselves so deep in the digital era of creative production such...

By Geoff Kim on 10/17/12 Comments Off

Fabbing in Brussels!

The official opening of Fablab.iMAL that took place on Friday 14th in the well-known Brussels-based Media Lab iMAL (Center for Digital Cultures and Technology) gave us the chance to look closer at personal fabrication and to observe curious artifacts....

By Aurelie Ghalim on 09/24/12 1

Collages by Broken Kindle Screens

A collaboration between artists Sebastian Shmieg and Silvio Lorusso, this project examines and documents 56 images of broken Amazon Kindle display screens that result in quite astonishing pieces of collage art. In an era of highly advanced computing technology,...

By Geoff Kim on 09/09/12 1