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

rMA Thesis Conference 2015: (pre)Cyberspace Perspectives on Information Technologies

The following is a modified transcript of my research presentation for the 2015 Research Master in Media Studies Thesis Conference. My thesis is an exploration of magical writing practices in contemporary digital culture. This was too much to talk...

By Rose Rowson on 05/05/15 Comments Off

[Thesis] A Critical Theory of Web Culture in 4chan’s /b/ Mediascape

This post contains the abstract and download link to a thesis project which examines the infamous online forum 4chan and its most notorious image board, known as /b/.

By Liam Voice on 07/20/12 4

Towards openness – A study about open design and its translation from theory into practice

For anyone interested in design, open source and open design, my recently finished (june 2012) MA Thesis is available for download here. Below is the thesis’ abstract: Following the course of web 2.0, user-generated content and open source software; design...

By Juliana Paiva on 07/12/12 72

How Gamification Triggers Facebook in Being on Addictive Game of Sociality

I wrote a thesis about the new trend of gamification and specifically the gamification of the social networking site. With the gamification of the social network I am not speaking about the invasion of social games like FarmVille, but...

By Philip Man on 09/28/11 3

Masters thesis: Virtualized Subjectivity in Contemporary Art Practice

A few weeks ago I completed and submitted my Masters thesis, ending my yearlong study at the University of Amsterdam’s New Media MA program. Our cohort will officially graduate this Tuesday, 20 Sept, 2011. Here it is, if anybody’s...

By Ashiq Khondker on 09/19/11 1

:-) or (^_^) – Western versus Japanese emoticons

It’s been a week now since the New Media Master 2010-2011 started. The first thing that stroke me while looking around at my fellow students in the lecture room on Monday morning was the enormous diversity of backgrounds, nationalities...

By Annet Bos on 09/13/11 1

The development of the Greek-language Wikipedia: An interview with the general coordinator of the “I participate in Wikipedia” campaign. PART II.

You can read part I of the interview here. The existing community & the new users Usually, the users are the ones who approach Wikipedia. With this campaign, however, it is the Wikipedia community that approaches the public. What...

By Ilektra Pavlaki on 07/07/11 2

Thoughts on the Contemporary Gaming Landscape

This post is a bit of an experiment. Basically, it's a summary of what I would like to write my thesis about. In the spirit of open collaboration, I'd like to know what you think of this idea. Obviously,...

By Laurent Hubeek on 04/27/11 Comments Off

Commons-based peer produsage? Rethinking online production.

The Internet, and the emergence of Web 2.0 in particular, have been celebrated for their liberatory potential, setting free the individual consumers once bounded by industrial inertia. We only need to take a quick look at the Arctic Monkey’s...

By Lennard Torbijn on 10/31/10 Comments Off

Grammars of Process: Agency, Collective Becoming, and the Organization of Software

Despite years of theorization, a concise definition of what constitutes a medium remains elusive. A practice-based case study in generative typesetting leads to an analytics of becoming that highlights the external dynamics of media. Rather than the referentially recursive...

By John Haltiwanger on 09/17/10 Comments Off

My infotainment thesis

I chose the New Media master for several reasons. 1. I want to expand my view and expertise from Television to New Media. 2. New Media is the future. 3. I’m interested in the way television is more and...

By Floor Broer van Dijk on 09/09/10 Comments Off

Persistence of Life-Streams – An Inquiry Into the Implications of Mixed Surveillance

Here’s the final version of my thesis which covers the nature and implications of (participatory) surveillance in the field of social media, and specifically in life-streaming services like Twitter and Facebook. (PDF can be downloaded here). Introduction: In this...

By Sjoerd Tuinema on 09/06/10 Comments Off