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

Review of Google’s PageRank and Beyond: The Science of Search Engine Rankings

The book Google's PageRank and Beyond: The science of search engine rankings is about the technology behind the ranking of websites, especially Google's ranking. It will give a little insight in how the Google algorithm works. In the abstract...

By Bram Nijhof on 09/14/08 1

Google Strikes Back in China’s Holiday Migration Chaos

The last few weeks it has been in the news numerous times; in Guangzhou, South China, snow and ice storms have stranded tens of millions of people, most of them migrant workers traveling to their families to celebrate the...

By Pieter-Paul Walraven on 02/01/08 4

Misspelling generator –> M1ssp3ll1ng G4n3r4t0r

In general, a search engine is presented as an objective tool, although it is its underlying code which defines the possible outcomes.

An integral part of a search engine is the spelling control which suggests alternative words...

By Erik Borra on 12/26/07 2

Baigoogledu ?!

Today I came across the extremely original search site Baigoogledu. They claim to combine the search results of both Google and Baidu. Sounds nice but does it work? Yes, after punching in a search term it shows the results in...

By Pieter-Paul Walraven on 12/19/07 Comments Off

Cooperation: Google, OpenSocial and social networks

<strong class="search-highlight">Google</strong>

On November 2nd Google presented her “new baby”: OpenSocial. OpenSocial is a open source technology based on html and javascript, which allows networks to be open for gadgets and widgets from other sites. So why must...

By Daphne Ben Shachar on 11/04/07 4

Future of Google @ Club of Amsterdam

In a series of ‘future of’ events, the Club Of Amsterdam organized a future on Google symposium on the 25th of October at the Industrieele Groote Club. Four lecturers were invited to give their views on the history, status,...

By Tjerk Timan on 11/01/07 4

Dystopias after Google

Here at MofM we've done our share of google/">Google criticism, but I think The Last Psychatrist has one up on us. google_wrought.html">What Hath Google Wrought is a giant-sized portion of skepticism about the 'accidental monopoly', which...

By Michael Stevenson on 10/20/07 2

blog.google.com: Internet finally subsumed by Blogs

It is well known that Google, which depends on every link it indexes to recommend search results, has a certain 'vulnerability' that blogs expose. Bloggers are professional-amateur-pointers. They publish frequently, they link a lot, and then they syndicate...

By Michael Stevenson on 10/18/07 3

The collaborative Web 2.0

According to Wikipedia, collaboration is a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together towards a common goal - typically an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature - by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus....

By Laura van der Vlies on 10/17/07 Comments Off

Discussion about the spinplant

On October 1st Geert Lovink posted a previous blogpost about the spinplant on the Nettime mailinglist. This was the beginning of what turned out to become a sprawling discussion. This is a summary of the original post,...

By Laura van der Vlies on 10/15/07 2

Evil Google: A slave’s accusation?

Calling Google "evil" might just be the fashion of the day. We could also argue it to be a perfect example of Nietzsche's slave morality.

By Raoul Siepers on 10/14/07 Comments Off

A dent in the stock market of technology?

Google, Apple, Yahoo others of the technological part of the economy, suffered big losses on the stock market yesterday (de Volkskrant, 12/10/07). Whereas in the begining of the week their stock value went up they were now influenced by...

By Felicia Plijter on 10/12/07 Comments Off

Making the Spinplant Relevant: more from Friedrich Nietzsche

<update> See bottom of the post and the comments </ update> About a week ago there was a small-scale furor on this blog and a Nettime-NL thread surrounding the spinplant. Laura (one of the very creative members of this...

By Michael Stevenson on 10/09/07 24

Pingback Spam, Popularity and Protecting Investments

This blog is a real magnet for pingback spam lately. While I’d like to take it as a sign of our growing popularity, that would be like being flattered by calls from telemarketers. Also, it probably says more about...

By Michael Stevenson on 10/09/07 9

YOU have become Nietzsche’s Madman

Is Nietzsche’s Madman not a parable that is still appliable to the world of today? Let’s have a look and see for ourselves; —-Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours,...

By Minke Kampman on 10/09/07 Comments Off

Nietzsche – “Evil men have no songs”

By Esther Weltevrede on 10/08/07 Comments Off

Alternative realities presented by Google

The preceding couple of days, it has become extra clear that Google has become a very important source for defining our Truths. Not only Laura’s Spin-Plant (first Nettime post here) but also the 911truth.org issue, which Erik wrote about...

By Rosa Menkman on 10/04/07 1

Report on the Forum on Quaero

As part of Open-Search, I was invited to participate in the Forum on Quaero at the Jan van Eyck Acadamie in Maastricht, September 29 and 30, 2007. The purpose of the forum was to question and investigate the European...

By Erik Borra on 10/04/07 Comments Off

911truth.org dissappears from google

Update: 911truth.org reappeared in Google’s search returns on October 7. No explanation has been put forward yet, but this second coming has been nicely documented and visualized on the Issue Dramaturg . About a year ago...

By Erik Borra on 09/28/07 16

Review: Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge

This review of Jean-Noël Jeanneney’s Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge will provide the reader with an overview of the questions raised regarding the online publishing of books. A View from Europe Branded with the tagline a View...

By Raoul Siepers on 09/16/07 5

New Network Theory – Review

For three executive sunny days last week, the humanity studies faculty of the University of Amsterdam hosted the New Network Theory conference. This four party collaborative initiative – consisting of Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis, Institute of Network cultures,...

By Roman Tol on 07/09/07 5