Masters of Media

CareAI: A Solution for African Healthcare?

The concept of artificial intelligence as we know it today first appeared in 1956, however, it was Leonardo Da Vinci who initially set the stage for the development of this field with his sketches of Robots (Hamet and Tremblay). Since...

By Anja Duricic on 09/23/18 Comments Off

From Instagramming to Insta Shopping: Is this the Future of Online Shopping?

Online shopping is a term that we have known for a long time and with the digitalized progresses in the commerce sector the whole shopping experience is getting to a next level. So, what does shopping have to...

By Merve Özüner on 09/23/18 Comments Off

Facebook’s ‘Rosetta’ System: A Form of Safety Implementation or Data Exploitation?

Facebook has announced its latest technological development, code-named Rosetta, which detects and recognizes texts in images, as well as videos. They claim that it’s for the benefit of the social network community because of the safety features it provides...

By Layal Boulos on 09/23/18 Comments Off

ProPublica is Re-Purposing Data for Social Reforms

Whether you were scrolling through your Facebook news’ feed or simply reading tweets about the most recent political scandals, chances are you have been exposed to contradictory information, and even ‘fake news’. On the internet, anyone can spread dishonest...

By Laurie Le Bomin on 09/23/18 Comments Off

For artists, or for itself? How Spotify’s artist app enhances the platform’s growth

Spotify now gives artists access to information about their listeners. This has been hailed as empowering by artists who use these insights to forge careers in an ever-changing industry. But why would Spotify want to share its data? Spotify...

By Sarah Dear on 09/22/18 Comments Off

Will Mind Control Devices Soon Make Us Loose Our Minds?

Bionic brains What is the first thing that visually comes to mind when you hear the words, “mind control?” Do you picture a scene from a sci-fi film based in the distant future, an episode from Black Mirror, or...

By Mikayla Brown on 09/22/18 Comments Off

Twitch.tv: A Socially Valuable Platform, or Just Another Amazon Revenue Stream?

Instagram influencers and YouTube vloggers have long been seen as the leaders in monetizing one’s online self. New to this scene are an entirely different cohort of digital money makers: those who profit as professional video gamers on live...

By Emma Knight on 09/21/18 Comments Off

Possible ‘Alexa’ commands of the future: “ Home, tweet ‘Home’ ”

The conceptual ‘Home of the Future’ (HoF) has been a curiosity and fixation for as long as technological design has existed. In 1967, a U.S. television special aired the conceptual design for ‘The Home of 2001’, which displayed now-standard...

By Eliza Connolly on 09/18/18 Comments Off

Power according to Foucault

Introduction This article gives a short overview about several concepts related to ‘power’ from 20th century French social theorist Michel Foucault. He was highly influenced by Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser. Foucault is both associated as a structuralist and...

By Vera Seegers on 05/09/18 Comments Off

Platform Capitalism: Democratic Subjectivity and the Democratic Surround

Drawing on Fred Turner’s book “The Democratic Surround”, this blogpost will dive into what it means and where it originates. The main question of this book is: ‘Was there a mode of communication that could produce more democratic individuals?’...

By Els Versluis on 05/03/18 Comments Off

Airbnb and the Experience Economy: the end of sharing?

Video: Introducing Airbnb Trips, Airbnb Airbnb Trips: the promise of an ‘easy’ and ‘magical’ stay booked alongside your Airbnb home. Launched in November 2017, Trips is Airbnb’s biggest and most significant development since its initiation eight years ago (Airbnb)....

By Renate Brulleman on 05/02/18 Comments Off

Facebook’s new “two more big steps”. A responsible resolution or a surge for more self-regulation?

Facebook has recently come under attack. Much can be written about the controversies that the social media platform is currently facing. Questionable subjects are, to name a few, tax evasion, live streaming of violence, the effects of social media...

By Aimee Dirkzwager on 05/02/18 Comments Off

Platform Capitalism: Neoliberalism and the Homo Economicus

In relation to the theme of neoliberalism, we chose to explore the creation of the homo-economicus and the factors that play into it: Both classical and neo-liberalism place importance on man as an economic subject. They both have a...

By Ayse B. Tosun on 04/26/18 Comments Off

A Foucauldian Genealogy of Cybernetic Subjectivity

An overview of cybernetics, its production of subjects and key players and ideas that formed the cybernetic paradigm.

By Jasper van Tilburg on 04/23/18 Comments Off

Platform Capitalism: Visualising The Postcapitalist Future

This visualisation is the end result of a fantasy scenario conducted in class where the goal was to create a postcapitalist utopia, complete with a democratically elected name, political party and laws. The game was designed to introduce ideas of...

By David Molloy on 03/13/18 Comments Off

Platform Capitalism: Conceptualising the ‘Social Factory’

The core concepts outlined in this visualization relate to society from a post-marxist viewing point: autonomism. The ideas of the operaismo discerned from classical marxism and provided new readings of some of Marx’s famous works, particularly the Grundrisse....

By Liam Corcoran on 03/03/18 Comments Off

The future of “rentism”

This visualization is intended to give an overview of the concept of “Rentism” as it is discussed in the writings of 5 scholars: Joseph Stiglitz, Christian Marazzi, David Harvey, Thomas Piketty and Peter Frase. The visualization is a product...

By Yarden Skop on 02/26/18 Comments Off

Interventions on Nick Srnicek’s “Platform Capitalism”

A representation of the current platform capitalist culture.

By Els Versluis on 02/16/18 Comments Off

“Google Bombs as a weapon in the hands of the counterpublics: The case of /r/fullcommunism”

During the mapping of the subreddit ‘full_communism’, a specific practice has been revealed, in which the community frequently engages with: Google bombs. Used by digital activists and counterpublics to demonstrate opposition, Google bombs can signify a new way of...

By Nefeli Gkoni on 02/12/18 Comments Off