Tag Archives: assignment

Wikipedia: Propaganda or Contribution?

Elias van Hees | 04 October 2010, 9:02 am | tags: , , ,

In 1945 Vannevar Bush already predicted an innovative new way of structuring information, a new library. Wikipedia was launched in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and was indeed a new initiative to structure data online. On the Wikipedia-page on Wikipedia itself is stated that New or occasional editors have significantly higher rates of their edits reverted (removed) than an elite group of regular editors, colloquially known as the “cabal”. This could make it more difficult for the project to recruit and retain new contributors, over the long term resulting in stagnation in article creation.

Moussaka, anyone?

Ourania Dalalaki | 04 October 2010, 2:06 am | tags: , , , , , , ,


The Chronicle of a Wikipedia Entry


Three attempts to find a topic. Four days of research. One plain article that is still online on the greek Wikipedia. And one Greek lady never eating moussaka again.


Let me explain myself: in the beginning, as we were introduced to the “Wiki Workshop”…

Should one write: he and she or she and he?

Cristina Reyna | 03 October 2010, 8:46 pm | 1 comment | tags: , ,

I posted on the Spanish version of Wikipedia an item on the World March of Women, an international feminist movement. I thought it was a nice way to participate in the 3rd international Action that is taking place this year on October 17th in Bukavu, DR Congo. From Monday to Thursday I spent each evening completing the information…

Campaigning and advocacy via social network sites, are social movements on the right path?

Cristina Reyna | 26 September 2010, 10:55 pm | tags: , , ,

I do believe the Web 2.0 is shaping our societies, and much more the way users relate to each other.

Social movements are adopting very fast social media technologies in their communication strategy. They use social network sites mostly for campaigns, dissemination of information, news and awareness raising  among the public.

Raymond Williams in his essay The Technology and the…

Book Review- Imaginal Machines: Autonomy and Self-Organization in the Revolutions of Everyday Life, by Stevphen Shukaitis

Cristina Reyna | 19 September 2010, 8:07 pm | tags: ,

In the era of New Media, where the multiple identities of social movements find their best way of expression, Stevphen Shukaitis recalls the power of radical and collective imagination giving a new perspective on radical social movements nowadays.

What does it mean to invoke the power of the imagination when it has already seized power (through media flows…

A video game’s tale

Ourania Dalalaki | 12 September 2010, 10:10 pm | tags: , , , , ,

The video game industry has come a long way lately; what with the recent example of Sony Playstation celebrating 15 years and announcing the debut of their new smart multimedia console. A device that is clearly competitive to Nintendo Wii, featuring among its other futuristic characteristics censors, wireless controls and…

New Media education for critical consciousness

Cristina Reyna | 12 September 2010, 9:23 pm | tags: , ,

I am from the generation who wasn’t born with the chip installed; in fact when I studied Journalism I had to bring with me a heavy type writer and the Pentax to classes. The video camera wasn’t as affordable at it is now, so we had to share with the other students, only few had a personal one; the local…

Google-izing the television

Bob Nefkens | 11 September 2010, 11:38 pm | 6 comments | tags: , , , , , ,

For a couple of years now scientists and new media enthusiasts have been talking about the merging of television and personal computers. Nowadays there are a couple of examples through which this merging takes place and last week almighty Google announced it will also launch its Web-based television this fall. Google TV will let you combine the internet with your television. I could explain here exactly how it works but like always Google made a nice animated introduction.

Clouded Software or Software in the Clouds

Jan Bajec | 15 October 2009, 11:29 pm | tags: , , , , ,

The Cloud is all in one; storage of data, software as a service, Web 2.0, and so much more. It is the network of computers that distribute processing power, applications, and large systems among many machines (we already use some cloud-based applications like YouTube or Amazon’s cloud). It is bigger than the sum of its pieces.

In search for universal language

Jan Bajec | 05 October 2009, 12:07 pm | tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Umberto Eco, a cultural critic, semiotician, and a writer said that we live in an age where the “diminutive, the brief and the simple are highly prized in communication” (Thurlow & Brown). New communication technologies can empower young people to explore and develop imaginative ways of making the technology work best for them. If we put Twitter in…