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

We Are Dread: A Review of the Dread Exhibition at De Hallen, Haarlem

By Lani Shadduck & Lucy Chinen “Dread trembles in my pocket. Dread chirps incessantly. Dread flashes and bounces. Dread summons me a hundred times a day to pay attention to my phone or my laptop, and stiffening...

By Lani Shadduck on 10/09/13 Comments Off

3D printing: How far can it go?

3D printing – a mind-blowing process which might bring the future so far that science fiction stories might become reality. This technology becomes more accessible to the average user every day, but is still questioned a lot. That...

By Indre Lauciute on 10/07/13 Comments Off

The Next Web conference review

In these 26 and 27 April Amsterdam received The Next Web conference in the Westegasfabriek. The conference is focused in business and populated by many startup and investors. The projects presented in the conference were new technological products. The...

By Mario Gesteira on 04/29/12 Comments Off

Seminar: CBS Datavisualization – Bas Broekhuizen

Last Friday the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) held an interactive data visualization day “Datavisualisatie in beweging” initiated by web designer Eugene Tjoa and Bas Broekhuizen. With this seminar statistic data supplier CBS invited several data visualization professionals, to present their...

By Fenneke Mink on 02/06/12 Comments Off

Netexplorateur Observatory. Talking about Crowdmash, VirtuRéalité and Webego…

Tuesday 25th of October I went to see a conference in Brussels of The Netexplorateur Observatory at Institut des Hautes Etudes des Communications Sociales (IHECS). This observatory is formed of sociologists that analyse hundreds of innovation in the area...

By Aurelie Ghalim on 11/02/11 Comments Off

PICNIC: Life in Readable Cities

Using public transport, we leave digital traces when checking in and out with our OV chip cards. Once our Bonus Card at Albert Heijn got scanned over the counter, we provide Albert with valuable information about what we like...

By Caroline Goralczyk on 09/18/11 3

Online Video Art at Video Vortex 6: Conditional Design

In his presentation at the Video Vortex #6 conference in Amsterdam, graphic designer and project director Roel Wouters introduced the audience to interactive projects which include dynamic media such as web video and animation to install crowdsourced performances. With...

By Caroline Goralczyk on 03/13/11 Comments Off

Michael Strangelove @ Video Vortex 6: “Any Moment Will be a Youtube Moment”

In his talk on the cultural value of amateur video at the Video Vortex #6 conference in Amsterdam, the author, scholar and artist Michael Strangelove explained how amateur productions will gain greater value due to their potential of challenging...

By Caroline Goralczyk on 03/13/11 Comments Off

The Future of Hacking

Data theft, child pornography, spying on governments and spreading destructive computer viruses. When thinking of the term 'hacking', we usually think of internet crime, computer breakdowns and some geeks sitting in front of their laptop looking for a fresh...

By Caroline Goralczyk on 10/15/10 Comments Off

Pecha Kucha Night @Mediamatic, Amsterdam

Here I am, sitting on a couple of pillows in the front row of Mediamatic’s jam-packed main room. In just a few minutes, the Pecha Kucha Night Amsterdam Volume 15 will start. 12 presentations given at lightning speed (20...

By Catalina Iorga on 10/14/10 1

Bye Bye, Islam! How the Virtual Space Enhances Anti-Muslim Campaigning

Shoot a mosque and you will earn 2000 points, shoot a Muslim calling for prayer and you are another 1000 points ahead! What sounds like a mere disaster in terms of religious intolerance can now be seen online with...

By Caroline Goralczyk on 09/10/10 2

(Accelerated) World at Work

The Accelerated Living was a theme of the 20th edition of the Impakt Festival (Utrecht 2009) that was focused on changing notions of time. It explored the ways in which we experience time and speed, and the ways in...

By Jan Bajec on 11/02/09 2

ElasticMapping: a locative media project

On Tuesday October 6th, in the Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst in Amsterdam, there was an interesting and envisioning lecture and performance by Amsterdam visual artist Esther Polak (http://realtime.waag.org/). Her main interest in the field of locative media is to...

By Jan Bajec on 10/12/09 Comments Off

Alex Galloway on Protocol @ UvA

After the talk Alex Galloway gave on The Game of War Rosie asked him to give us an introduction to Protocol, which is key literature for one of our courses. This is the first spontaneously organized event by Geeks...

By Esther Weltevrede on 11/08/07 Comments Off

New Media = New Education

Yesterday the graduation of the Sandberg Institute was held at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam. Together with the presentations of the graduates it was also the launch of the book ‘Masters of Rietveld: Dutch Design in the 21st Century',...

By Minke Kampman on 10/28/07 Comments Off

Debord as Programmer: Alexander Galloway on the Game of War

On Thursday night Alexander Galloway, NYU assistant professor and founding member of the Radical Software Group, gave us a peak at his latest project,...

By Michael Stevenson on 10/27/07 7

Games as tools @ cinekid

The lecture was meant as an introduction to the workshop given by Mediamatic on games as tools, but also as an inspirational talk to all involved/ interested in film making and new media. First to talk was Friedrich Kirschner (zeitbrand.net...

By Tjerk Timan on 10/18/07 1

The Artist Moving (through) the Web @ Video Vortex

German video maker Simon Ruschmeyer explores the borderline areas between traditional audiovisual narration and the new possibilities given by interactivity and networked communication. He explores this interface between classical moving media (film/video) and new interactive forms (web/media art) both...

By Esther Weltevrede on 10/07/07 2

LivingLabs recap – what exactly is a creative city?

With every major city in Europe calling itself ‘creative capitol’ these days, the question raises how creative these cities really are and in what way they distinct themselves from others. In a ‘creative race’ between Asia, the US and...

By Tjerk Timan on 10/07/07 Comments Off

Picnic Creative China

Last Friday, I attended Creative China, a partner event at Picnic 2007. One of the main topics of this seminar was the use of Internet versus government regulations and Internet restrictions in China. The Internet is by no means...

By Qilan Zhao on 10/03/07 2

recap: mediamatic / tag event on Processing.

In a series of events organized around the theme information aesthetics, a collaborative effort between Mediamatic and TAG produced a Salon on Processing. For those who are not familiar with this phenomenon: Processing is an open-source software platform created...

By Tjerk Timan on 09/21/07 2

New Network Theory – Katy Börner

Katy Börner, with her presentation Global Brain Pressures: Towards Scholarly Marketplaces, asks what the relationship is between knowledge and the individual, and knowledge and networks. Over a long enough timeline, one sees increasing specialization, and thus a changing perception...

By Michael Stevenson on 06/29/07 Comments Off

New Network Theory – Parallel Sessions – ‘The Link’

The first round of parallel sessions is underway, and a crowd has gathered in a computer lab at the Media studies department to discuss ‘the link’.. A preview comes in the form of one participant’s notes, where I spotted...

By Michael Stevenson on 06/29/07 1

New Network Theory – Noshir Contractor

Noshir Contractor is the first speaker today, here to present MTML meets Web 2.0: Theorizing social processes in multidimensional networks. Noshir begins with a story of the social life of (technologically-enhanced) pets. Your smart-tagged dog can meet other dogs...

By Michael Stevenson on 06/29/07 Comments Off