‘Ce que le web fait, c’est de matérialiser des éléments qu’on ne voyait pas et qu’on ne pouvait pas tracer auparavant, par le fait d’avoir un login, un écran, un clavier, des avatars‘ [1] Latour
Internet applications offer opportunities for collaboration and for the generation and distribution of knowledge. The new technologies and software enable users to adopt new…
The Technology Entertainment and Design conference, better known as TED, has spread its worthy ideas annually since 1990. The last couple of years the TED-virus has spread the world as TED became globally known by letting their talks be viewed online for free. As a result the wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture of TED are also being addressed here in Amsterdam under the label of TEDx events. Its popularity seems undeniable, but what is the value of TED to us?
The networked structure of digital communication channels was illuminated when internet and digital communication networks were shut down in Egypt. It was also at this moment that the nation-state aspect of networked communication (the physicality of the square and of analog forms of communication) and its relationship to the digital networks was complicated.
The current situation in Egypt, where…
With the mission of defining ‘the future of information consumption’, the founders of Qwiki, a self-proclaimed multimedia alternative to the text-based search provided by Google state to have launched the ‘next big thing’: a narrative search-tool based on the computer ‘telling you a story’ accompanied by videos and pictures about the term you are looking for. “Whether you’re planning a vacation on the web, evaluating restaurants on your phone, or helping with homework in front of the family Google TV, Qwiki is working to deliver information in a format that’s quintessentially human – via storytelling instead of search.”
Lets talk about the supposedly free and open Web again, not ‘again’ in the sense that it has been discussed too much or too abundantly but in the sense that maybe new and other frameworks have to be introduced or at least need to be considered. While I am not trying to speak on anybody’s behalf, certainly when following Latour’…
Computer viruses have posed a threat to the Windows operating system and its users since its earliest versions. The security update, often integrated in the infamous service packs, is the never-ending temporal solution for those that want to minimize the risk of contagion. However, as the title of a recent article on Nu.nl reads, “1.2 Million Dutch make…
“In the greatest leverage of the common user, Google turns traffic and link patterns generated by 2+billion searches a month into the organizing intelligence for a new economy.” – Kevin Kelly (Bruns 2008, 174)
Whether users realize it or not every Google search produces metadata that makes small incremental contributions to maintaining and improving the accuracy of Google’s…
One of the most talked about aspects concerning Facebook’s launch of social plugins was how these would affect the content and distribution of news. My aim in this short post is to briefly address the following exploratory question: “What are the matters of concern expressed in the popular debate with respect to the implementation of Facebook’s social plugins on news…