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

Researching online music networking in the Web 2.0 era: Soundcloud and the demise of MySpace

With the current steady rise of social networking sites, it is by all means an important question to ask how to research these in the field of new media studies. Furthermore, a lot of these sites offer services destined...

By Hans Terpstra on 09/28/10 Comments Off

Involve me, and I’ll understand: Classroom 2.0

Returning to the topic I wrote about two weeks ago, I’d like to have another look at the use of technology in education. It was easy to express my annoyances about the way platforms such as Blackboard are oftentimes...

By Anouka Slemmer on 09/27/10 1

Can the web become more social?

We have always thought that ‘less is more’ but according to Wired’ editor in chief Chris Anderson ‘more is better’. We have to move away from the idea of scarcity and exploit the power of waste on the web....

By Levien Rocha on 09/27/10 Comments Off

The Changing Power of Parents

Being present on a social network once was a way to escape parents’ attention. For many teens, home is a highly regulated space with rules and norms that are strictly controlled by adults. The...

By Elias van Hees on 09/27/10 Comments Off

How Social Tagging can improve Digitized Cultural Heritage

The Internet has in recent years paved the way for the social web. This is a development to the so called Web 2.0. In this manifestation the web finally distanced itself from traditional websites in the old media tradition....

By Fenneke Mink on 09/27/10 1

Thou shall not lie (on your online profile)

(Untrustworthy) Online Identities in Web 2.0 The example of Facebook As new media history is being written at present time, the discourse keeps revolving around the notion of online identity and R20;personal privacy” issues that are connected to the...

By Ourania on 09/27/10 1

MUSIC: Is MySpace more important than an Official Website?

MySpace Music has become an easy way for musicians (solo artists and bands) to get exposure. Through Web 2.0 and the MySpace community means fans can connect to comment, put your song on their personal profile, and add you...

By Janice Wong on 09/26/10 Comments Off

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

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...

By Cristina Reyna on 09/26/10 Comments Off

The Customer is Always Right (or at least able to convince the Internet masses they are)

With the dominance of social networking, user generated content, and the ability to comment on just about anything, web 2.0 has changed the way consumers interact with corporations, especially when they are pissed off. Many corporations are performing the...

By Ronen Shay on 09/26/10 2

The Real Bubble of Virtual Worlds.

With the world economy recovering from the greatest financial crisis in modern times, researching its effect on the virtual economies that people playfully or laboriously engage with in online worlds would be interesting, relevant and difficult. The supposed correlation...

By Bram van der Kruk on 09/26/10 1

Hyves, THE information source for companies

How would I do research in web 2.0 and Social Network Sites? First I have to make clear for myself what web 2.0 exactly is. According to Tim O’Reilly, one of the founders of web 2.0, web 2.0 existed...

By Floor Broer van Dijk on 09/26/10 Comments Off

R20;The customers of this product also bought this, would you like it too?” [x] Not interested

When signing up for a service or installing software, have you ever read privacy policies that you had ‘to agree’ with in order to continue? You surely agreed, but what you have agreed with is probably a mystery. The...

By Philip Man on 09/26/10 2

Dissemination of Social Network Sites

Social network sites are very popular within media studies. They are common research subjects. How often did you refer to Facebook or LinkedIn when writing an article? There is not one way to explore the universe of social media....

By Chris Hoogeveen on 09/23/10 Comments Off

Who do you think you are?

Review: Karin Spaink, Wie is U? Ever had a Déjà vu, the feeling that you have experienced something before? It’s a strange feeling. You can’t exactly explain what it is and where it comes from, but it’s there. You...

By Chris Hoogeveen on 09/15/10 Comments Off

Social data analysis – Information visualization and participatory culture

Researchers in all areas of human knowledge are overwhelmed with data. Through the process of sensemaking, in which information is collected, organized, and analyzed, new knowledge is formed and further action is informed. We must make sense of data...

By Jan Bajec on 04/27/10 4

Classification, culture & the Flickr.com tag

Web 2.0 tagging systems like Flickr’s categorize the website’s content bottom-up. The classification is powered by users applying their common sense and intuition; wisdom-of-the-crowd, resulting in a folk taxonomy of everything that is to be found in the Flickr...

By Maarten Hoogvliet on 10/15/09 1

In search for universal language

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...

By Jan Bajec on 10/05/09 Comments Off

R20;ILNY, it’s a gr8 plc”

According to the recent statistic from ITU (International Telecommunication Union), in conjunction with UN, more than half of the globe population is subscribed to mobile telephony systems. And this number competes with that of the Internet subscribers. While mobiles...

By Radmila Radojevic on 10/05/09 Comments Off

Become a Fan: Facebook marketing

Facebook is smart. And they certainly are not a charity sale. In order to provide the thousands of employees with the great benefits and to keep on growing they’ll annoy their users just enough to make some money, but...

By Hania Piotrowska on 10/02/09 Comments Off

Facebook vs Ning – what is “social”?

A social network is, according to Wikipedia, a social structure made of individuals or organizations, which are connected by one or more specific types of interdependency (friendship, kinship, financial exchange, sexual relationships, and relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige)....

By Jan Bajec on 09/29/09 Comments Off