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

The Shelfless Bookstore

What is the difference between a traditional bookstore and an online bookstore? You could say it’s in the opening hours, the delivery time and number of employees, but let’s focus on one of the main differences. A traditional bookstore...

By Marije Rooze on 10/26/10 1

Digital Publishing in Education

In this new era of digital publishing, we should not only be concerned with the things we can can do in our leisure time, moreover, we should try to find the boundaries of what digital publishing can mean to...

By Fei An Tjan on 10/21/10 Comments Off

The Future of Magazine Publishing in the digital age

In fact, magazines were pioneers in niche content before cable TV and the Internet came along and usurped them with the flashy video of the former and the interactive communities of the latter. (Glaser, 2005) It is no longer...

By Lotte Woerde on 10/21/10 1

The human race towards immortality or stupidity.

The idea of immortality plays a significant role in the human life. Within every generation, and within every culture this is an issue. The Chinese incorporate this with Ba Xian, the eight immortals. Within he Indian Mythology there is...

By Chris Hoogeveen on 10/21/10 1

And the nominees are…

The Nobel Peace Prize is handed out every year to a person or an organization that has acted according to the standards written by Alfred Nobel in his final will; “The whole of my remaining realisable estate shall be...

By Marte Lindstrom on 10/21/10 Comments Off

Alice in iPad, the New Wonderland.

Will fairy tales live happily ever after in the digital publishing era? Once upon a time, electronic signatures didn’t designate us as individuals, passwords didn’t determine if we would be denied or not the access in data and emoticons...

By Ilektra Pavlaki on 10/20/10 Comments Off

Reducing the ministries’ excessive use of paper

In the early nineteen-eighties, computers became widely adopted by the Dutch ministries. Then, for a decade or so, the computer mainly acted as a replacement of the typewriter. The computer was primarily used for word processing and doing calculations....

By Lennard Torbijn on 10/20/10 Comments Off

Is Google Going To Ruin The E-reader’s Party?

“Books are among the most beautifully engineered, and human-engineered, components in existence, and they will continue to be functionally important within the context of man-computer symbiosis.” The above quote is from Joseph Licklider stated in his famous article ‘Man-Computer Symbiosis’...

By Philip Man on 10/19/10 1

Are E-books just a transitional technology?

“At breakfast Sal reads the news. She still prefers the paper form, as do most of the people. She spots an interesting quote from a columnist in the business section. She wipes her pen over the news paper´s name,...

By Cristina Reyna on 10/19/10 Comments Off

A Clay Tablet Is Not a Book

Mcluhan believed the medium to be the message. When we are trying to understand the effects of the medium, we ought to analyze the medium. And when the medium changes, the message is bound to transform. Who’s utopian vision...

By Mareline Heijman on 10/19/10 Comments Off

Book Review Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

O’Reilly published this year a new updated edition of the book Hackers: Heroes of the Digital Revolution from Stevy Levin. The book tells the history of a subculture that arose in the late fifties. The book starts in Building...

By Marije Rooze on 10/18/10 5

The Future

Characteristics of the digital era are: images written directly to our retinas // ubiquitous high bandwidth connection to the Internet at all times // electronics so tiny it's embedded in the environment, our clothing, our eyeglasses // full immersion...

By Laila Koubia on 10/18/10 1

This Post is Best Viewed in Microsoft IE

Every web devoloper runs into this problem at one point and sadly, usually very often. Markup language that doesn't get translated by certain web browsers. Negelence of the software developer to web standars etc. are still occuring more and...

By Frank Molenaar on 10/18/10 5

E-books Should Take a Page Out of The Internet

Being a student of New Media, people I know who are less involved in the world of new media sometimes turn to me with questions on the latest technological developments that are being covered in the news. As if...

By Erik van Bemmelen on 10/18/10 4

The E-reading Development Compared To Past MP3 Culture

Cheaper Books and Violation of Copyright?

The value added tax (VAT) for a Dutch digital book consists 19% instead of the 6% for a printed one. This results in only a minimal difference...

By Elias van Hees on 10/18/10 Comments Off

Preserving the physical book by using social networks

Some day I will read from a Kindle, Ipad or another eBook reading device. But for now, I can’t imagine how the ‘feel of a book’ can be replaced by something digital. I love to turn pages, I love...

By Emina Sendijarevic on 10/18/10 Comments Off

Wired on Wired

Caution: this article is not meant for people who don’t like Wired. Offline: The Magazine I am and always have been a big fan of Wired. I like their “Californian Ideology”, their almost child-like enthusiasm and optimistic view on...

By Sander Jansma on 10/18/10 3

The BeBook Blues

Last years have been devout to digital publishing and the e-readers. The media made it seem that it was the new big thing and even my mother was considering an iPad. Because I was always annoyed by the enormous...

By Fei An Tjan on 10/18/10 Comments Off

The e-book: it doesn’t smell or feel like a book

32-year-publishing veteran Jerry D. Simmons says that e-books will replace traditional media. Many academic libraries, including Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam are rapidly expanding their catalogs with electronic books and the digitization of their printed materials. So are libraries in favour...

By Janice Wong on 10/18/10 3

Digital Comics: Not as Invincible as They Could Be

As a Toronto born comic book fan, I’ve probably visited my local comic book shop, Cyber City Comix, once a week for the last fifteen years. Every Wednesday I would go by and pick up the latest issues of...

By Ronen Shay on 10/18/10 Comments Off

The Future of the eBook

Alternative title: How can the eBook be the future? Only a few days ago I came across this video, produced by IDEO, narrating this particular organization’s vision on the future of the book. By presenting three different designed interfaces...

By Ourania on 10/18/10 Comments Off

Truthy: Policing Misinformation, One Meme-ing Tweet At a Time

“Swiftboaters beware!” The battle to control Congress is on and this election year the truth is about to get Truthier. Twitter – the social media network, twenty-four-hour news site, conversation and blogging platform, wedding and death announcement site, gossip...

By Ekaterina Yudin on 10/18/10 2

Electronic Paper to the Rescue!

Digital publishing is trying to replace centuries of ink printed publishing, however many people are still skeptical to this idea of digital publishing, and remain loyal to the ‘old’ book, mostly because they...

By Bob Nefkens on 10/17/10 1

Futureader

Whether they are hard or soft cover, thick or thin, large or small, heavy or light, old or new, owned or borrowed – the traditional book exists in all shapes, forms and genres. The e-book lacks this spectrum of...

By Agathe Wiedemair on 10/17/10 1