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

Swipe you left out of my life!

How the features of tinder encourage both connectedness and social indifference As the world is becoming more digitally connected and people are becoming more reliant on the Internet and digital technologies for various aspects of their lives, it comes...

By Camille Godineau on 10/24/18 Comments Off

EcoScanner: Self-tracking Sustainability

Piloting the EcoScanner: A Self-tracking Solution to Sustainability Annika Heinemeyer, Daniel Jurg, Molly Doell, Ziwen Tang Abstract Modern consumers are using apps to track all types of behavior (sleep, running, eating etc.). But while there are some...

By Annika Heinemeyer on 10/22/18 Comments Off

Game of Fakes: An Entertaining Approach to Analyzing How Awareness of Fake News Affects Trust in News Media

‘Fake news’: to Donald Trump, it’s a well-loved, catch-all phrase for the mainstream news media, but to scholars and politicians, it’s a trend of great concern. Fake news, and dis-, mis-, and mal-information is becoming harder for the average...

By Emma Knight on 10/20/18 Comments Off

The rise of connected cars: telematics, carrots, and ads

The car culture, as we know it, is dying. Not because cars are going hybrid or electric, and lack of noise coming out of exhaust systems makes car lovers depressed, neither because they are “learning” to drive by themselves....

By Péter Fussy on 09/23/18 Comments Off

Stop trying to script my life

The colonization of the empty state and nudges as contested territory. On another day at the office, something remarkable happens. I manage to clean up my entire email inbox. Not being the kind of person whose inbox is often...

By Sanne Stevens on 09/23/18 Comments Off

Is Apple our Online-Privacy Vigilante?

Abstract: Apple purports that its new Intelligent Tracking Prevention Technology integrated in Safari browser prevents 3rd-party cookies from collecting users’ data, therefore, reducing online ads, and ultimately protecting users’ privacy. This paper challenges this by arguing that ITP’s functionality...

By K. Abdulghani on 09/24/17 Comments Off

Goalpost in the Ozone: The Deceptively Good Intentions of #Climate

As far as scientific consensus goes, it’s tempting to label the ‘debate’ around climate change as being over. However, to do so invites complacency, a willingness to delegate responsibility to a far-off unknown authority. News organisations, politicians and activists...

By David Molloy on 09/24/17 Comments Off

Pokémon Go: A Blueprint for Augmented Reality?

July 2016, a cultural zeitgeist dating back to the 90s was unleashed upon the world with renewed and unprecedented vigour. Pokémon Go fever swept the world – at its peak in mid-July, it was estimated that over 45 million (Griffiths)...

By Rhubini Kunasegaran on 09/19/16 Comments Off

Does gameful solar power pay off?

Imagine you could produce your own electricity, charge the batteries of your electronic devices and even get rewarded. The German startup Changers tries to make that true. They designed a solar power charger for USB devices and a software...

By Danny Lämmerhirt on 09/18/14 Comments Off

Gaming can save the world – A gamer’s perspective (interview)

Could it? I may have exaggerated Jane McGonigal’s thoughts on gaming’s potential possibilities, but her optimism and enthusiasm may well agree with the title. McGonigal talks of gaming’s collaborative potential, that if harnessed correctly, could lead to better and...

By Christopher Mead on 10/31/11 Comments Off

How Gamification Triggers Facebook in Being on Addictive Game of Sociality

I wrote a thesis about the new trend of gamification and specifically the gamification of the social networking site. With the gamification of the social network I am not speaking about the invasion of social games like FarmVille, but...

By Philip Man on 09/28/11 3