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

We The People: A Direct Line To The White House?

The White House recently announced the development of a new platform: We The People. Obama is quoted in the introduction explaining why: “I pledged to make government more open and accountable to its citizens. That’s what the new We...

By Floris Spronk on 09/14/11 2

‘Headdesking’ and Beyond: The British Uprisings

‘Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not...

By Jamie Franklin on 09/12/11 2

Getting data, sharing data and raising political awareness.

Using vision to amplify cognition. According to the Light Switch Theory, vision appeared on Earth around 543 million years ago and triggered the Cambrian explosion (evolution’s Big Bang). Before that none of the living entities could see and relied to...

By olga paraskevopoulou on 05/07/11 Comments Off

Social Inclusion through Digital Media, Medellín

In my second week in Medellín I spent some time on my project with Hiperbarrio. The organization tries to reach social inclusion through means of digital media in several depressed neighbourhoods in Medellín. By giving workshops in photography, blogging,...

By Fei An Tjan on 04/18/11 1

Data Visualization and Political Elections

According to Bernhard Rieder’s presentation “The contextualized history of data / information visualization” there was always a necessity of visualizing the information we gathered throughout centuries about the world. Through the curiosity and the hunger for knowledge of the...

By Magdalena Gocwin on 04/18/11 1

On the Political Value of TED

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...

By Bob Nefkens on 03/24/11 1

TOP: Climategate IPCC and the legitimacy of public concerns

In this session we focus on the contemporary connections between science, technology, and politics. The connections between these three domains are often neglected or unjust presented as complete seperated area’s. Bruno Latour speaks of matters that matter, by which...

By Elias van Hees on 03/20/11 1

Video Vortex #6: Sam Gregory on video activism and advocacy

Sam Gregory, program director at WITNESS presented his thoughts on using online video as a political tool at Video Vortex #6 in Amsterdam yesterday.

By Janice Wong on 03/13/11 Comments Off

TOP: Networks and Resistance

What are the role of networks in the Arabic revolution? Can we then speak about a network that is being changed from within? And what, in that respect, is within? The situation in Egypt became so chaotic that defining...

By Fei An Tjan on 03/09/11 1

TOP: Egypt, Twitter, and Activism.

Activism and social network platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are mentioned together more often than ever. The 2009 Iranian election protest was nicknamed the ‘Twitter Revolution,’ and the more recent protests in Egypt are depicted similarly. The platforms...

By Kimberley Spreeuwenberg on 02/19/11 Comments Off

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

E = Media Combinations2: The survival of the fittest

Every old medium was once new. And when something gets old we’ve got to search for a way to give it its old glance back. The printed book was once a new medium. It was revolutionary, groundbreaking. But today...

By Chris Hoogeveen on 10/13/10 3

The Dark Side of Twitter

Amongst many for and against internet as a public sphere Paparachisi (2002) comes up with very important characteristic, I would like to focus on here. Namely, the potential of the internet to bring people from diverse backgrounds together, which...

By Michal Kielbasa on 10/10/10 Comments Off

Book Review: Network Power – David Singh Grewal

Globalization is reintroduced to society in David Singh Grewal’s “Network Power”. A volume that contains so much information, it can easily be viewed as a contemporary globalization handbook. Grewal’s perspective is fresh and bold, albeit not empirically substantiated....

By Ronen Shay on 09/20/10 1

Book review “Bioethics in the age of new media” by Joanna Zylinksa (2009)

The outrageous amount of information that we are able to store these days awakes more dilemma’s than just the one about privacy that’s discussed by many. Companies like Google and Facebook can collect data about their users and save...

By Jorien De Wandeler on 09/20/10 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

The Arab media revolution

Since there have been inventions for the use of communication amongst the human race there have been institutions, governments and corporations trying to control them. As Noam Chomsky cites: 'Unless people are controlled, they are going to challenge power'....

By Laila Koubia on 09/12/10 Comments Off

Remediation pur sang

Last tuesday I discovered the following news bulletin on NU.nl ‘Mogelijk tijdslot voor internet- uitzendingen publieke omroep’ in which is explained that resigning minister of Education, Culture and Science André Rouvoet plans to use a timelock on adult televison...

By Xander Stolwijk on 09/12/10 Comments Off

Master of Media spin-off selected for EU blogging competition TH!NK3

www.ICT4Accountability.wordpress.com , one of the blogs started by a former New Media student of the UvA, is officially selected to compete in the internationally renowned blogging competition’ TH!NK3’. This blogging competition, set up by the European Journalism Centre, will...

By Wouter Dijkstra on 03/17/10 1

The Art of War in the Digital Age of Representation

An essay for New Media Theories which discusses some ideas considering the War Video game and its specific attributes along theories of militarization, ludification of culture and the megaspactacle.

By Rakesh Kanhai on 03/08/10 2

Towards Digital Inclusion: Gathering, Digesting and Creating ICTs

‘Problems are not a monopoly of the South and solutions are not a monopoly of the North’. Particularly the latter part of this quote struck me, since within many studies on developmental aid and ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology...

By ellen sluis on 02/16/10 8

Google’s Global Dissociative Identity Disorder

A lot has been written already about the local and global. Comparing this to other local Google websites and the general Global Google (google.com). But how global is this Global Google actually? Is google.com really global? Is the result...

By Harro Heijboer on 11/30/09 Comments Off

Mapping politics through art. Is it effective?

When the french philosopher Alain Badiou presented his essay “Fifteen Thesis on Contemporary Art” published in 2004, he took an artwork by Mark Lombardi, as an illustration of his talk. This artwork was a map. It was more exactly...

By Susana Zaragoza on 10/31/09 Comments Off

Political Framing on the Web?

USC professor Manuel Castells’ new book Communication Power theorized how the media is the place where power is decided at large (especially in democratic countries). According to Castells political framing is one of the major weapons in the political...

By Han Rusman on 10/19/09 Comments Off