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Like, swipe, match… “you vaxxed?”

Like, swipe, match… “you vaxxed?”

How Hinge and Tinder have adapted their affordances to the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic caused a spike in dating app usage while simultaneously altering the standard dating practices. To analyze how dating apps have responded to this change,...
The Big Problem with Uber’s Big Data: Ethics and Regulation of Data Ownership

The Big Problem with Uber’s Big Data: Ethics and Regulation of Data Ownership

“Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral”. That is why it is key to understand how we, as users and moderators, give additional meaning to technological features and participate in the complex chain of interactions they...
Cut the Cookie: Dark Patterns in BIG DATA

Cut the Cookie: Dark Patterns in BIG DATA

Cookies, introduced as a promise of choice, developed into an institutional nuisance one encounters daily. Formerly an attempt to provide Europeans with a consent infrastructure for or against participation in Big Data practices turned into an exercise in ethical...
Deplatforming and the rise of the alt-tech video hosting platform BitChute in 2020.

Deplatforming and the rise of the alt-tech video hosting platform BitChute in 2020.

Since YouTube is actively deplatforming creators whose content violates their community guidelines, these creators migrate to alternative platforms. Their harmful and hate speech filled content find a new home on the alt-tech platform BitChute. This essay explores the relationship...
Shattering a totalitarian monopoly?

Shattering a totalitarian monopoly?

This blog post covers the struggle between Epic Games on one side and Apple and Google on the other. By suing Google and Apple over anti-competitive practices, Epic Games hopes to break the tight grip the platforms have on...
Ceci n’est pas une Influencer;  the rise of ‘Virtual Influencers’ a fad or the future of online interaction?

Ceci n’est pas une Influencer; the rise of ‘Virtual Influencers’ a fad or the future of online interaction?

Not everything we see on the internet exists outside of our computers and in 2019 we’re not that easily fooled anymore, or so we think… Instagram influencer Lil Miquela truly seems like any other influencer these days; she has...
A Rhetoric of WeWalk-ing. Smart Canes and “feeling of freedom” in the urban environment

A Rhetoric of WeWalk-ing. Smart Canes and “feeling of freedom” in the urban environment

The new uses of smart technology are being constantly introduced, and unlike a cat selfie device or a cute planter that aim to add some fun to our humdrum existence, WeWALK smart cane attempt to make a difference. This...
Trigger Block: A plug-in making online life easier for people living with mental illness

Trigger Block: A plug-in making online life easier for people living with mental illness

18.5% of Americans experience mental illness in a given year (National Institute of Mental Health). With this percentage increasing throughout the years, one can wonder if the online world could bring comfort for those suffering with mental illness. To...
Mission Control: The changing boundaries of control and ownership in the world’s biggest crowd funding success.

Mission Control: The changing boundaries of control and ownership in the world’s biggest crowd funding success.

The latest controversy surrounding the in development game Star Citizen, struck me as illustrative of the pitfalls and complexities of new forms of financing, and how they manifest the sunk cost fallacy in new, unexpected ways. It isn’t just...
Solutionism in peer-to-peer networks: solutions by Supshare

Solutionism in peer-to-peer networks: solutions by Supshare

Abstract: Thanks to the sharing economy, people who need a certain product or service are easily digitally connected to people willing and able to provide that service or product. As a result, platforms like Supshare that offer these solutions...
Platform Capitalism: Visualising The Postcapitalist Future

Platform Capitalism: Visualising The Postcapitalist Future

This visualisation is the end result of a fantasy scenario conducted in class where the goal was to create a postcapitalist utopia, complete with a democratically elected name, political party and laws. The game was designed to introduce ideas of...
A Streamlined Explanation: The Problem with Streaming Games on YouTube

A Streamlined Explanation: The Problem with Streaming Games on YouTube

Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg is one of the most popular video game streamers on YouTube with more than 57 million subscribers (Orland, 2017). Because of a racial slur uttered in one of his recent Let’s Play videos, PewDiePie faced a...
Using Personal Data to buy Art: The Data Dollar Store

Using Personal Data to buy Art: The Data Dollar Store

Recently, Kaspersky Lab has been in the news due to so-called suspicious activity within their security software system and a supposed link with the Russian government. Both TechCrunch and Wired state that the Department of Homeland Security has “banned...
Big tech goes to war over Augmented reality (AR) dominance

Big tech goes to war over Augmented reality (AR) dominance

In the year between June 2016 and June 2017, AR went from being a fun optional technology in a handful apps - like Pokémon GO – to becoming a vital part of the future strategy for every technology company...
Trust Me: How Trust is Established in Airbnb

Trust Me: How Trust is Established in Airbnb

The financial crisis in 2008 marked the advent of the sharing economy, and its motto “access trumps ownership” (The Economist) came out as a good option to deal with the crisis which mainly occurred as a result of the...