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

Instagram Authority on Covid-19: Using Data, Algorithms and Interface Changes to Tackle Covid-19 Discourse

How exactly did Instagram roll-out a major change in interface which links people to information about Covid-19? What do we need to consider when a major platform takes such a position? Who has access to the data and algorithms...

By on 12/02/21 Comments Off

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,...

By Simran Tamber on 10/27/21 Comments Off

Covid-19 Vaccine Fake News: Google as Co-Producer to Knowledge Production

Abstract Fake news and misinformation regarding Covid-19 vaccines is able to be spread and believed through Google’s positive relevance feedback loops as the average user sees Google as a neutral source for information. Google therefore becomes a co-producer to...

By Jessica Blom on 10/03/21 Comments Off

Public Safety in the Year of Unprecedented Times: An Intervention on Government Sanctioned Covid-19 Data Visualization

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread globally, most governments have launched national ‘corona dashboards’ via public health organisations on which they keep track of the (rising) case numbers and attempt to visualize the spread of the virus in...

By on 10/21/20 Comments Off

Zoom-ing in on Online Education: Digital Infrastructure as an Extension

The year 2020 has brought about significant change in almost all areas of life as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Video conferencing services, such as Zoom, have become a perceived replacement for workspaces, social interaction environments, and even...

By on 10/20/20 Comments Off

Covid-19 Contact Tracing Apps: a Threat or a Solution?

In the last few months, we have witnessed a new wave of technological innovations with the goal to help contain the Covid-19 pandemic, including contact tracing applications developed by numerous countries to track the contamination cases and help identify...

By Kenza Sabri on 09/27/20 Comments Off