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

The Paradox of Digital Infrastructures: Polarization vs Unification on Unjected

This research paper considered the app Unjected from the perspective of both margins as methods and infrastructure studies. It showcases how the affordances of the app allow for the strengthening of the unvaccinated community while at the same...

By on 10/29/21 Comments Off

Infrastructure the E-waste

I attempted to establish a link between infrastructure and problematic e-waste to tour and document its contemporary impact. On the one hand, e-waste contributes to the growing inequality of the ecological and economic environment worldwide. On the other...

By on 10/03/21 Comments Off

Infrastructuring Vision: An Examination of Automatic Alt Text on Facebook

In this commentary, I apply Susan Leigh Star and Geoffrey C. Bowker's concept of infrastructure to Facebook's automatic alt text tool. I discuss the tool in terms of its relational quality, the interplay between foreground and background, and the...

By Natalie Kerby on 10/02/21 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

From art to ethical design; Studio Roosegaarde’s quest for a sustainable and aesthetic future

The clock is ticking: sea levels and temperatures are rising, plastic is building up, and animals face extinction. What if art can be the activator for change?

By Victor Loye on 10/20/20 Comments Off

Digital Audio Workstations—The Infrastructure of Music Production

Digital Audio Workstations, or DAWs, have become ubiquitous in the landscape of contemporary music production. The development of DAWs has not only revolutionized studio production workflows, but also put the tools to create sophisticated music and sound projects into...

By Filippo Fagnoni on 10/24/19 Comments Off

Mapping Shelter

Mapping Shelter proposes a critical new media intervention in the way we think of public space in regards to homeless people. The currently prevalent hostile architecture produces a virulent, toxic environment for marginalized communities. Our concept aims to break...

By Tiede Bart on 10/24/19 Comments Off

Have You Gone Green? INFRAWARE as a Digital Intervention for Environmental Awareness

INFRAWARE (composed of the words infrastructure, awareness and hard/software) is a browser plug-in that displays how your personal use of technology is deeply entangled with the planet’s resources and the environmental crisis we are currently experiencing. Go green. Paperless...

By on 10/23/19 Comments Off

Forest at Fingertips – Making Every day an Earth Day!

I can still remember that my high school teacher drives us to the suburb on Arbor Day to plant a tree, spending all day long to teach students a lesson of the importance of environmental protection. We couldn’t imagine...

By on 09/23/19 Comments Off

Amazon Prime Air – convenience, surveillance and more from your “friendly” ecosystem

“The pleasure of consumerism is so widespread that it is has reached the status of a universal human right” (Lovink 4). But for a right like that to exist, others had to fall – such as individual and collective...

By Varvara Boboc on 09/22/19 Comments Off

Google Stadia: A new player has joined the platform wars

You either die an information utility, or live long enough to adopt the politics of platforms. Imagine video games no longer being tied to the hardware boxes they’re designed for, but instead being playable anywhere, on any device. We...

By Tiede Bart on 09/22/19 Comments Off

Don’t ask my name, just scan!

Say, you met a new group of people who are bon vivant just like you, and you spent a nice evening with them. Before you meet each other again next time, you wanna exchange your social media accounts to...

By Ziwen Tang on 09/23/18 Comments Off

GIS: An Exploration of Non-Existent Maps

Introduction I’m reminded of the short story On Exactitude in Science by Jorge Luis Borges. He presents an encyclopedia excerpt from a nameless empire of cartographers who, in their pursuit of the perfect map and blinded by their hubris...

By Jonathan Murthy on 09/25/17 Comments Off

A new enemy in our control society

From an army of sabotage to a slippery enemy Ouroboros, the famous snake virus, crawled into the digital systems of Ukraine in 2013 and until today it has attacked large parts of the country’s infrastructure. There are many allegations that Russia is responsible for...

By Wouter Klaase on 11/07/14 Comments Off