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

The Issues of Winning The Ecosystem War

“WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A COLD WAR BETWEEN THE LARGEST TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES IN THE INDUSTRY*”, boldly states tech journalist Dieter Bohn in his overview of Apple’s, Google’s and Microsoft’s battling ecosystems . This “war” won’t be won...

By Bozhan Chipev on 03/27/13 Comments Off

Im .mobi lize: Addressing Amazon’s Platform Fragmentation

Coinciding with the release of Amazon’s Kindle Fire in 2011-12 (depending on your location), The global corporation also announced their ‘next generation’ ebook format, KF8, and their first attempt to step away from their now dated Mobi format. Pitched...

By Matthew Elworthy on 03/07/13 Comments Off

EPUB – A Book Pirate’s Go-To Format

EPUB, short for “electronic publication”, is a free and open e-book standard by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It was initially developed in 2007 as a way to streamline digital publishing. What the IDPF didn’t consider back then, is the...

By Bozhan Chipev on 03/03/13 Comments Off

Digital books: The end of private reading?

Digital books are touted for their new possibilities: portability, searchability, durability and ubiquitous notes and bookmarks, to name a few. But while readers benefit from this, so do third parties. The thought of someone reading over your shoulder feels...

By Larissa Hildebrandt on 03/03/13 Comments Off

Out with the old, in with the new?

The emerge of a new medium often raises the question: what will happen to the old medium? The e-reader can be seen as a remediation of the traditional printed book. But has the e-reader changed the way we buy...

By Leonie Nijenmanting on 09/12/11 2

E-books: que sera, sera. (but that’s ok, as long as we’re still reading)

One of the main challenges that the emergence of e-books has brought upon us is linked to the idea of ownership, be it the ownership of copyright or the actual feeling one gets when purchasing a book. Some argue...

By Stefania Bercu on 10/28/10 2

Is Google Going To Ruin The E-reader’s Party?

“Books are among the most beautifully engineered, and human-engineered, components in existence, and they will continue to be functionally important within the context of man-computer symbiosis.” The above quote is from Joseph Licklider stated in his famous article ‘Man-Computer Symbiosis’...

By Philip Man on 10/19/10 1

Electronic Paper to the Rescue!

Digital publishing is trying to replace centuries of ink printed publishing, however many people are still skeptical to this idea of digital publishing, and remain loyal to the ‘old’ book, mostly because they...

By Bob Nefkens on 10/17/10 1

Will our gadgets ever really converge?

Yo dawg, I heard you like e-mail, so we put e-mail on your Macbook, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, so you can e-mail while you e-mail! Substitute the word e-mail with, music, movies, chat, e-reading, calling and video recording,...

By Cendy Calis on 10/17/10 Comments Off

iPad vs. e-reader

Since 13 juli in the Netherlands the battle between the long expected iPad and several e-readers has started. But what are actually the downsides of the iPad as an e-reader or the downsides of an e-reader as an iPad?...

By Xander Stolwijk on 10/17/10 2

If it Looks Like a Book, and Reads Like a Book, is it a Book?

The death of the book has been foreseen: Several sources have predicted the demise of the book as we know it, like a modern Nostradamus. However, this is not the first time in history that we have heard this...

By Marte Lindstrom on 10/17/10 2

Are you an e-book sinner or saint?

The people at the church of Google believe we do not have to dress up every Sundaymorning anymore, go to church and watch the preacher to experience something like a God. We experience an actual God everyday at work...

By Levien Rocha on 10/14/10 Comments Off

From book to booooooooooooooooooooook

In a recent work about the future of printed literature, italian intellectual Umberto Eco describes the book as an eternal technology, something similar to a spoon or a bycicle: while time goes by and innovations pop up ceaselessly, some...

By Alberto Angelini on 10/13/10 2