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WhatsApp Killings: Affordances Of The Platform

WhatsApp Killings: Affordances Of The Platform

In the past year, there have been multiple mob killings in India (Vindu Goel, Suhasini Raj and Priyadarshini Ravichandran). At least 30 people have been murdered by these mobs (Michael Safi). Why are these killings happening? The answer is...
Verifying Facts in a Post-Truth World

Verifying Facts in a Post-Truth World

In a digital world chock-full with misinformation, post-truth proclamations, and misleading headlines, it is harder than ever for one to fully trust the news. From that lens, it is safe to say that the spread of objective facts has...
Financial superpowers? Cryptocurrency and the next generation

Financial superpowers? Cryptocurrency and the next generation

Pigzbe, a digital piggy-bank has just appeared on the market, with one goal: introducing children to the world of cryptocurrency. Filippo Yacob, CEO of the company, claims that this device will give a new generation of children “financial superpowers”....
Big Brother is watching you play football

Big Brother is watching you play football

The new football season has recently started again. Millions of people will watch the matches of their favourite professional football clubs live on one of their digital devices. For the first time in history, it will also be possible...
Selling Sexualities: The ethical implications of Grindr’s new advertising tool

Selling Sexualities: The ethical implications of Grindr’s new advertising tool

The gay dating app Grindr is trying to reinvent itself. In a mission to leave behind its image as a hookup platform, Grindr Inc. has launched several new projects, including the LGBT-themed magazine INTO, anti-discrimination campaign Kindr, and the...
Wonder or Worry? Google has a new human-sounding Assistant!

Wonder or Worry? Google has a new human-sounding Assistant!

We can see AI at work everyday in the form of virtual personal assistants, which are embedded in almost any smartphone today. Whether its Alexa, Siri or Google Now, these virtual assistants have made our everyday lives simpler and...
Stop trying to script my life

Stop trying to script my life

The colonization of the empty state and nudges as contested territory. On another day at the office, something remarkable happens. I manage to clean up my entire email inbox. Not being the kind of person whose inbox is often...
To what extent is digital media influencing human-to-human relationships?

To what extent is digital media influencing human-to-human relationships?

Sex or companion dolls are becoming more and more part of society. What are the triggers for this trend? Do companion dolls offer their users positive imaginary tools that are being diminished by modern technology, such as social media?...
Is IGTV set to tilt our perception of online videos from horizontal to vertical?

Is IGTV set to tilt our perception of online videos from horizontal to vertical?

IGTV is a new feature within the main Instagram app, as well as a new standalone app of its own, dedicated to the sharing of long-form vertical videos. What does this mean for online video-sharing platforms, like YouTube? Are...
The only way to save the Internet is to claim it back from Big Data

The only way to save the Internet is to claim it back from Big Data

Sometime in November, the proportion of humans on earth using the web will exceed 50%. Close to 4 billion people will have become internet “users”, bringing with them 4 billion sets of data. Tim-Berners Lee created the internet and...
AI IS WATCHING YOU

AI IS WATCHING YOU

Artificial Intelligence is, and actually always has been, a hot topic of debate. In the computational sciences AI is conceptualized as the study of intelligent agents. The computer perceives the environment and consequently performs actions that are expected to...
Love at Stake? Facebook Is Entering the Online World of Dating!

Love at Stake? Facebook Is Entering the Online World of Dating!

Are you ready to leave behind your one-night-stands and start a meaningful relationship? Well than thank God, Facebook is here to help you! When Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and the current CEO of Facebook, said during the annual F8...
Amazon-Go stores – A critical analysis of the cashless stores of the future

Amazon-Go stores – A critical analysis of the cashless stores of the future

Recently, Amazon opened its second cashier-free Go store in the United States and announced the planning  3000 new ones by the year of 2021. Other companies, such as Tesco and Ikea are planning on testing such cashless systems as...
Monopolies of Knowledge Facilitated by Black-Box Algorithms

Monopolies of Knowledge Facilitated by Black-Box Algorithms

Whether you search for something on Google or Twitter, or scroll down an Instagram or Facebook feed, a vast amount, if not a majority, of online content is present to users via algorithms. These algorithms, the code of which...
Blockchain- next step to ensure internet voting’s credibility?

Blockchain- next step to ensure internet voting’s credibility?

Tsukuba -a Japanese city- is testing a blockchain based voting system to encourage citizens to vote on different municipal projects (O’Brian). It is a welcome move, a move that at first sight allows for a smoother and more secure...
Controlled Wombs: How a Hip Contraceptive App Reinforces Binary Gender Roles

Controlled Wombs: How a Hip Contraceptive App Reinforces Binary Gender Roles

Natural Cycles is a digital method of birth control cleared by regulators both in the US and Europe. It claims to be a hormone-free alternative that brings a new level of accuracy to fertility tracking. But is it made...
Can we “unplug online”? The Paradox of Meditation Apps and Mindfulness

Can we “unplug online”? The Paradox of Meditation Apps and Mindfulness

  In our digitized world, people long more and more for taking a step back from social media and the overload of information to focus on their ‘inner self’ and guess what – there’s an app for that! Using...
Plastic never goes away – Can apps contribute to avoid plastic pollution?

Plastic never goes away – Can apps contribute to avoid plastic pollution?

Video: Plastic Pollution Coalition – OPEN YOUR EYES   The Plastic Age There is more plastic in the sea, than stars in the galaxy. Each year, 13 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans, and by 2050,...
GDPR Data Portability and the Semantic Utopia

GDPR Data Portability and the Semantic Utopia

Since May 2018 you can do a “data subject request” under EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Within 30 days you get all the data an organization have on you. You should also be able to move data from...
ArtPassport: A Digitalized and Democratized Experience of Art

ArtPassport: A Digitalized and Democratized Experience of Art

As media technologies and practices continue to advance, the art world is simultaneously facing a metamorphosis that presents new challenges to not only what constitutes art—but how art should be experienced. ArtPassport is one such example of an app...
SleepScore Max: Are Big Data the New Digital Doctors?

SleepScore Max: Are Big Data the New Digital Doctors?

In the present media landscape, big data has revolutionized the way in which we regulate, analyse and influence data across several industries — one of which is healthcare. With the ability to monitor patients based on sensors embedded in...
The Elephant in the Room: Privacy and Zoo Animals (and Humans Too)

The Elephant in the Room: Privacy and Zoo Animals (and Humans Too)

ABSTRACT – Would you want your whole life broadcasted, without you knowing it? Thankfully, humans have rights protecting this from happening. As concern over privacy grows, paradoxically the trend to watch other animals online increases. Are we biased when...
TimeFlip: You are only as efficient as you track your time

TimeFlip: You are only as efficient as you track your time

Multitasking is not for everyone. However, sometimes there is no other choice and it becomes a necessity. Many time tracking software solutions have tried to make multitasking easier, but more often than not these software end up stopping your...
AR – the Way to Go When Art is Lost in a Fire?

AR – the Way to Go When Art is Lost in a Fire?

The inferno that recently destroyed over 90% of Brazil’s National Museum’s collection has once again shown how ephemeral physical objects are. In order to preserve cultural heritage museums generate digital archives, but what about exhibiting lost art? Is augmented...