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Inquiring polarisation: re-imagining Youtube as a diplomatic mediator

Inquiring polarisation: re-imagining Youtube as a diplomatic mediator

The extent of political polarisation in large parts of the Western world seems to be such that disparities between one and another point of view is not just difference, but enmity. Hillary Clinton has been ordered to be put...
Surfer.safe: an online extension of parenthood

Surfer.safe: an online extension of parenthood

The alarm rings and you get out of bed. Before doing anything else, you go into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Before getting dressed for the day, you sit down in your favourite chair, turn on...
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...
Your Bike Solution: An Exploration of Solutionism

Your Bike Solution: An Exploration of Solutionism

Nowadays technological solutions are everywhere and many more solutions are offered to make our lives easier and more convenient. Many posts on this blog discuss certain technological developments and solutions. In this research we want to reflect on the...
Car Companies Are Racing to the Street with the Self-Driving Car

Car Companies Are Racing to the Street with the Self-Driving Car

Autonomous cars are starting to take over our highways faster than you would think. The notion of the self-driving car is a big deal in media and debate as of late.  Many car companies are eager to become the market...
The Swipe Society: Tindoption

The Swipe Society: Tindoption

Has it ever occurred to you how much of our precious time can be wasted while struggling to create a family or adopt a child? And we don’t blame you, who does not want that picturesque family idylle. At...
Breaking the illusion of Control: “Home -1.0”

Breaking the illusion of Control: “Home -1.0”

Introduction: Idea and Aim of the Project A recent innovation towards ultimate control is Apple’s “Home” app, which can command all smart devices in a house, from lamps to locks. But who gains power with this app? Is it...
Image is Everything

Image is Everything

Idea and Concept The focus of the project was to find a fun way in which to think critically about self presentation online. Being a young group who are 75% single, dating applications quickly became a topic of discussion....
Saintify.me (A Critical Intervention)

Saintify.me (A Critical Intervention)

by Catherine Mills, Matthias Nothnagel & Georgina Ustik Introducing Saintify.me, a browser extension that makes activism simple and easy! Concept “Being good has never been so simple.” – Catherine Mills, Georgina Ustik, Matthias Nothnagel Social media sites have introduced...
Paprika: From Anonymity and Self-presentation to the True Self

Paprika: From Anonymity and Self-presentation to the True Self

Applications such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Twitter are known by most smartphone users. When looking at someone else’s smartphone, you will most likely see at least one of those applications and it even gets suspicious when someone...
Volunteering at Hand

Volunteering at Hand

A critical alternative to matching the needs of communities Current events in the world, such as poverty, wars, and national disasters, bring forth a rise in volunteering organisations and activities. Therefore, it is surprising that in many countries the...
Encountr: Sharing Experiences in a Media City

Encountr: Sharing Experiences in a Media City

With the ubiquitous presence of new media in our urban environments, we can refer to the context that we live in as The Media City. Taking this concept as a main element in our research, our approach has been...
New Digital Ink: The Terms and Conditions of Tech Tats

New Digital Ink: The Terms and Conditions of Tech Tats

A future with chips implanted under your skin which track your health and makes bankcards and keys unnecessary might seem distant, but with the development of the newest generation of wearables – the so called Tech Tat – it...
Do you “LensIt”? A call for research on modified selfies

Do you “LensIt”? A call for research on modified selfies

Flower crowns, dog’s ears-nose-tongue, poking rainbows, big sparkling eyes…. Oh Snapchat what have you done? It has almost been a year since the Snapchat filtered selfies have occupied the Internet (TechCrunch). Did we move from “selfie mania” era to...
Home Sweet Smart Home: Discussing the feasibility of smart objects at home

Home Sweet Smart Home: Discussing the feasibility of smart objects at home

A fridge that automatically re-orders groceries when they are running out, a smart diaper that sends a tweet when your baby gets wet and a voice controlled Barbie’s Smart Home that takes playing with Barbie’s to a whole new...
Fitness tracking with TomTom: an attempt to regain market control

Fitness tracking with TomTom: an attempt to regain market control

TomTom used to be one of the most important players in the field of navigational systems. With the arrival of google maps and other “free” navigators, TomTom was no longer the number one navigational device. TomTom was founded in...
Henry (or How VR will Undermine the Cinematic Experience)

Henry (or How VR will Undermine the Cinematic Experience)

On September 8th, Henry, a short film about a hedgehog who loves to cuddle, won an Emmy for “Outstanding Original Interactive Program,” making it the first original virtual reality film to win a major award. Video 1: Henry’s Premiere...
Live streaming; the next big thing?

Live streaming; the next big thing?

Recently, I discovered the live stream button on my Facebook page. I have heard about the applications Periscope and Meerkat with which you can live stream your own content: “Periscope and Meerkat are services that enable users to broadcast...
The promise of total Tinderization

The promise of total Tinderization

Tinderization of Feeling Yup, like a lot of my contemporaries, I’m spending alarmingly big heaps of time on dating apps. Leaving aside all that bodyshaming, occasional racism and the paralysing insecurities that they promote, they can be a lot...
Artificial Intelligence Defeats People’s Privacy

Artificial Intelligence Defeats People’s Privacy

Last week a Tweet by The Guardians’s writer David Shariatmadari showed how Google Maps tried to take a bullock’s privacy serious by blurring its face. The bullock was thereby treated the same as humans when it comes to their...
Technology is weaving its way into our lives

Technology is weaving its way into our lives

A new generation jacket by Levi’s and Google This spring, fashion brand Levi’s will launch a new jacket called the LEVI’s Commuter x Jacquard by Google. At first glance it might not look like anything more than a normal...
Gab.ai: Freedom of (conservative) speech?

Gab.ai: Freedom of (conservative) speech?

A few weeks ago a Norwegian journalist posted the Pullitzer Prize-winning ‘napalm girl’ photograph on Facebook. But instead of founding the intended discussion, he found his account suspended and the picture removed. The picture contained nudity, which may not...
LoveBot chatting on behalf of human: Are we surrendering our social life to technology?

LoveBot chatting on behalf of human: Are we surrendering our social life to technology?

At the 2016 TechCrunch Disrupt SF Hackathon, Guru Ranganathan presented the concept of an app called LoveBot, that “tells your wife you love her so you don’t have to”. The app uses Telegram App SDK and automatically sends messages...
The Rise of the Emoji’s.  Final goal: World Domination.

The Rise of the Emoji’s. Final goal: World Domination.

      It seems almost impossible, a life without these creative, colourful and sometimes confusing characters. There is no easier way of texting – even for those who aren’t used to modern smartphones – and it seems like...