Masters of Media

FireChat: a breakthrough in mobile ad-hoc/mesh networking?

In a time where governments are continuously monitoring various types of communication of their citizens, there has been an increasing need for new secure and off-the-grid means of communication. One of the latest companies to satisfy this need is Open...

By Frans Bootsman on 09/14/15 Comments Off

What’s it like to BeMe?

Curated Self-Publishing Scrolling down the Facbebook or Instagram newsfeed you see all these nice pictures and videos of beautiful and happy people going out for dinner at fancy restaurants with their lover or travelling around the world with their...

By Felicitas Deiler on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Throwing a Life Vest at Humanity

Alan Kurdi’s Photo. A photo of a boy, lying facedown on a Turkish beach, sporting a little red shirt and velcro shoes. This was the image that circulated the world wide web last week, becoming the latest example of...

By Ysabel Camus Favis on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Virtual Presence

A new application, ‘The companion’ has been launched for smart phones. Independent wrote about the new app. Student editor Aftab Ali states that five students from the University of Michigan decided to launch this new app after receiving many crime alert emails...

By Celine van Asbeck on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Stream, and put some money in the tip jar

Are streaming services musicians’ friends or foes? Startup ‘Whitestone’ aims for industry revolution and introduces ‘the music of the future’ in a new, independent music experience platform. Could this be a step towards a brighter future for music online? Over...

By Lisanne Buijze on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Refugees Welcome: Network Hospitality with A Cause

Before the trending topic of current situation on the refugees crisis within Europe was gaining its media spotlight, a German-based group has invented a website named Refugees Welcome as response to the problem. The website aims to match the...

By Afra suci Ramadhon on 09/14/15 Comments Off

A wolf in sheep’s clothing

On the first of September this year, Google surprised the world with a new logo that will replace the old quirky logo that has appeared above the search box since 1999. According to the Google design...

By Kyra Delsing on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Poem Viewer: Towards a new “view” on poetry

“Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words”. Paul Engle The word poem, derived from the Greek word...

By Maria Charitou on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Give us your data and you will never walk alone

Last week, five students from the University of Michigan launched (Mashable, Tech Times, Business Insider) a smartphone application called Companion. This application enables users to be accompanied by their contacts to virtually walk them home at night. The so-called...

By Atossa Atabaki on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Social Robot Jibo: a promising personal assistant or Siri’s disappointing cousin?

“Jibo isn’t an appliance, it’s a companion, one that can interact and react with its human owners in ways that delight” (Mashable, 2014) For over 20 years Dr. Cynthia Braezael has been working on creating the ultimate social robot....

By Britt Boss on 09/14/15 Comments Off

Hey Siri, do you spy on me?

Hey Siri, a feature which comes along with the new Iphone 6S has caused quite a stir when it became known that Siri (Apples Artificial Intelligence integration) could be activated on command by just calling “Hey Siri” to your device. This functionality...

By Rosa Boon on 09/14/15 Comments Off

rMA Thesis Conference 2015: (pre)Cyberspace Perspectives on Information Technologies

The following is a modified transcript of my research presentation for the 2015 Research Master in Media Studies Thesis Conference. My thesis is an exploration of magical writing practices in contemporary digital culture. This was too much to talk...

By Rose Rowson on 05/05/15 Comments Off

Call for Applications – International M.A. in New Media and Digital Culture 2015-2016

International M.A. in New Media at the University of Amsterdam Call for Applications for Fall 2015, rolling admissions open on November 17, 2014 and close on 1 April 2015 One-year and two-year New Media M.A. Programs available. For the...

By Carolin Gerlitz on 12/18/14 Comments Off

On Grindr: is our pocket the new closet?

First written in January, 2014. Grindr, the rising star of the Apple Store; so much ink has been spilled over this app. When fans aren’t writing books, praising its various merits or licking the balls of its founder,...

By Matthieu Foucher on 12/01/14 Comments Off

Ebola is all around us! Right?

The way we interact with the world is becoming increasingly connect to location based services. Ebolanear.me uses this connection and attempts to turn mass hysteria into awareness Location based services are everywhere Location based services are becoming progressively commonplace;...

By Giel Veenstra on 11/07/14 Comments Off

Google: Art Project

The ‘Googlised’ Indsutries We live in the age of information, in the digital age, maybe we can say we live in the age of Google if we think of the term ‘googlisation’, on the other hand this is not...

By Blanka Szamos on 11/07/14 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

Impossible: new possibilities

Impossible is a social network website launched in 2014. Impossible is trying to make the impossible possible by acting as a social networking hub for good deeds. In order to achieve this, Impossible provides a platform that connects people with...

By Gina on 11/07/14 Comments Off

Facebook in the Spotlight of the Dark Web

“Facebook is blocking logins with Tor browser. This is crazy. Please help us to share!“ (Facebook, 2013) published Tor Project on Facebook on June 18th 2013. This is not the case anymore. Facebook opened a service for all users...

By Oskar Strajn on 11/07/14 Comments Off

Working the Social Network

“Social media is not Facebook. Nor is it YouTube. Neither is it blogging or tweeting. Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and twitter are merely platforms and channels; players on a much broader stage collectively referred to as social media” ....

By Janina Sommerlad on 10/17/14 1

The UvA Research Hub

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is a non-campus-based university embracing the motto: “the city is our campus”. The various UvA faculties are scattered across Amsterdam. Consequently, students and researchers from different disciplines rarely meet each other. A study by...

By Dominique Verschragen on 10/17/14 Comments Off