Masters of Media

The Attractive Symbols of the Web

At the beginning of the twentieth century, photography was considered to be the most neutral expression of optical data (Lupston 1986). This changed the perception and according to the Austrian philosopher, economist and sociologist Otto Neurath this development demanded...

By Lauressa Ford on 11/14/12 1

The Rise of the App Culture

The past few years have seen an enormous growth of the use of smartphones and tablets. Mobile devices have taken such a dominant role in our lives that it’s very hard to imagine a life without them. We have...

By Joey de Jong on 11/13/12 3

The Visual Language of New Media: the book as database

– By Katía Truijen, Eva Valkhoff, Serena Westra and Sasha Wood What happens when you transform a book into a new media object? Can you visualize a book in a new media way? And what happens to the narrative...

By Serena Westra on 11/03/12 1

Passwords – a short film

For the Wildcard Symposium 2012 (WCS12) our group; Lisa Bergenfelz, Vicentiu Dinga, Paula Gulian, Matthew Elworthy and Joseph Jackson chose to interpret and present the theories of Jean Baudrillard brought forward in the book Passwords through a short film...

By Lisa Bergenfelz on 11/02/12 1

Information Overload: how much is enough?

If you’re reading this post, on this blog, your interests clearly relate to the wonderful realm of new media. Your notifications icon on Facebook is probably blinking to indicate that you have some messages pending and there’s a cue...

By Alex Manole on 11/02/12 0

Gameplay Mode: War, Simulation, and Technoculture

— Alex Maat, Joey de Jong, Lauressa Ford and Robert Silvis For the Wildcard Symposium 2012 (also referred to as WCS12), our group was in charge of presenting Patrick Crogan’s book “Gameplay Mode: War, Simulation, and Technoculture“. To ensure...

By Robert Silvis on 11/02/12 0

Rhythmanalysis – Henri Lefebvre

This post functions as an introduction to a project by Charlotte van Dalfsen, Egle Mykolaityte, Mihaela Naftanaila, Lydia van der Spek and Laura Zimmermann. Our project is an interpretation of Henri Lefebvre’s seminal book “Rhythmanalysis” (1992). In doing so,...

By Lydia van der Spek on 11/02/12 0

Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks

At the Wildcard Symposium 2012, I presented an RSA Animate-styled video rendition of Tony D. Sampson’s new book Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks. The project was carried out by me and three of my New Media colleagues at...

By Bozhan Chipev on 11/02/12 0

[Wild Card Symposium] The Control Revolution

— Alain Otjens, Daan Smith, Richard Zimmerman and Seah Kim For the Wild Card Symposium of 2012 New Media Theories, we created the interactive timeline website, The Control Revolution. To create exposure for this hidden classic of Beniger, we also created...

By Seah Kim on 11/02/12 0

International M.A. in New Media at the University of Amsterdam: Call for Applications for Fall 2013

International M.A. in New Media at the University of Amsterdam Call for Applications for Fall 2013, rolling admissions open on 1 November 2012 and close on 1 April 2013 One-year and two-year New Media M.A. Programs available. For the...

By Bernhard Rieder on 11/01/12 0

Taking Care of Our Attention

This article is an exploration of the themes addressed in the book Taking Care of Youth and the Generations by Bernard Stiegler and it is part of a video project produced by Ana Crisostomo, Daria Koreniushkina, Maya Livio and Mathias Schuh. Originally...

By Ana Crisostomo on 11/01/12 0

[Video] The Bias of (Online) Communication

By: Larissa Hildebrandt & Thomas Groen Our task for the 2012 Wild Card Symposium was to bring theory to life, by explaining a book in a new, digital way. In a merging of old and new media, we produced a...

By Larissa Hildebrandt on 10/31/12 0

The experience of wirelessness: A short film

Up until a mere two decades ago, the possibility of receiving e-mail and checking status-updates on Facebook while being on the train, bus or even on the street might have seemed like a science fiction scenario. The Wireless-Fidelity makes...

By Sophie Waterloo on 10/31/12 0

Interview with Andrew Goffey – Our Approach to Evil Media

As part of our New Media Theories Master’s symposium we chose to look at the recent MIT press publication from Media Theory scholars Matthew Fuller and Andrew Goffey – namely ‘Evil Media’. The expectations that we had of the...

By Isabel Theissen on 10/30/12 0

Amsterdesk – making studying enjoyable

Studying means a lot of work. And being locked up with your books at home easily leads to distraction and loneliness. Hence, studying at a cozy café with good coffee and some nice company would be way more enjoyable...

By Isabel Theissen on 10/23/12 0

The Social Catwork

The project The Social Catwork is based on the initial concept of Facebook, where the users were asked to pick which person out of two pictures they find more attractive. Our version, however, gives the user a choice of...

By Ineke Scheffers on 10/23/12 0

Be Careful whom You Friend. A Life of a Fake Facebook Profile.

Eva Janssen was born on the 15th October 2012. Being already 24 years old, she attends the University of Amsterdam. She is quite a usual girl. She listens to The Beatles and Moby, she watches Friends while eating Nutella...

By Sonia Kolasinska on 10/23/12 0

Second Chance Serendipity: Missed Connections on Craigslist

“Had I said anything at the time, it would have come out as a disorganized mix of the different things going through my mind. So, opting for ‘better to be thought of a fool than to open one’s mouth...

By Maya Livio on 10/20/12 0

The future of the web: HTML5 & CSS3, the place where dreams come true

I’ve built my first public website back in 1999. I was just getting to know my way around the internet and this was my first attempt in building a website. The first version of HTML – the code which...

By Alex Maat on 10/19/12 0

Breaching Experiments on Facebook

Breaching Experiments Two recent events on my Facebook newsfeed made me think of breaching experiments, and what their possible value would be within the context of research on (relatively) new online social environments. The breaching experiment is a research...

By Alain on 10/19/12 0

Ebay – The Future of Commerce. Description and comparison of the website’s redesign

The online shopping and auction website Ebay has launched a new and improved website redesign in order to expand its audience and provide the shopper with an ultimate online shopping experience. The new website was launched on October 11th...

By Paola Gulian on 10/19/12 0

What do the web search engines “think” of the Pussy Riot case?

The Pussy Riot sentence has become the unprecendented event concerning the global resonance, compared to other news from Russia in the recent years. 86% of the world mass media have covered the Pussy Riot case, media monitor NewsEffector reports....

By Daria Koreniushkina on 10/19/12 0

Syria: Cracking down on digital dissidents

For Syrian dissidents, social networking sites are essential for bypassing traditional media and communication channels. But in doing so, online activists might all too easily fall prey to the government’s digital surveillance. Social networking services like Facebook, Twitter and...

By Mathias Schuh on 10/19/12 1

‘It Gets Better’ and the Power of Online Media Activism

Not everyone on this earth gets the respect or at least tolerance that they deserve. In this world discrimination is such a big problem that it seems almost unsolvable. People get discriminated against for all sorts of reasons. LGBT...

By Ineke Scheffers on 10/19/12 3