Masters of Media

Are you watching Netflix (or is it watching you)?

Bandersnatch (2018), is the first release of an interactive film for adults on a platform (Netflix) where the viewers make decisions for the main character, taking control of the storyline. The question is: do we really monitor the characters’...

By on 09/22/19 0

A.I. Influencers: Preaching to the Choir?

As virtual influencers are gaining popularity on social media platforms such as Instagram, an increasing amount of money is being invested into the development of so-called A.I. influencers. Will such influencers cause a shift in the relationship between different...

By Dieuwertje Luitse on 09/22/19 0

“Hey, Siri…” “I am listening…”: Apple, Privacy & Siri

Summer 2019 was quite eventful for virtual assistants across platforms. The big five all got exposed for recording their virtual assistant users’ audio, Apple among them. Such revelations prompt the prior mentioned company to at first temporarily suspend the...

By Anna Strelkova on 09/22/19 0

Instant Apps – The Future of Mobile Applications?

Eleven years after the introduction of the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, mobile application development is a multibillion-dollar industry. As of Aug 1st, 2019, there are 2.46 million apps on the Play Store and 1.96 million...

By Christopher Murphy on 09/22/19 0

What the Jonas Lund Token Tells us About the Curious Convergence of the Art World and Blockchain Technology

The Jonas Lund Token (JLT) is a work by Dutch conceptual artist Jonas Lund, who has created 100,000 shares in his own artistic practice. Each share gives the shareholders agency and voting power over future decisions concerning Lund’s art and...

By James Morales on 09/22/19 0

Cross media learning: from a book to an online tribe – Miracle Morning

How the book “Miracle Morning” can be the driver of a social movement on the web 2.0? Prosumers are combining traditional and new medias to foster innovative ways of learning. Welcome to our online tribe!

By on 09/22/19 0

“Swipe, swipe, vote“: Match your political opinion

You are sitting at home, watching Netflix, but you are still bored. How about a quick look at your smartphone? Before you know, you find yourself opening the online dating app Tinder, swiping left, right, left and checking out,...

By on 09/22/19 0

Deepfakes, Privacy Paradoxes and Black Boxes

“I do worry about my privacy,” Huang said. “Because no one cares about my data when I’m a nobody. But if people think they can make money from my information, it makes me worry about the security of my...

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Identity theft and fake news at phone’s reach: the rise of DeepFake tools

What do you mean, deepfake? An unravelling of the word deepfake is very much needed to pursue this blog post. Deepfake is the contraction between two terms: deep learning and Fake. Perhaps a reminder or an explanation of what...

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Would you let Mark Zuckerberg be your Cupid?

Introduction Facebook Dating, a relatively new platform recently released in the US, boasts to give you better matches than other rival dating apps using the already existing Facebook information it already possesses about you as (Perez, Tech Crunch and...

By Roisin Moloney on 09/22/19 0

Epic Games Store’s struggle to become a platform

Epic Games finally found a way to invest the 4 billion dollars of Fortnite revenue: they are opening their store to compete with the largest PC gaming platform – Steam. Steam, originally envisioned as a tool for automatic update...

By Alexander Bernevega on 09/22/19 0

Car data: what does your car know about you?

Case study: Carsharing platform European carsharing market is constantly growing, new cars and mobility possibilities arrive in different cities across the continent. The system is based on a mobile app displaying a map of the neighborhood, showing available cars...

By Zdzich Heydel on 09/22/19 0

Is ‘Think Dirty’ Actually Making you Think About your Decisions? How an Easy-way Access to Information could also be Misleading

Think Dirty is an app that encourages consumers to make conscious decisions while buying beauty, personal, and household products to discover whether they contain toxic ingredients. But can we trust this app when it comes to the accuracy of...

By on 09/22/19 0

Uber, Saudi Arabia, and Gender Discrimination: The Fallacy of the Disembodied Digital World

Manal Al-Sharif had spent hours in questioning. She hadn’t eaten, she hadn’t slept, and she hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye to her son before police swept her away. She would spend the next nine days in...

By on 09/22/19 0

Deepfake technology: a paradox of economic and political possibilities

Abstract: Nowadays, deepfake technology seems to be a trending debate in not only media academia but also the social world. The discussions encompass many economic and political concerns that perhaps become prerequisites of further research in disinformation, misinformation and...

By Lei Ding on 09/22/19 0

Digital resistance: A brief introduction to decentralized data-right movements

This post provides a brief introduction to collective organization as a form of resistance, whose ambition is overcoming technological determinism and creating new paths to re-define our relationship with “new” technologies, connecting the labor and knowledge of so many...

By Marta Espuny on 09/22/19 0

About to Lose Your Sh*t? There’s an App for That!

We’ve all been there: an annoying boss, a roommate who never cleans up after themselves, a sibling who “borrows” your things. But, imagine, right in the heat of things, you reach into your pocket, swipe left a few times,...

By on 09/22/19 0

Google Stadia: A new player has joined the platform wars

You either die an information utility, or live long enough to adopt the politics of platforms. Imagine video games no longer being tied to the hardware boxes they’re designed for, but instead being playable anywhere, on any device. We...

By Tiede Bart on 09/22/19 0

HUMAN UBER: CHAMELEONMASK AND THE COMMODIFICATION OF THE BODY IN THE GIG ECONOMY

The year is 2030 and you want to visit your grandmother in a town halfway across the globe. FaceTime could help here, but you want something a little more physical. You pull out your phone, open ChameleonMask, and order...

By on 09/22/19 0

How to be thoughtful without thinking, new app promises stronger relationships

The latest trend for the digitally immersed is having an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant app teach how to be a more thoughtful human. ‘Monaru’ is a start-up app that intends to overcome the disconnection that has resulted from constant...

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Genetic Genealogy: Will your DNA have a life of its own?

Genetic Genealogy is a novel method to link DNA from a crime scene to DNA stored on Genealogy websites such as MyHeritage, 23andMe and GEDmatch. It has the potential to solve many cold cases, but on a Web that...

By Rimmert Sijtsma on 09/22/19 0

Picnic – tapping into the comfort of platforms

Cars that drive themselves, a robot serving you at a restaurant, and even skyping someone over the phone while you are commuting. Ten years ago, many of these things were unimaginable. Now in some places they are a staple...

By Silke Mulder on 09/22/19 0

The wisdom of Wysa – Mental health apps, the (AI) friend who is always there

Introduction Ever felt lonely depressed or anxious at four AM and didn’t feel like you had anyone to talk to? Mental health issues are a daily struggle for many people. In recent years people have started coming forward and...

By Annabel on 09/22/19 0

AI Fact Checking: Artificial? Yes. Intelligent?

The phenomenon of ‘Fake news’ is now a household discussion, journalists and fact-checking platforms working solely to analyze and debunk these false pieces of information are now becoming increasingly visible. While it’s becoming harder than ever to tackle the...

By Sagar Hugar on 09/22/19 0