Masters of Media

“Worst Nobel Prize ever”? Comparing English and Dutch responses to the Nobel Peace Prize for the European Union on Twitter and Google News

Last week’s announcement that the European Union has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has spurred a host of comments in both traditional and online media. Many critics decried the timing of the award committee, which they considered...

By Lucas Reehorst on 10/16/12 1

The Prosecution of Jokes on Social Media: Lets Ask the Audience.

Last week a 19 year old man from Lancashire in the UK was found guilty of section 127 of the Communications Act; a British law which makes it an offence to send any message that would be considered ‘grossly...

By Matthew Elworthy on 10/16/12 1

A comparison on online branding and popularity between KLM and United Airlines

Since the rise of web 2.0 and social media, companies and brands have altered their strategies and jumped into the opportunities that grew with this new digital era. New ways of advertisement and campaigning have found their way...

By Charlotte on 10/16/12 Comments Off

Twitter’s Homepage Evolution

Every website has a history, even though it is sometimes difficult to trace. This history or evolution can tell a lot about the company and it’s goals. Twitter is an example of a website that has encountered many different...

By Anne-Claire Verheul on 10/16/12 Comments Off

[POSTSCAPES] THE STORY BEHIND YOUR TRASH

Do you know the story behind your paper coffeecup? Are you aware of its original source and what happens to it once you dump it into the paper-bin? In a convincing video regarding the Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard provides...

By Massiel Sánchez on 10/16/12 Comments Off

Death penalty-what do the tweets say?

As a rational creature, man has invented many ways to exterminate his fellowmen; gallows, stoning, crucifixion, electric chair, burning at the stake, guillotine, firing squad, gas chamber, injection with poison are only some of them. Throughout the course...

By Despoina Mountanea on 10/16/12 Comments Off

Bad news for iPhone 5

Last month was another big moment for us new media geeks: Apple released the iPhone 5. It is even lighter, slimmer, faster and has a higher resolution than the iPhone 4S that came before it. Like with so many...

By Joey de Jong on 10/16/12 Comments Off

The Power of Social Media: Oil, Palm Trees and the Pedobear

Who doesn’t love social media? Facebook has recently celebrated more than 1 billion active users (becoming one the biggest countries in the world), Twitter has the power to put politicians on the throne or to throw them out in...

By Alex Manole on 10/16/12 2

A Bloody Trail Behind Our Mobile Life: a fair trade mobile phone

“It is time to be asking questions about technology. Where does it come from? Who makes it? And for what?” ― Bandi Mbubi (@ TED talk) Explosions of two plants that make Apple gadgets. A series of employee suicides...

By Seah Kim on 10/16/12 Comments Off

Mendo the shop built out of books

Who or what is Mendo!? On an ordinary Thursday I’m walking in the well-known Amsterdam neighbourhood ‘de negen straatjes’ for an appointment with Joost Albronda, who is one of the owners of the design agency and bookshop Mendo....

By Sasha Wood on 10/15/12 Comments Off

Usability: Customer service of NS site under the microscope.

Every year there is a Usability Award for the most user-friendly website. On www.frankwatching.nl (the web guide with tips, trends and events) they place weeks in advance of this award all kinds of interviews with randomly placed nominees. I...

By Jaimy Quadekker on 10/15/12 1

Privacy? Who cares?

What is the first thing you do when you wake up? For a huge amount of students the answer to this question is: hitting Facebook, even while still in bed. On the 4th of October 2012, Mark Zuckerberg informed...

By Eva Valkhoff on 10/15/12 Comments Off

Twitter Chatter and Stock Market Trends

Social media as trend indicators It is not uncommon that when “social media networks” are mentioned, the most common associations among people are with platforms that promote interaction with, and sharing and exchange of user-generated content. With its exponential...

By Audrika Rakshit on 10/15/12 2

“PIRACY IS A CRIME”. Or maybe not?

The case The recent ruling for ACAPOR case in Portugal-which is being analyzed further down-made me think about the online piracy legislation and a slight, but definitely not insignificant, alteration of it, that is currently taking place. Are the...

By Eva Anagnostaki on 10/15/12 1

The End of the Golden Rule

Capitalism in Cyberspace In February 1996 the American political activist John Perry Barlow published his political web manifest ‘A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace’. This declaration of independence was directed at all the governments of the industrial world and...

By Lauressa Ford on 10/15/12 Comments Off

Retailers will go viral

‘Facebook Collections’ With a user base that has crossed the magical border of one billion users; 1 out of 7 people on this planet use Facebook. Liking, sharing, commenting, tagging etc., we are all familiar with these terms or...

By Daan Smith on 10/15/12 Comments Off

Pinning Down Female Roles

Pinterest provides many fascinating points for discussion and research. By being active on Pinterest we engage in a process of shortcut identity formation through pre-existing images. It is not merely about collecting images that relate to our perfect life and aspirations,...

By Sonia Kolasinska on 10/15/12 1

[Interview] Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – “Content is a king, not a Cinderella”

Many people still think they can manipulate search engines in order to get top rankings. A well-known example is the campaign against George Bush, when a lot of websites and blogs linked George’s Bush page with the key words...

By Mihaela Naftanaila on 10/15/12 3

Guerrilla TV – The ground-breaking documentaries of Vice.com

Reports from the Unknown – The ground-breaking documentaries of Vice.com The documentary format has undergone vast changes since the dawn of the digital age. What was once the domain of only national television companies with huge budgets is now...

By Kieran Lewis on 10/14/12 Comments Off

Wanted: skilled volunteers to change the world

New media has been offering many possibilities for non-profit and social enterprises to find volunteers online, but an initiative called Catchafire is taking the center of attentions within the web. The purpose of the website is simple: provide a...

By Juliana Marques on 10/14/12 Comments Off

Progress, hope, change and OBEY: Technological reproducibility in the digital age

PROGRESS, HOPE, CHANGE and Obama. These words got intertwined during the 2008 presidential campaign of Barrack Obama. The correlation factor: OBEY and the reproducibility of art in the age of digital reproduction. The following is inspired by Walter Benjamin’s...

By Charly Landman on 10/14/12 1