New Media M.A. Research Blog | Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

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...

By Mintsje deWitte on 09/22/16 Comments Off

iPhone 5: The Ultimate User Review

Device reviews are not really the subject of choice on this blog. However, measuring the general sentiment on social networks towards a certain gadget can be quite insightful. In this post I will be examining the iPhone 5 through...

By Bozhan Chipev on 10/18/12 Comments Off

Stack Exchange: crowdsourcing at its best

Have you ever asked a question on the Internet? Probably, yes. What platform did you use for this purpose? There are many options: Google, social networking sites or special Q&A sites like Yahoo! Answers. But can we always trust...

By Daria Koreniushkina on 10/05/12 Comments Off

PICNIC 2012: new ownership?

by Serena Westra and Katía Truijen The 17th and 18th of September PICNIC 2012 was held in EYE Filminstitute in Amsterdam. At the international gathering, about 3000 professionals were present from different fields like business, technology, government, NGO’s, education...

By Katía Truijen on 10/03/12 Comments Off

App Review: Pulse. Re-imagining the news

By: Juliana Marques and Sonia Kolasinska Tired of checking many news websites every morning to get the full overview of what’s going on? Pulse is the solution. With the help of this app it’s a piece of cake to gather posts...

By Sonia Kolasinska on 10/01/12 1

Users become producers at Urban Screens 2011: Screening the city

New media, urban culture, personal data and creative ideas: it all came together at the Urban Screens 2011 event last December in Amsterdam. This years subject was ‘Screening the city’, which focused on how cities can be brought to...

By Charlotte on 09/12/12 Comments Off

NIMk: Yes, they’re still open!

Before closing its doors for good at the end of this year, the Netherlands Media Art Institute dedicates an exhibition to one of the key terms in online culture: openness. Getting lost is one of the annoying, yet inevitable...

By Mathias Schuh on 09/12/12 Comments Off

App Review: Google Goggles

I have to admit that I do not own the app I'm about to review. In fact, I have never used it. But I want to discuss this app here because I feel that in the long run it...

By Jorrit Schaap on 10/10/11 2

Prey – an open source anti theft solution for Mac, PCs & Phones [Review]

Prey is a program that should help you feel more relaxed when using your brand new macbook pro in public. It lets you keep track of your phone or laptop if it is lost or stolen. For the...

By Clément Adam on 10/10/11 1

App review: TomTom Places (iPhone)

What makes a good app? Does it have to be groundbreaking and revolutionary, extremely useful, addictive or just nice and decent? For the last few days I’ve been testing an app that might not be very revolutionary but is...

By Floris Spronk on 10/10/11 Comments Off

Crowdflow: pretty pictures with our iPhone localisation data

Smartphones have changed the way we think about pretty much all aspects of communication. We’re used to having internet access in our pockets, GPS, barcode readers – you name it. There are thousands of applications to make our lives...

By Ave Tampere on 10/10/11 1

Mobile Application Review: Grindr. It’s a guy thing.

Since Facebook has gained such worldwide success, it was long overdue for gay people to have their own social network. Joel Simkhai made their wish come true and created Grindr. I have to admit, I first found out about...

By Luana Pascu on 10/09/11 2

App review: Repudo

Repudo, the fysical location bound message service, explained and reviewed. The app proves to be easy to use, original and playful, but still comes with some minor issues...

By Joep Hegger on 10/08/11 1

Book review:Taking Care of Youth and the Generations by Bernard Stiegler

Marketing technologies pose great threat to the future generations – this is the main thesis of French philosopher, Bernard Stiegler‘s book Taking Care of Youth and the Generations. In a work published in English language in 2010, Stiegler begins...

By Mzia Kupunia on 09/20/11 1

Book Review: The Secret War Between Downloading and Uploading. Tales of the Computer as Culture Machine by Peter Lunenfeld

The Secret War Between Downloading and Uploading. Tales of the Computer as Culture Machine is a brilliant piece written by UCLA professor and digital media theorist Peter Lunenfeld, in which he sets out to explain his envisioning of the...

By Luana Pascu on 09/18/11 Comments Off

Book review: Check in / check uit – Christian van ‘t Hof, Rinie van Est, Floortje Daemen

By Annet Bos on 09/18/11 2

The BeBook Blues

Last years have been devout to digital publishing and the e-readers. The media made it seem that it was the new big thing and even my mother was considering an iPad. Because I was always annoyed by the enormous...

By Fei An Tjan on 10/18/10 Comments Off

Inkscape adventure continued…

If you have been reading my recent post about my Inkscape adventure you know that this adventure didn’t go quite as well as I expected it to go. I must admit that this was mainly because of the fact...

By Laila Koubia on 10/17/10 3

Review: Structures of Participation in Digital Culture (Joe Karaganis ed.)

Structures of Participation in Digital Culture is a reader on the topic of private and public involvement with digital culture. Editor Joe Karaganis promises the reader of the book from the start that he will find different ways...

By Anouka Slemmer on 09/26/10 2

Book review- Digital Folklore Reader

Reading Digital Folklore is like taking down that shoe-box of old photos from the top shelve and treating yourself to a night of reminiscing. You grimace at how goofy your hairdo looked 15 years ago and laugh at how...

By Stefania Bercu on 09/20/10 Comments Off

Book Review: “Pirate Modernity: Delhi’s Media Urbanism” – Ravi Sundaram

In Pirate Modernity: Delhi's Media Urbanism, Ravi Sundaram clearly explains the way the new media have affected post colonial Delhi's urban landscape from the 50's onwards....

By Fei An Tjan on 09/20/10 Comments Off

Review: Eric Kluitenberg, ed. – Book of imaginary media

“Communication media are endowed with a nearly sacred capacity for qualitative transformation of human relationships. Many of the limitations of everyday life, especially the trappings of interpersonal communication, are to be alleviated by technological apparatuses that promise seamless and...

By Erik van Bemmelen on 09/20/10 1

Book review: Andrew Lih – The Wikipedia revolution

How have a bunch of nobodies created the world’s largest encyclopedia? In his book, The Wikipedia revolution (2009), Andrew Lih set himself the goal to answer this question. And he has done so quite successfully. He exstensively maps the...

By Lennard Torbijn on 09/20/10 Comments Off

Book Review – Access Controlled : the shaping of power, rights and rule in cyberspace

Access Controlled reports on the new normative terrain of internet filtering, censorship of Web content, and online surveillance. The preface and foreword are clear about what the reader can expect per chapter and also...

By Elias van Hees on 09/20/10 1