Space/Time Perception Through Digital Media: The Cubinator Project

Virtualization of our daily tasks, as well as of communication processes, social activity, production, economics, media consumption, etc. probably have more impact on our temporal and spacial awareness and sensorial processes than we normally realize.

Why don’t we actually read anymore?

I still remember the good ‘old’ days in which I would go weekly to the library, sit there for hours and bring home a huge pile of often non-fictional books. I would get caught in the narrative, loose myself in the material and read the books I borrowed in less than a week. Unfortunately this isn’t the case anymore. Nowadays I don’t seem to get through a book easily. I get bored, can’t focus myself, get frustrated when in my opinion the author doesn’t seem to get to the point fast enough, loose the author’s argument(s) and miss CTRL+F so I can search on keywords in the book. What has happened? Let’s face it: we aren’t used to read anymore

Google Wave: A new way of creating dialogue

Google Wave is an online communication tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more [1]. In detail a wave means that:

Gaming: The interpassive interplay between user and environment

The interplay between the user and the game is tended to be thought as of being an active and interactive one. But how accurate is this conception? Through the work of Slavoj Žižek I will argue that there are deeper underlying aspects that question if the interplay between the user and, in this case, the game ‘The Sims’, is ultimately an interactive or interpassive one.

Why are we using Twitter anyway?

The last couple of years online communities have been developing applications for users to share daily updates about their life, thoughts and whereabouts. Hyves provides a ‘WieWatWaar’ and Facebook has it’s own ‘Wall’ where users can update their friends. Twitter does it the light-weight way. Twitter is a microblogging website that allows an easy and light-weight form of communication. It enables users to broadcast and share information about their activities, opinions and status. But why are we using Twitter anyway? Is it a tool to nourish our social needs or is technology increasing our needs to keep track of out friends every minute of the day?

Merging Social Media into the field of Online Dating

Personally on-line dating is not my cup of tea, and my boyfriend would kill me if I would consider it, but for some reason the phenomena itself keeps grabbing my attention. The basic concept of dating sites has not really changed a lot through the years, apart from the matchmaking algorithms that can differ from one site to another. On the average dating site, you can fill in a profile, upload a photo of yourself – preferably a photo showing you at your best of course – and fill in some extra personal information (the colour of your eyes, weight and height, sex preferences and so on). Based on this information your ideal match can be found.

The accuracy or inaccuracy of Wikipedia

The accuracy of information on Wikipedia is one of the most fundamental points for it’s success. Previous research has shown that Wikipedia uses Google to check entries of their users on accuracy. After some research I also found out that Wikipedia checks entries on the way it is written (encyclopaedically or not). Non-encyclopaedic written articles are ‘flagged’ and removed after two weeks if no one edits it. This is part of the conventions of Wikipedia.

Can we find true love through the Internet?

The paper ‘Love At First Site’ [Dutch] provides insight in the influence of social and technological affordances of dating sites. What effect does this have on the self-representation? What does this mean for the relationship building? In addition to this research an analysis was made of the registration process of website Parship due to the fact that this registration process forms the fundamental basis of the self-representation on Parship.

For fun: CHECK out the epic I-net love story cartoon.

Review of: Online a lot of the time

A slightly contradictory book title due to medium in which it was written and the issues it addresses, but a rich volume in theory and striking examples about the virtual phenomena of avatars, webcam personas, rituals, fetish and signs. It’s a must read for everyone interested in the field of virtuality. A book that has grabbed the fullest of my interest due to my own personal interest in the virtual phenomena of avatars, the rituals in play and the digital ‘body’. Which one? ‘Online a lot of Time’ (2009), by Ken Hillis.

Work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction

We live in a world today where the reproduction of art is a constant fact. Some art forms, as film and photography, even exist solely in the realm of reproduction; the original is indistinguishable from the reproduction. With reproductions it is possible to put an original artwork in a totally different environment. Some new media examples are: Fabchannel (a Dutch online service for on demand concert registrations – down at the moment, but a striking example) and Uitzendinggemist.nl (a Dutch online service for seeing missed television broadcasts).