Adding the bling: The role of social media data intermediaries

Last month, Twitter announced the acquisition of Gnip, one of the main sources for social media data—including Twitter data. In my research I am interested in the politics of platforms and data flows in the social web and in this blog post I would like to explore the role of data intermediaries—Gnip in particular—in regulating access to social media… Read more Adding the bling: The role of social media data intermediaries

International M.A. in New Media ­at the University of Amsterdam: Call for Applications for­ Fall 2014

International M.A. in New Media ­at the University of Amsterdam Call for Applications for­ Fall 2014, rolling admissions open on December 15, 2013 and close on 1 April 2014 One-year and two-year New Media M.A. Programs available. For the two-year “Research Master’s Program: New Media Specialisation,” see below. International M.A. in New Media & Digital… Read more International M.A. in New Media ­at the University of Amsterdam: Call for Applications for­ Fall 2014

The Algorithmization of the Hyperlink

My article “The Algorithmization of the Hyperlink” has just been published in the third issue of Computational Culture: a journal of software studies. Abstract This study looks at the history of the hyperlink from a medium-specific perspective by analyzing the technical reconfiguration of the hyperlink by engines and platforms over time. Hyperlinks may be seen… Read more The Algorithmization of the Hyperlink

The Materiality of Facebook and Localizing the Cloud

In “The Like economy: Social buttons and the data-intensive web” colleague Carolin Gerlitz and I looked into the way Facebook uses the technical infrastructure of social buttons buttons to create a data-intensive web. In this study we aimed to go beyond the interface level by analyzing the infrastructure of the Facebook Platform (API) itself. Recently,… Read more The Materiality of Facebook and Localizing the Cloud

Notes from #MIT8: ‘The Work of Algorithms’ – Knowing Algorithms

On Saturday, May 4th I attended the ‘The Work of Algorithms’ panel where Nick Seaver talked about Knowing Algorithms. In his talk Seaver discusses the issue of dealing with proprietary algorithms within research and how a focus on this proprietary or ‘black box’ aspect has skewed our criticisms of algorithms. Strands of research dealing with proprietary algorithms, such as… Read more Notes from #MIT8: ‘The Work of Algorithms’ – Knowing Algorithms