Mirko Tobias Schäfer / Assistant Professor
University of Utrecht Department for Media and Culture Studies
Mirko Tobias Schäfer / Assistant Professor
University of Utrecht Department for Media and Culture Studies
Featured Blog Entries
The who is who of the German online world gathers for an annual reunion at re:publica. Since 2007 this convention provides a forum not only to meet face to face, but especially to discuss a broad range of issues concerning internet culture and its implementation into broader society.
Tags conference Review
Date April 2012 / Category News
An institutionalised pledge in order to prevent academic fraud is useless when the entire institution is undermined by policy makers, crippled through bureaucracy and damaged by unacademic leaders. Such a pledge is as valuable as a hasty vow in a Las Vegas drive-through wedding chapel. Restoring academia's autonomy and fostering traditional academic values, however, might be a good start.
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Date March 2012 / Category News
Date January 2012 / Category News
Date December 2011 / Category News
Date August 2011 / Category News
Recommended
Date March 2012
Jon Matonis at Forbes discusses what would happen when Bitcoin becomes the currency for the shadow economy. As one of the biggest economies in the world it could turn the controversial crypto-currency into a major payment instrument
Date March 2012
Foreign Policy has an eye-opening & thrilling article on the fastest growing economy on the planet, a shadow economy beyond the legal and taxable markets
Date March 2012
"Digitale Demokratie", die Februarausgabe der Zeitschrift Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, diskutiert die Öffentlichkeit im digitalen Zeitalter.
Date March 2012
Ars Technica covers an exciting piece of software history and shows how open source developer Red Hat tweaked their product to shape a succesful business model
Date February 2012
Gawker has an excellent article on Facebook's outsourced content monitoring and managing squad, revealing the parameters and practices that shape the advertiser friendly culture on Facebook.
Date February 2012
A very informative article by Cyrus Farivar at Ars Technica presents various initiatives that develop software applications to avoid government censorship & interception
Date December 2011
VJ Um Amel from R-Shief invited activists and academics to dig deep into some 12 million tweets related to the Occupy movement. Three days teams from around the globe were participating in a concerted effort to make sense of these data. This exciting experience has been preserved eloquently in this documentation
Date December 2011
While some techno-optimists praise new media for liberating people from repressive regimes, dictators rely on Western technology to spy on their citizens, intercept their communication, monitor their internet traffic and block their access to information. The needed release of the Spy Files by Wikileaks identifies companies that thrive on repression.
The evidence provided on the Wikilekas platform consists of detailed brochures, price lists, manuals and presentations that clearly show that this industry is not only well aware of the way their products are used by repressive regimes but is explicitly advertising those activities.
Next step is to push for policies to outlaw the export of surveillance technology to repressive regimes.
About
Mirko Tobias Schaefer is a researcher in the field of digital culture.
This website provides information on his research interests and teaching activities.
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Contact
Mirko Tobias Schaefer
Department for Media and Culture Studies
Utrecht University
Kromme Nieuwegr. 20
NL-3512 HH Utrecht