Diggit Magazine is a community-driven academic news and information platform (ISSN: 2589-6741) connected to the bachelor ‘Online Culture: Art, Media and Society’ and the masters in Culture Studies of Tilburg University. It provides quality information in times of digitalization, globalization and superdiversity. 

Diggit Magazine is a learning instrument and a niche magazine at the same time.

The name is derived from diggin’ (for) something. Diggit Magazine not only wants to dig into the effects of digitalization and globalization on culture, media, language and arts, it also wants to provide the tools to enable its readers to dig deep and retrieve and order quality information on these topics. Last, but not least, diggit magazine reaches out to the general public by providing accessible and well-written information everybody can 'dig'.

 To dig it

• To perceive and comprehend the nature and significance of; grasp; gather. “Ya dig? Yeah I dig it”
• To find attractive, pleasant, to enjoy. “I dig on that!”

 To dig for something

• to excavate to find something that is buried.
• to go to great pains to uncover information of some kind.

Diggit Magazine is a niche magazine

Diggit Magazine does not pretend to be a classic mainstream medium. Nor does it has ambitions to become one. You will not find sports reporting here. Breaking news is not our business. And the last pictures of Hollywood stars partying will not be posted .  

So, what can you expect?  In short, you can expect qualitative information on topics like digital culture, globalization & arts. We try to uphold academic standards but with a journalistic flair. Diggit Magazine is created as a space for information and reflection. It is set up as 

• an academic news platform
• a focussed magazine
• a slow medium
• a medium for qualitative information
• a democratic magazine

 

An academic news platform

The media field is dominated by a commercial logic: hits and commercial success is more important than the quality of the content. diggit magazine chooses to operate in a different niche. Diggit Magazine is an academic news platform:

Diggit Magazine injects academic quality into the public sphere

Diggit Magazine operates at the intersection of academia and journalism.

• The magazine is academic in the sense that it mirrors the academic process of knowledge building and upholds academic quality standards.
• It is journalistic in the sense that it engages with what is happening in society right now and it tries to also reach out to an audience inside and outside academia by adopting a journalistic style and different formats of presenting information and reflection on current events.

 

A focussed medium

There seems to be an unspoken rule that news magazines should address all topics, from politics to sport, from Paris Hilton to law no matter what competence journalists have. ​Diggit magazine chooses to operate in a different niche:

Diggit Magazine focuses on arts, media and society in times of digitalization, globalization and superdiversity.

All published content concerns topics and theoretical frameworks with which lecturers, researchers students and other members of the diggit community have experience. The topics and how they are dealt with reflect the research tradition of the department of Culture Studies, Babylon and its international academic research networks such as InColaS and the GAIC network. Common topics include: globalization, communication, migration, new media, identity, language, arts, hybridization, communicative, ritual and artistic practices.   

 

Slow medium

The heat of the moment is a driving force of contemporary commercial media. Breaking news, fast coverage and fast opinions are the rule. diggit magazine chooses to operate in a different niche:

Diggit Magazine brings slow journalism

Diggit Magazine stresses the fact that good journalism cannot flourish under the tyranny of the moment. Quality information and reflection need time. In line with the slow science movement we opt for a slow journalism by which we mean to produce bulletproof information and trustworthy reflection, instead of having the first scoop.

 

A medium for qualitative information

Fast and sensational information that sells well is the rule within the field of mass and social media. ratings and the number of hits are used to define quality. Diggit Magazine chooses to operate in a different niche:

Diggit Magazine brings slow qualitative information and reflection

Diggit Magazine does not work according to the rhythm of mass media, but adopts a slow and academically fueled journalism. We place research at the center, not speed. Diggit Magazine chooses to inform and reflect, not to polarize. At the same time we are aware that information and reflection on highly politicized topics is  needed and can fuel heavy debates. The difference lies here: we inject arguments and findings from academic research into the public sphere, not just opinions, impressions or feelings. 

Regarding the quality and the status of the publications on Diggit Magazine, transparency is a central concern. To safeguard this, we have introduced two features.

First, Diggit Magazine is not only a knowledge platform: it is also a learning tool. The distinction between these two functions manifests itself in the existence side by side of two different domains, indicated by different logos:

• Diggit Blog: Reflections on research, questions and work-in-progress will be published on the diggit blog. These publications offer the world outside academia an insight in the ongoing learning processes of students as well as researchers. They will be published with a disclaimer that this is the view of the author, not of diggit magazine as such.
• Diggit Magazine: On diggit magazine only the quality-controlled and editorially backed publications will be published. These publications pass through a thorough editorial process.  

Second, all publications come with a content-id. This allows readers to see in one glance what the status is of a publication. This content-id creates transparency regarding the format of the publication (academic paper, interview, review or blog), its author, its reviewers and editors, the course within which it was produced and the file to which it belongs.

 

Democratic magazine

Media play a crucial role in a democratic society. They are the so-called fourth estate. Today, many media operate as commercial organizations and profit determines quality. Diggit Magazine chooses to operate in a different niche:

Diggit Magazine takes up a democratic role

Diggit Magazine takes its democratic role seriously. Free, accessible and qualitative information and reflection are fundamental for a healthy democracy. No healthy democracy is possible without well-informed citizens. No democracy without democratic civilians.

  

Diggit Magazine: a learning medium

 

Diggit Magazine is a central working tool in the bachelor Online culture: arts, media & society and the masters Culture Studies. Students, researchers, lecturers, visiting researchers and guest lecturers work together to form an online community that is the engine of the e-zine. Diggit Magazine was conceived as a new learning environment and a new learning tool that is integrally interwoven with the entire curriculum. The foundation of the magazine is the Diggit Community.

• Students, faculty and guest lecturers all have their own profile within the community and collaborate on research and publications
• The online community is inextricably intertwined with the offline curriculum.
• The content is always connected to one or several teachers and one or more subjects.