Diggit Magazine

Black Pete: When commodifying “blackness” is tradition

Column
Tess Kanters
24/11/2021
11 minutes to read

Black Pete is a tradition for the Dutch population. Traditions are, however, ever-changing entities, especially ones rooted in colonial commodification of blackness. 

Black Pete is a tradition for the Dutch population. Traditions are, however, ever-changing entities, especially ones rooted in colonial commodification of blackness. 

Conspiracy theories, Capitol riot, fiction,
© Wikimedia

The Capitol Riots: Democracy, Post-truth and Fiction

Column
Odile Heynders
04/05/2021
7 minutes to read

In light of the Capitol riots, Odile Heynders claims that we have to reflect on fiction and its development in time, in order to understand how the concept is used and functions in today’s society. 

AI

Should AI be considered the (co-)author of AI art?

Column
Simone Sprangers
04/03/2021
3 minutes to read

AI is used quite often in art production. But this technology can lead to philosophical problems. Is the artist still the author of his work, or does he has to share this authorship with AI? The ontology of art can shed light on this issue.

Stocks
© Forbes

Reddit's GameStop rush (doesn't) change(s) the stock market

Column
Nataliia Vdovychenko
02/02/2021
7 minutes to read

GameStop has shaken the stock market with the help of Reddit users, or at least that is wat the news suggests. What is certain is that for the first time in history, the news about stocks is talking about the 'online community' rather than the wolves of Wall Street. How did this shift happen, and what are the long-term consequences? 

Lessons from the last days of Parler about #speakfreely and ‘Tech Tyranny’

Column
Inge Beekmans
26/01/2021
16 minutes to read

Before Parler was removed from Google and Apple's appstores and deleted from the Amazon servers, Parler users discussed the apparent 'cancellation' of their plaform. An analysis of their responses reveals a complex fusion of very distinct values and beliefs that can be linked to, inter alia, the Manosphere, alt-right movements and a whole range of conspiracy theories.

image of a clustered red and clustered blue communication network with just a few connections linking the two
© Srijan Kumar 2018

Capitol riots, echo chambers and democracy

Column
Lauren Zentz
18/01/2021
5 minutes to read

The problem of corporate media is not their creation of echo chambers; it is that media organizations have allowed people whose views run against democracy to gain such a large following that their lies are now seen by many as fact.

jan Blommaert, hart boven hard, socialism
© Karina Brys

Jan Blommaert's struggle

Column
Jenny-Louise Van Der Aa
11/01/2021
2 minutes to read

Jan Blommaert has recently passed away. Jenny Van der Aa reflects on his political and democratic engagement as one of his former close collaborators at Tilburg and Ghent University.

Behrouz Boochani, activism, no friends but the mountains
© Wikimedia

Literary Activism: Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountains

Column
Odile Heynders
19/11/2020
6 minutes to read

Kurdish journalist / philosopher Behrouz Boochani spent nearly 5 years in a detainee camp on Manus island texting messages from a hidden mobile phone. The messages were composed to a literary novel, winning a prestigeous prize in 2018.

© Wikimedia Commons

How an 'essay writing robot' is echoing the voice of its creators

Column
Inge Beekmans
06/10/2020
9 minutes to read

The essay that was written by language generator GPT-3 and edited by The Guardian might teach us more about our own fears and hopes for the future of technology than about the objectives and intentions of Artificial Intelligence. 

Elena Ferrante’s Disappearing Act

Column
Inge van de Ven
07/09/2020
7 minutes to read

Good news for Elena Ferrante’s fans. The mysterious Italian bestseller author’s last and eighth novel, The Lying Life of Adults, is now available in book stores all over the world.

nevertrump, Lincoln project, republicans against trump
© jose M. | Unsplash

The new Jeremiahs: #NeverTrump and the rise of the Lincoln Project

Column
Robert Moore
24/06/2020
5 minutes to read

Over the past several weeks a new force has emerged in the 2020 US presidential election, one that has already reshaped the ecology of political communication in America—even as it has received relatively scant coverage in the US media, and almost none in Europe.