The private life in a digital world

This course is part of the BA Online Culture: Art, Media and Society or the MA Online Culture at Tilburg University. Click on the link for more info on the courses and the programme.

In this international program Online Culture: Art, Media and Society (Culture Studies) the focus is on digital culture and (new) media. From disciplines such as cultural studies and media studies you study how digitalization and globalization influence our way of living. You discuss new ways of communication, art expressions as well as (social) media expressions like memes and trolls. You research how such ways of communication and expressions are established and how they manifest in, and have influence on a society that increasingly takes place online. Additionally, you actively contribute to digital culture by writing papers and opinion pieces for our own online platform Diggit Magazine.

“Hey Google, is buying your smart home speaker actually that smart?”

Paper
Isobel Huisman
08/01/2024
12 minutes to read

Smart home devices have made our lives easier, but at what cost? This paper aims to explore what privacy issues voice interactions with the Google Nest speaker raise for its users and why we choose to continue to use these speakers. 

Twitter users' comments on the VVD quitting TikTok

Digital privacy or geopolitics: perspectives on the VVD leaving TikTok

Article
Femke van Bree
15/01/2024
12 minutes to read

On April 13th, 2023, the VVD announced their retreat from TikTok. How did Twitter users respond to this announcement, and which perspectives regarding TikTok and digital privacy arise? This article intends to find answers to these questions. 

Two screens showing the BeReal notification

BeReal: How Authenticity Turns into Violation of Privacy

Article
Anna Skorodihina
22/09/2023
13 minutes to read

This article looks at how the new social media platform BeReal structures its app to enforce what is called an expository society through behaviour modification and how it plays into societies of control, compromising user privacy.

A person using a tablet and stylus to draw

DeviantArt and AI: The showdown between manual playbour and automated playbour

Paper
Pak Wing Ng
27/11/2023
15 minutes to read

By looking at DeviantArt and its no-AI alternative Side 7, the article explores an issue of the security of users' artwork with the rise of AI art generators, as well as the way the platforms deal with artwork protection. 

Apple's surveillance system in contemporary society

Paper
Gergana Mihaylova
29/05/2023
12 minutes to read

This article discusses how Apple surveils its users and influences their behavior through their multiple devices, violates their privacy, and exploits their data.

Mail man

Ring Video Doorbell: privacy invasion delivered to your doorstep

Paper
Ruben den Boer
16/11/2022
13 minutes to read

Ring Video Doorbells ensure security for homeowners. Through a discourse analysis of Ring Doorbell videos posted on TikTok, this article answers the question: which privacy issues do video doorbells raise for the person on your doorstep?