Apps

The inverted filter on TikTok

TikTok's inverted filter: debunking symmetry as beauty standard

Paper
Kelly Burnet
07/11/2022
10 minutes to read

In this paper, discourse analysis is done on two TikTok entries to the inverted filter trend that became very popular in April 2021. By showing facial asymmetry as normal, Aubrey Ober gave a twist to the trend and recycled the trend's meaning.

A frame from Miranda July's Somebody movie

Miranda’s July Relational and Participatory Art

Article
Szymon Zbiegniewski
24/10/2022
9 minutes to read

In 2014 Miranda July created a project that asked a question about how difficult it is to approach strangers. In this paper, I analyze this project through relational aesthetics and participatory art. 

Maptivism: how Strava affords identity work

Column
Ruben den Boer
16/06/2022
6 minutes to read

Self-tracking can be used for identity work. In this essay, I explore how a self-tracking app I use - Strava - affords identity work through slacktivist discourse affordances.

How WhatsApp's privacy policy raises major concerns

Article
Nathalie Schabio
30/01/2023
15 minutes to read

This article looks at why people use Whatsapp given the privacy concerns around the platform. Read the article to learn about the connection between the expository society, the lack of privacy, and participatory surveillance.

Samsung Health

Samsung Health: How self-tracking trivialises our ethical concerns

Article
Angela Veltman
06/02/2023
11 minutes to read

The high level of data sharing has become a common practice. This essay examines the Samsung Health application and its benefits and disadvantages on the users, using gamification, behaviour modification and surveillance capitalism.

Data-driven shopping: Nike's House of Innovation

Article
Femke van Bree
20/02/2023
10 minutes to read

Allegedly, Nike's HOI stores are ''the future of retail''. These data-driven stores offer a digitalized customer experience that is unlike anything else. What are the implications of Nike's data usage and is this usage ethical?

CoronaCheck app in the Netherlands

How the QR code became a meaning-making practice during COVID-19

Article
Tinka Krikke
02/05/2022
10 minutes to read

In this article, we analyze the corona QR code as a meaning-making practice and discuss its effects on society. The QR code was implemented to reduce the spread of COVID, but it's digital nature and meaning had an impact on society's resilience.