Media Do Not Exist: Performativity and Mediating Conjunctures by Jean-Marc Larrue and Marcello Vitali-Rosati offers a radically new approach to the phenomenon of mediation, proposing a new understanding that challenges the very notion of medium. It begins with a historical overview of recent developments in Western thought on mediation, especially since the mid 80s and the emergence of the disciplines of media archaeology and intermediality. While these developments are inseparable from the advent of digital technology, they have a long history. The authors trace the roots of this thought back to the dawn of philosophy. Humans interact with their environment – which includes other humans – not through media, but rather through a series of continually evolving mediations, which Larrue and Vitali-Rosati call ‘mediating conjunctures’. This observation leads them to the paradoxical argument that ‘media do not exist’. Existing theories of mediation processes remain largely influenced by a traditional understanding of media as relatively stable entities. Media Do Not Exist demonstrates the limits of this conception. The dynamics relating to mediation are the product not of a single medium, but rather of a series of mediating conjunctures. They are created by ceaselessly shifting events and interactions, blending the human and the non-human, energy, and matter.
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The Assassin’s Creed franchise mainly consists of video games but has over the years created a narrative universe spanning different media. Seeing how the traversal from the individual installment Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag into the narrative universe of Assassin’s Creed changes player engagement with the franchise allows one to understand audience interaction with different mediaproducts in a transmedia and convergent culture. Seen as a performed possible world, the individual installment is shown, through a three part gameplay analysis, to function as an unfinished commodity. This implies striking a balance between an individually satisfying experience and a plot-hole ridden incentive for further activity. When the individual installment incites traversal into a narrative universe, the player can construct the universe from installments through a hyperdiegetic, intermedia, or crossmedia engagement, depending on the reliance on medium specificity. Ultimately, this article provides a model for audience interaction in the transmedia age.
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We investigate entrepreneurial ecosystems that support circular start-ups and innovation. We argue that entrepreneurial ecosystems for circularity are constellations of existing entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems that extend across geographies and sectors. Our research question centres on understanding ecosystem intermediation that facilitates the embedding of circular start-ups in different ecosystems and addresses a pertinent gap in the literature about ecosystem intermediation for circular transitions and circular start-ups Focusing on the emerging circular transition in the textiles and apparel industry, we gathered data from in-depth interviews, field observations, and archival documentation over a seven-year period. Our findings show that entrepreneurial ecosystems for circular start-ups are purposefully intermediated at a meta level, combining elements of extant ecosystems to focus on circularity. Drawing on these insights, we conceptualize ecosystem intermediation as connecting diverse ecosystems across geographic and sectoral boundaries. Our study contributes to the literatures on circular entrepreneurship, circular ecosystems, and ecologies of system intermediation as well as provides practical implications for practitioners and policy makers.
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Welke social media gebruiken studenten? Waarom gebruiken studenten deze media? Welke verwachtingen hebben ze van het onderwijs? In dit whitepaper delen we de resultaten van ons onderzoek naar de betekenis van social media in het leven van de hedendaagse student.
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In dit whitepaper vindt u de resultaten van onze jaarlijkse social media MKB-monitor. Met deze monitor doen we onderzoek naar het gebruik van sociale media in het MKB. In dit whitepaper vindt u de resultaten van de monitor en kansen voor de toekomst
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We investigate circular entrepreneurial ecosystems that support circular startups and innovation. We argue that circular entrepreneurial ecosystems are constellations of existing entrepreneurial ecosystems that extend across geographies and sectors, requiring ecosystem intermediaries to bridge institutional environments and provide access to actors and resources. Focusing on the emerging circular transition in the textiles and apparel industry, we gathered data from in-depth interviews, field observations, and archival documentation over a seven--year period. Our findings show that circular entrepreneurial ecosystems are purposefully intermediated at a meta level, generating nested and distributed ecosystems. To elucidate circular ecosystem intermediation, we devised a model of system level 5 intermediation that extends the conceptualization of ecologies of system intermediation across geographic and sector boundaries. Our study contributes to the literatures on circular entrepreneurship, circular ecosystems, and ecosystem intermediation as well as provides practical implications for practitioners and policy makers.
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Social media zijn momenteel het gesprek van de dag. In slechts enkele jaren tijd hebben social media sites als YouTube, Facebook en LinkedIn een miljoenenpubliek aan zich gebonden. En het aantal consumenten en bedrijven dat gebruik maakt van deze online platformen groeit nog steeds sterk. Hoewel er dagelijks nieuwe cijfers verschijnen over het gebruik van social media is er vooralsnog weinig bekend over de adoptie van social media door bedrijven. Middels dit boek willen de onderzoekers van het lectoraat Online Ondernemen van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam een bijdrage leveren aan het opvullen van deze kennisleemte door het social media gebruik binnen de detailhandel in Nederland in kaart te brengen. Het boek bevat de resultaten van een onderzoek naar gebruik van de social media sites Hyves, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, weblogs, Twitter en fora door (web)winkels en consumenten in Nederland. Welke social media sites worden veel en welke weinig gebruikt door (web)winkels en consumenten in Nederland? Wat zijn de kenmerken van de (web)winkels en consumenten die voorop lopen en achterblijven in het gebruik van social media platformen? In hoeverre zijn Nederlanders geïnteresseerd in het volgen van commerciële bedrijven via social media? Hoeveel volgers hebben (web)winkels op Hyves, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube en Twitter? Op deze en andere vragen over het gebruik van social media in de detailhandel in Nederland wordt in dit boek antwoord gegeven.
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During times of high activity by predators and competitors, herbivores may be forced to forage in patches of low‐quality food. However, the relative importance in determining where and what herbivores forage still remains unclear, especially for small‐ and intermediate‐sized herbivores. Our objective was to test the relative importance of predator and competitor activity, and forage quality and quantity on the proportion of time spent in a vegetation type and the proportion of time spent foraging by the intermediate‐sized herbivore European hare (Lepus europaeus). We studied red fox (Vulpes vulpes) as a predator species and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a competitor. We investigated the time spent at a location and foraging time of hare using GPS with accelerometers. Forage quality and quantity were analyzed based on hand‐plucked samples of a selection of the locally most important plant species in the diet of hare. Predator activity and competitor activity were investigated using a network of camera traps. Hares spent a higher proportion of time in vegetation types that contained a higher percentage of fibers (i.e., NDF). Besides, hares spent a higher proportion of time in vegetation types that contained relatively low food quantity and quality of forage (i.e., high percentage of fibers) during days that foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were more active. Also during days that rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were more active, hares spent a higher proportion of time foraging in vegetation types that contained a relatively low quality of forage. Although predation risk affected space use and foraging behavior, and competition affected foraging behavior, our study shows that food quality and quantity more strongly affected space use and foraging behavior than predation risk or competition. It seems that we need to reconsider the relative importance of the landscape of food in a world of fear and competition.
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In dit magazine (rapport) blikken betrokken onderzoekers en professionals terug op “The Next Level” en de resultaten daarvan, die onder meer bestaan uit trainingen op het gebied van ‘crises & social media’ voor professionals. In mei 2016 is na ruim 2 jaar een einde gekomen aan onderzoeksproject "The Next Level". De lectoraten Crossmediale communicatie in het Publieke Domein en Regie van Veiligheid (Hogeschool Utrecht) werkten hierin samen met professionals uit het communicatie- en veiligheidsdomein. Centrale vraag in dit onderzoek was: hoe kan bij een crisis - beïnvloed door sociale media - effectief vorm worden gegeven aan crisiscommunicatie en crisismanagement?
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The concept of intermediate-level knowledge is increasingly used in interaction design research and media architecture. Recently it has been proposed that intermediate-level knowledge is better actionable to designers when it is conveyed on multiple levels of abstraction. This paper shares an approach-in-the-making to generate and disseminate knowledge in line with this proposition. We describe an ongoing exploratory case in which the aim is to generate actionable insights with regards to promoting neighborhood resilience through media architecture. In our approach we explicate knowledge on three levels of abstraction: design examples (most concrete), a framework (most abstract) and design strategies (in between design examples and framework). We discuss how the roles of these levels of abstraction are distinct when either generating or disseminating knowledge. We conclude our paper by looking ahead. As our research team will start to engage with partners in social design, architecture and urban planning, we will explore how our multi-level approach to intermediate-level knowledge is fruitful in generating actionable insights for a more interdisciplinary audience.
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