Geert Lovink, founding director of the Institute of Network Cultures, is a Dutch-Australian media theorist and critic. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne and in 2003 was at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland. In 2004 Lovink was appointed as Research Professor at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and Associate Professor at University of Amsterdam. He is the founder of Internet projects such as nettime and fibreculture. In 2005-06 he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin Institute for Advanced Study where he finished his third volume on critical Internet culture, Zero Comments (2007). Since then he published the book Networks Without a Cause (2012), which has been translated into German and Italian. Other books titles by Geert Lovink are The Art of Free Cooperation (2007), The Principle of Notworking (2005), and My First Recession (2003). Email: geert[at]xs4all[dot]nl. Geert's weblog: www.networkcultures.org/geert

Miriam Rasch started working as a publication manager at the Institute of Network Cultures in June 2012. She holds a masters degree in Literary Studies (2002) and Philosophy (2005). Since graduating she worked as a (web)editor and from 2008 on as a programmer for the public lectures department at Utrecht University, Studium Generale, organizing events and taking care of digital broadcasts and online representation. Next to that she worked as a lecturer for Liberal Arts and Sciences, and will be teaching philosophy and media theory at the Media, Information and Communication department. She writes book reviews and guest posts for different websites; her personal blog can be found on miriamrasch.nl. Email: miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org.

Margreet Riphagen, project manager at INC, graduated in 2000 in Integrated Communication Management at the Hogeschool of Utrecht. After graduating, Margreet worked at an advertising agency in Utrecht. In June 2003 she started working at Waag Society as a producer. After three and a half years at Waag Society she switched to the Media Guild, which is a not for profit organisation that fosters innovative starters in the field of new media and ICT. After setting up the Media Guild, she left for Blender, which is a 3D open source animation suite. There she was co-producer of Big Buck Bunny (Peach open movie project) and producing an open game. Since August 2008 she works at the Institute for Network Cultures managing and producing projects for the INC. In 2009 she finished her postbachelor Business Science. Email: margreet[at]networkcultures[dot]org.

Serena Westra started as an intern involved with the Critical Point of View event, held in March 2010. She was CPOV's assistant-producer. Since then, she is working on several conferences of the INC as blogger and production and communication employee. Serena holds a Bachelor degree in Media & Culture at the University of Amsterdam with a specialization in New Media and Sociology, and also studied at the University of Technology Sydney for a semester. Currently she is doing the Master program New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam. She is interested in social media, power structures, sociology, music and culture. Her email-address is: serenawestra[at]gmail.com and her personal blog can be found at serenawestra.com.

INC interns

Frederiek Pennink is an intern for the Society of the Query #2 conference. She holds a BA degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Amsterdam University College with a major in the Humanities. She completed her BA with a thesis on governance in MMORPGs by exploring the (power) relationship between the designers and players. In September 2013 Frederiek will continue her studies with a master’s programme in Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Research fellows at INC

Nadia Palliser, research fellow at the INC, is a media researcher, specializing in cultural education and (new) learning methods through digital media. After earning her MA in art history, she worked for V2_ and the Intersociety for Electronic Art as a web archivist and writer. As a project manager she has done several projects focusing on the use of data for cultural education, interface development and library innovation. She teaches at the art academy in Rotterdam and in 2006/2007 at the design academy in Eindhoven. Since her work for the publication of the Library of 100 Talents (Netherlands Institute for Public Libraries, 2010) she is directing her research towards cultural education and children’s software. As a starting point, she is looking at the role of digital media in cultural education, to bring good practice and theoretical support together.

Sebastian Olma is a philosopher and economist. For the last ten years he has done research into models of innovative organising/organisation of creativity. He holds a PhD on this topic from Goldsmiths College, University of London. His main expertise lies with the creative industries. At the INC Sebastian is responsible for the coordination and implementation of research into this field. His academic publications related to the creative industries include:

• (2012) ‘Creative Industries’ in George-Ritzer, The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, forthcoming.
• (2011) ‘Die Topologisierung der Wertschöpfung’ in Lange, Bastian; Bergmann, Malte (eds.) Eigensinnige Geographien, Wiesbaden VS Verlag, in print.
• (2011) Van volk naar multitude: burgerschap als topologische praktijk, in: R. Gowricharn, S. Trienekens & D.W. Postma, Alternatieve visies op burgerschap, Amsterdam: AUP, in print.
• (2009) ‘Kritik der Kreativindustrien’, in Bastian Lange, Ares Kalandides, Birgit Stöber, Inga Wellmann (2009) Governance der Creative Industries, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, p. 103-120.
• (2007) ‘Critique of the Creative Industries’, in: Geert Lovink; Ned Rossiter (eds.), My Creavitity Reader, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam.

INC has recently collaborated with:

- Lily Antflick, research intern for the project the Unbound Book and Theory on Demand series;
- Srividya Balasubramanian, research intern for the project Society of the Query, as a part of the Bachelor of Social Sciences in Communications and New Media from the National University of Singapore;
- Juliana Brunello, research intern for the project Wikipeda, as part of the Bachelor of Arts degree from the Universitaet Siegen (DE) in Social Sciences with emphasis in Media Studies;
- Francesca Coluzzi worked as a research intern at INC from September 2012 - January 2013, conducting interviews and blogging for the Oor of Ink project;
- Morgan Currie, researcher for the project Economies of the Commons and the Unbound Book;
- Marije van Eck, wrote her BA-thesis, an analysis of the phenomenon of user generated content on YouTube, in order to complete the New Media and Digital Culture program at Utrecht University (NL);
- Dennis Deicke, research intern for the project Society of the Query as part of his study of Communication and Cultural Management at the Zeppelin University (DE);
- Andrew Erlanger, research intern from February - April 2013, working on the Unlike Us #3 conference on social media;
- Cecilia Guida, is a Ph.D. candidate at the IULM University of Milan (IT) where she is conducting a research on the social and political functions of art practice in the networked society. She was involved in the Video Vortex project;
- Larissa Hildebrandt, produced the Unlike Us #3 conference in Amsterdam.
- Minke Kampman, research intern as part of writing her thesis for MA New Media at the University of Amsterdam (NL). She was involved in the WinterCamp project;
- René König, PhD researcher and INC intern from September 2012 - January 2013, working on the Society of the Query project on search engines;
- Silvio Lorusso, graduated in 2011 in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Iuav University of Venice (Italy) with a project concerning the influence of graphic design on the experience of food products;
- Stijn Peeters, research intern from February - April 2013, working on the Unlike Us #3 conference on social media;
- Rachel Somers Miles, worked at INC from April 2010 - April 2011 on the Culture Vortex and Video vortex program and was editor of the VVII Reader;
- Sabine Niederer, worked at INC from September 2004 - January 2012 as the managing director of the Institute of Network Cultures;
- Shirley Niemans, worked at INC as a producer and researcher, involved in many projects, September 2006 - Augustus 2008.
- Michelle Oosthuyzen, is working at the INC as intern and researcher, Februari 2012 - April 2012.
- Marc Stumpel, worked at INC as a producer and researcher, involved in Unlike Us, September 2011 - April 2012
- Carlos García Moreno-Torres, worked at INC as an intern involved in the Video Vortex project from September 2010 to April 2011.

Lily Antflick is involved with the Unbound Book Conference and the Theory on Demand series. She was born in Toronto, Canada and is studying for a Master’s degree in Media Studies at The New School University in New York. Her related topics of interest include both graphic design and the social/psychological implications of pervasive media and communication technologies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History and Humanistic Studies from McGill University. Prior to her current studies, she worked at Radke Film Group and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. She studied abroad at the University of Amsterdam in 2008 and is pleased to return. Email: lilantflick[at]gmail[dot]com

Srividya Balasubramanian is an intern at the Institute of Network Cultures involved with the Society of the Query project. She has recently completed her last exams for the Bachelor of Social Sciences in Communications and New Media from the National University of Singapore and awaits graduation (summer 2010). Her Bachelor thesis explores the phenomenon of online confessional websites with a particular focus on how these websites allow for an electronic ‘care of the self,’ a term coined by Michel Foucault in his analysis of confessions. She has previous internship experiences working as a reporter for a newspaper in India (summer 2007), and under the Corporate Communications division of Asia Pacific Breweries in Singapore(summer 2009). She is originally from India, and moved to Singapore to pursue her undergraduate studies, spending seven months in Amsterdam in 2009 as an exchange student.

Juliana Brunello holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Universitaet Siegen (Germany) in Social Sciences with emphasis in Media Studies. She finished her studies in October 2009 with a thesis that involved the concepts of reality construction (Berger/Luckmann) and the Scientology Organization, based on media (books, internet websites) analysis. She worked at the Verein fuer soziale Arbeit und Kultur Suedwestfalen in the research/pedagogic area for the last two years, before starting as a research intern at the Institute of Network Cultures. She is originally from Brazil and started her studies there at Faculdade Tancredo Neves in International Relations. Furthermore, she lived in the United States of America for eleven months as an exchange student and in England for six, working.

Francesca Coluzzi is a graphic designer and independent researcher in the field of visual culture. She studied visual communication and works both as a freelancer and as part of a collective. At INC she will be working on the project Out of Ink that investigates future scenarios of publishing industries. She will update the Out of Ink-blog regularly and write reports and interviews, trying to create a network that can link all the different publishing practices. All these outputs could be collected in a publication and possibly a new event, Unbound Book #3. Email: francicoluzzi[a]gmail.com

Morgan Currie, was born in the United States and is studying for a Masters degree in New Media at the University of Amsterdam. Her thesis explores how batch digitization of print collections is changing (and challenging) the traditional role of institutional libraries. Her related topics of interest include digital archives, open access publishing, and sustainability of the commons. Currently she is researching for the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam and remains a frequent contributor to the Masters of Media blog. Prior to her current studies she worked for eight years as a researcher and producer of documentary films for American public television and GOOD Magazine. Email: morgan[at]networkcultures[dot]org

Dennis Deicke, is an intern at the Institute of Network Cultures. Currently he does research to prepare The Society of the Query conference, which will take place on November 13-14 in TrouwAmsterdam. After leaving school in 2007, he moved from Frankfurt/Main to Friedrichshafen at Lake Constance to begin the study of Communication and Cultural Management at the Zeppelin University, which will presumably be finished with a Bachelor‘s Degree in the summer of 2010. Last summer he worked for the editorial staff of the German public broadcasting station ZDF.

Marije van Eck, started working at the Institute of Network Cultures as an intern, involved in the organization of the Video Vortex conference. During the internship, she wrote her BA-thesis, an analysis of the phenomenon of user generated content on YouTube, in order to complete the New Media and Digital Culture program at Utrecht University. She continues to study at Utrecht University to obtain a second BA in English Language and Culture, while working at the INC as editorial assistant on the forthcoming Video Vortex Reader. Email: marije [at] chasingthoughts.net.

Andrew Erlanger did an internship at the Institute of Network Cultures and was involved with the Unlike Us #3 conference. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Media from RMIT University, Melbourne, and is currently studying a master’s programme in New Media & Digital Culture at Universiteit Utrecht. Originally from Australia, Andrew moved to London in 2011 to take on a communications role for Movember Europe and has since relocated to Utrecht to complete his studies.

Cecilia Guida is an intern at the Institute of Network Cultures involved with the Video Vortex project. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the IULM University of Milan where she is conducting a research on the social and political functions of art practice in the networked society. She holds a Master Degree in Curating Contemporary Art at La Sapienza University of Rome (2006). She has curated exhibitions in museums, galleries, public and non-profit spaces in Italy and abroad. She has taught aesthetics at IUAV University of Venice (2008-09) and sociology of art at Fine Arts Academy (2007) and at La Sapienza University of Rome. (2004-05). She collaborates with the Italian web-site of contemporary art www.undo.net. She lived in Spain eleven months as an exchange student and in England for ten, studying.

Anne Helmond is a new media researcher, graphic designer and photographer. In 2008 she graduated from New Media at the University of Amsterdam with a thesis in the emerging field of Software Studies, titled 'Blogging for Engines. Blogs under the Influence of Software-Engine Relations.' For the INC, Anne has designed the new Institute of Network Cultures website and weblog, as well as Geert Lovink's blog and the New Media in the Netherlands site. As a researcher, she is affiliated with the Amsterdam-based Digital Methods Initiative. As photographer, she works for various organizations such as the INC and the Dutch public broadcasting company VPRO. Anne is also maintening the website of the institute. Email: anne.helmond [at] gmail.com. Anne's photos & Anne's blog

Larissa Hildebrandt worked as an intern for the Unlike Us #3 conference in Amsterdam. She is a student in the New Media and Digital Culture MA program at the University of Amsterdam. She recently completed her BA in Communication at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

Minke Kampman is currently writing her thesis for MA New Media (UvA), while she works as a production assistent for the upcoming Winter Camp 09. The subject of her thesis is the flagging system on video sharing sites as a moderation tool, part of which was published in the latest INC reader 'Video Vortex: Responses to YouTube' by the name "Flagging or Fagging." In 2005 she graduated with a Bdes in Graphic Design at ArteZ, Arnhem. Minke also works at Supershirt and as part of VJ VIADUKTAPE™. Email: info [at] minkekampman.nl

René König is a sociologist researching at Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Together with Michael Nentwich he recently published the book ‘Cyberscience 2.0: Research in the Age of Digital Social Networks’ at Campus (Frankfurt a.M./New York) which analyzes transformation processes in academia triggered by Web 2.0. Currently, König works on his PhD thesis, focusing on online search behavior in the context of scientific controversies. At INC he will maintain Re-search, the collaborative research blog on search, and will investigate the possibilities for continuing the project Society of the Query (2009), and contributing with reviews of critical literature on search engines etc. Email: kontakt[a]renekoenig.eu

Silvio Lorusso is an Italian graphic designer and researcher. In 2011 he collaborated with the Institute of Network Cultures for the Theory on Demand and Out of Ink projects. He graduated in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Iuav University of Venice with a project concerning the influence of graphic design on the experience of food products. Currently he's attending the Networked Media course at Piet Zwart Institute of Rotterdam. Email: silviolorusso[at]gmail.[dot]com, website: http://www.silviolorusso.com/

Rachel Somers Miles works on projects and publications for the INC. She moved from Toronto to Amsterdam in September 2008 to attend the Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image Masters programme at the University of Amsterdam, focusing on media arts. She also holds a previous Masters degree in Media Studies from Concordia University, Montreal (2008). Rachel was an intern, and then employee, of the Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst, (Amsterdam) in the preservation department, and has previously worked at Virtueel Platform (Amsterdam) as a researcher for  “Project Observatory,” focusing on a number of significant media art case studies including the artist group Blast Theory and the Runme.org online software art repository. While at the INC she has worked on the book series Studies in Network Cultures, and Network Notebooks, and is now focusing her attention towards the Video Vortex project.

Sabine Niederer was the managing director of the Institute of Network Cultures. In January 2008 she has started her PhD research at the University of Amsterdam, Mediastudies, new media. Before joining the INC in 2004 she worked as a producer and curator of international events on new media, arts and digital culture, such as Hoogt 4 (2001-2004) and Level Up Games Conference (2003). In 2002 she earned her MA from Utrecht University, where she studied art history, and new media and digital culture. Sabine has taught media and design theory, is a freelance curator of art and new media projects such as Impakt Online, and publishes regularly on new media, art and popular culture. As a researcher, she is affiliated with the Amsterdam-based Digital Methods Initiative. Email: sabine[at]networkcultures[dot]org.

Shirley Niemans is a researcher and co-editor for the Society of the Query conference (November 2009) and has been the INC event producer of Video Vortex (2008), New Network Theory (2007) and MyCreativity (2006). After graduating from the KABK/Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 2002 she worked as a video and sound artist and obtained an MA degree in New Media and Digital Culture at Utrecht University in 2009. She has (co-)produced and curated events and art projects ranging from international new media expert meetings to art exhibitions in public space. Currently, she teaches Trend Analysis and coaches Interactive Media students at Amsterdam University of Applied Science, and co-organizes an art and research programme for the Impakt Foundation. Email: shirley[at]networkcultures[dot]org.

Michelle Oosthuyzen is currently starting her research internship at the Institute of Network Cultures and looks forwards to obtain her MA degree in New Media and Digital Cultures at the University of Utrecht in August of this year. Born in South Africa and raised in the Netherlands Michelle first tried her luck in the hospitality industry and graduated at the Hotel management school in Maastricht in 2009. Following her gut feeling she decided to further explore her interest in new media and broaden both her academic and intellectual horizon and never regretted this choice since. Her main research interest regards new media’s ability to (re)create reality in combination with the power of the hype to suspend critical thinking and create certain blind spots regarding technology’s impact on our day-to-day reality. Her future goal is to cultivate a media literate society that is able to spot opportunities with a critical eye.

Stijn Peeters is an intern for the Unlike Us #3 conference and currently in the final stages of his New Media and Digital Cultures MA program at Utrecht University. He holds a BA degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences, which he completed with a thesis on how social media can be used as tools to chronicle our offline lives, and a propedeuse in Industrial Design from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Related interests are a similarly mixed bag of design and media studies, such as computer arts and crafts, hacktivism, popcultural aesthetics and game theory (and practice...). His personal website can be found at www.stijnpeeters.nl.

Marc Stumpel is a new media researcher, blogger and (intern) producer -for the Unlike Us Amsterdam event- at the Institute of Network Cultures. He holds a MA degree in New Media and Culture from the University of Amsterdam (2009-2010). His main research interest is the antagonism within the political and economic dimensions of digital culture, especially in relation to social media. Being a privacy/user-control advocate, he is concerned with the development of alternative social networking spaces and techniques. He is involved in the FB Resistance projectand has written his master’s dissertation the Politics of Social Media, focussing on control and resistance in relation to Facebook.

Elena Tiis is an intern at the Institute of Network Cultures involved with the Urban Screens event to be held in December 2009, besides she is a student at the University of Amsterdam. She finished her preparatory program in the Social Sciences in June 2009 which will allow her to pursue a Masters in Urban Studies from September 2009. She holds a degree in Art History from the University of York (UK) (2008), after which she worked for the summer at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam. She is originally from Finland. Email: elena [at] networkcultures.org.

Carlos García Moreno-Torres is a spanish who joined INC after collaborating indirectly with the Institute through a MediaLAB Amsterdam project. During his internship (sept 2010-april 2011), he produced the VideoVortex 6 conference in Amsterdam and was member of the editorial board of that conference. He also developed some content for the website regarding the Video Vortex project. He recently graduated as an engineer in Telecommunications (focus in Sound and Image) and got his second degree in Audiovisual Communication. His interests go from new media, the social and cultural value of the web and new forms of communication to the good old literature, photography and film. carlosgmt.com