My research school is offering three PhD Fellowships starting in September 2010. Application deadline is February 8th, 2010. If you need tips / feedback on a proposal or something like that, you know where to find me. More information here.

Located at the Faculty of Humanities at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) brings together scholars active in literature, philosophy, visual culture, religious studies, film and media studies, and argumentation theory. Specialists in their own respective fields, they share a commitment to working within an interdisciplinary framework and to maintaining a close connection with contemporary cultural and political debates within society at large and with the cultural institutions outside of the narrow confines of the academic world. Within ASCA they have joined forces to provide a stimulating environment for scholars, professionals, and graduate students both from the Netherlands and abroad.

A very worthwhile op-ed piece in the New York Times “End the University as We Know It“. A good read, not only fingerpointing, which we all know is very, very easy, but also six practical solutions. Struggling with my own PhD (as every PhD student does) I agree most with solution numero 4:

4. Transform the traditional dissertation. In the arts and humanities, where looming cutbacks will be most devastating, there is no longer a market for books modeled on the medieval dissertation, with more footnotes than text. As financial pressures on university presses continue to mount, publication of dissertations, and with it scholarly certification, is almost impossible. (The average university press print run of a dissertation that has been converted into a book is less than 500, and sales are usually considerably lower.) For many years, I have taught undergraduate courses in which students do not write traditional papers but develop analytic treatments in formats from hypertext and Web sites to films and video games. Graduate students should likewise be encouraged to produce “theses” in alternative formats.

Making a game out of my PhD? I should have done that.

We (the Media & Culture studies departement, faculty of Humanities at the Uni of Amsterdam) need some help. There are two open positions.
1. Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture (“Universitair Docent UD” i.e. assistant professor, a.k.a. lots of teaching).
2. Docent-Promovendi (i.e. PhD student with a 60/40 position, 60% PhD research, 40% lecturing), this is the job I have. One of the upsides of this position is that you can write your own proposal (on new media in general, games or anything else).

Be quick, the deadline is next week!

… 404.

The last days have been quite a rollercoaster ride. The week kicked off with Sony’s first ever Playstation Day in London. More on that in the post below, I wrote a background story on it for Dagblad De Pers. The event was, at least for me, very insightful. Apart from taking a look at new key titles (Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Motorstorm 2, Little Big Planet and such), Sony’s CEO Kaz Hirai talked about Sony’s long-term strategy. And that’s something I was hoping to hear about for a long time. With regard to my PhD-research this was the golden nugget I was waiting for.

It seemed that everybody in the Netherlands who has anything to do with some kind of game journalism was invited. Which is of course really nice because with >20 Dutch (and Belgian) guys (and 3 girls to be fair) in their twenties, early thirties, you can have loads of fun. The event was all about boozing & smoozing and I managed to win a 4-player Buzz session (which included game trivia, ha!) against my colleagues from outlets such as FHM, De Telegraaf & Metro. In the end I am the one who works for the quality newspaper right ;). I met some groovy people too. London still is party capital numero uno.

The next day (Wednesday) I took a train to Brussels to visit the 3rd ISFE conference ‘Virtual worlds meet real world: a perspective from the European videogame industry’. Great talks, especially by University of London reader Andrew Burn on video game (anti)hero’s.

Thursday I did two lectures, one called “War & Games” at the the Design Academy in Eindhoven. Later in the afternoon I did a workshop session at the Marketeer Congres 2008 at the TU Eindhoven on “Marketing & Games”. I am all up to date now on the latest on community branding & marketing. It turns out that ‘we’ (in the humanities) are in many ways far more knowledgeable, in a critical sense, about community marketing than most industry insiders are. But the irony is, and this might come as no surprise, that marketing professionals and academics working on this topic seem to be far better at marketing themselves – as experts.

So that wraps it up for this week. The next weeks (and months) are going to be far less spectacular. I do got some small surprises in my big black hat (mainly articles for GMR), but after that I will hide in my email/phone/journalism-proof PhD bunker which lies hidden somewhere in the Netherlands (or maybe even abroad), to work on my PhD manuscript for a while, but more on that later.

Don’t know about you guys (and girls of course), but I’m pretty psyched about the prospect of playing GTA4 in the (very) near future. From what I previously saw of GTA4 in Munich last month makes me extremely hyped about the game (up to a point that I know I may just end up a bit disappointed…). I do hope I can take some days off just to play it, should be possible with Queensday and the other days off around April 29. In the meantime, news is pouring in. GTA4 is ‘gold’ and ‘en route‘. Wew, if any of you see a copy or anything, let me know! Would be cool to have a pic of copies before they hit the shelves. And what will happen April 29…?? According to Variety the game will “bring in $400 million in its first week”. And, more rumors, the downloadable Xbox 360 content will be cities (perhaps)? And, best of all, Ricky Gervais will have a role in the game: “”It’s a first – which always interests me,” [Gervais] said. “It was shot in New York, my favourite place in the world, and I got to wear a tight lycra suit as part of the digital process. No, hold on, that wasn’t so good.” I got my R0FL button at the ready.

Last December I happened to be in Liberty City (in China Town to be exact), see below and spot the fanboy :).

This weekend was Mario Kart Wii weekend (no not a Wiikend…). I quite like it, the online capabilities are top-notch (for a Wii game) and the new racing peripheral is absolutely something that adds to the experience.

So, if you’ve got a Wii, please enter my friend code: 0817-3929-3946 and we can race online!

… and make a movie…

I hate video games, on or offline. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time. I hate being made to feel hateful for saying so, and I hate being told to immerse myself in them before passing judgment, because it feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them. (The Times)

He probably just hates games, not gamers…

This morning I received this photo, a typical Dutch gathering of bicycles. For all you new media lovers out there. Note, this picture is taken at a place where they produce (very) old media ;).

Our department (Media & Culture) at the uni of Amsterdam is looking for another ‘docent/promovendus’ (phd/lecturer), a.k.a. “my job”. You want it? Well go write a letter, or better, send an email! The PhD topic is new media & journalism and that’s why I want you to apply! I look forward to another groovy colleague who can teach me a thing or two about participatory journalism. I am interested in the topic but lack the time to dig into it.