Posts by Rogier Brussee

The Big Bang Theory

By Rogier Brussee on 17 May 2012

Cosmic Microwave Background
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), remnant of the big bang.

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The Great Media Strategy Game

By Rogier Brussee on 20 April 2012

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The Journal Club and Roland Barthes, An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative

By Rogier Brussee on 5 March 2012

Roland Barthes teaching
Figure 1 Roland Barthes teaching

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Crossmediale opwinding met Dieuwertje en de rolstoel piet.

By Rogier Brussee on 3 December 2011

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Symposium "15 years SWOCC"

By Rogier Brussee on 8 October 2011

On September 13 2011, the Foundation for Scientific Research on Commercial Communication (Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Commercieele Communicatie SWOCC) celebrated its 15th anniversary in style, by organizing a symposium.  Its stated goal was to flood the participants coming from academia, advertising agencies and marketing departments with scientific insights from communication science. Unusual for a scientific meeting, it was held in Dutch, except for one apologetic (German) speaker who spoke in English. In practice this meant that the line-up of speakers was exclusively recruited from the ranks of Dutch universities, several of them still working on their PhD. It was organized in the debate centre “de Rode Hoed”, beautifully situated on the imperial canal (Keizersgracht) in Amsterdam. 

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Terrorism is crossmedia

By Rogier Brussee on 18 August 2011

The shocking killing spree in Oslo is a stark reminder of the fact that violence is an extremely effective way to draw attention. Some of the media attention is due to the sheer number of casualties (77). However, Breivik is not, or not only, a psychopath going on a killing spree to satisfy a deeply felt need for revenge. While he probably used a ``rationalization’’ of the killing, his main intention seems to have been promoting his political ideas on multiculturalism. A killing spree by someone who looked reasonably normal beforehand is already very unsettling. Finding that it was meant to further stir up an emotional issue like immigration, and the treatment of the (perceived) cultural and political elite of society, makes it even more unsettling. I think Breivik was fully aware of this and made it central to his planning, because I believe what he did was planning a cross medial marketing campaign using an event as a medium to attract attention. In a perverse sort of way, he did this very well as he is so far out of the ordinary that he will not be forgotten in years to come. Needless to say, that should not be taken as a recommendation of his methods. Instead I want to begin analyzing what makes us so vulnerable.

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Nuclear crisis in 140 characters

By Rogier Brussee on 24 March 2011

International Rescue to the rescue

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A tale of two Mediabattles

By Rogier Brussee on 10 February 2011

This week the Media battle between students from the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and Saxion in Enschede is taking place. It’s the third time we use this format, and this time the theme is inner city entrepreneurship. Students will work out a crossmedial strategy to attract more people to shops in the inner cities of Utrecht and Enschede, balancing physical with an on-line presence. Meanwhile a completely different media battle is going on: the struggle for freedom of the Egyptian people and people in other Arab states. While our media battles are in an atmosphere of friendly competition, in Cairo the media battle is rather more grim and, no offence to our commissioners, students, and colleagues, has higher stakes. What, if any, is their relationship ? In both cases there is a highly visible and important role for social media, mobile communication and internet usage.

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Wikileaks and Cablegate

By Rogier Brussee on 21 December 2010

In front of the Golden Wall where people are teeming in the raucous chaos of everyday life, it is all messy improvisation. That not everything runs afoul is due to the mysterious world behind the Golden Wall. There lies the world of power, like the eye of the hurricane, in mysterious silence. Restrained, reliable, as meticulously organized as a chess board, it is like a purified world of platonic ideas. At least, such is the impression of the powerless. It is reinforced by the black suites, the noiseless limousines, the guards, the protocol, the perfect organization, and the velvety quietness in the palaces and ministries. […] Once you break through the Golden Wall, what do you see? Nothing special: the ado of ordinary people, neither more interesting, nor qualitatively different from the practices of the powerless. Unlike what the powerless think, they do not yield their power in “powerful”, inescapable ways as if proceeding with mathematical certainty, but just as messy and improvised as the powerless mind their own business. Mildred and Guy, formed a cabinet over dinner, Churchill and Stalin divided up the Balkans with a stiff drink. 

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Hyves and de Telegraaf

By Rogier Brussee on 3 November 2010

De Telegraaf Media Group (TMG) has bought the Dutch Social media website Hyves for an undisclosed figure, rumoured to be 40 million euros .  The Telegraafs interest in the site must be relatively recent however!

Telegraaf has not claimed its own hyves page yet

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