Interfacing Amsterdam: How urban screens are able to change paths

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Interfacing Amsterdam:

How urban screens are able to change paths

Master Thesis

Student Eveline van Heumen

Master Television and Cross Media Culture Supervisor Sebastian Scholz

Second reader Martijn de Waal

Date June 27, 2014

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Abstract

Amsterdam is a highly mediated city with numerous public new media applications visible in the city. Urban screens in Amsterdam are ubiquitous and pervasive. Urban screens come in many different shapes and forms. From small and personal screens to large, public screens. Small and personal screens, which use apps, have proven that they are able to influence decision-making processes. Apps make use of online word of mouth, which is known to influence choices people make. Also, apps on the personal screens, contribute to the

construction of an intraface, an interface internal to the existing intraface of Amsterdam. This intraface consists of personal spaces, that are created by visiting places in the city. The GPS function on the personal screens help constructing these personal spaces. Because of this process, a reconsideration of de Certeau’s ideas on static maps is needed. Maps are now interactive and show places ánd spaces. People in Amsterdam are now even more in the position to define the city. The large, public screens in Amsterdam help the city to define as a highly mediated city. They are able to interact with people, but only for a short period of time. Large public screens are able to draw attention of people and contribute to a sense of safety. All in all, large public screens do not affect the path people in Amsterdam choose, but they are pervasive. Personal screens are able to change paths on multiple levels. The personal screens highly contribute to the construction of the city, to the construction of an intraface.

Key words

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Introduction

Coffee Company, Waterlooplein: people are working on laptops. Rembrandtplein: people are looking up at the light flashes of the huge screen facing the tram stops. Dam Square: tourists are taking pictures with their tablets of the palace and pigeons. Tram, Vijzelgracht: the larger part of the commuters is staring at their smart phones. Others are reading the news on the screens provided in the tram. It is clear that people in Amsterdam get to deal with urban screens every day. Whether these are large screens one encounters in the city or mobile screens they control themselves, people face new media if they want it or not.

The first chapter offers a discussion of relevant contributions to the field of smart cities, infrastructures and interfaces in the city, virtual communities and the different forms of urban screens one encounters in Amsterdam. This chapter is the guideline for the analysis of this thesis. The analysis of this thesis comprehends several large urban screens in Amsterdam as well as smaller personal screen. The analysis contains a platform analysis of several new media applications on smaller, mostly personal, screens that are used in Amsterdam. These new media applications are called apps. An app, short for application, is a program or code written for portable media devices. Some of them are targeted towards tourists, others are targeted towards residents. Both parties encounter the large urban screens in Amsterdam, for example during events, on Rembrandtplein or in the trams in the city. The analysis gives an overview of various screens in the city. The next chapter contains the results of the analysis and provides preliminary conclusions about how urbanites deal with screens around them. In what ways are urban screens able to change people’s paths through the city? Is the main question of this research. Do urban screens affect the choices Amsterdam urbanites make? Is there a difference between small personal screens and large public screens? These and more questions are discussed in the results. Ultimately, the conclusion argues that the path, the infrastructure of people in Amsterdam, whether it are residents or tourists, is affected by the presence and the use of (urban) screens.

The relevance of this research lies in the current changing urban landscape. As many cities, Amsterdam is changing because of new media influences. We see new media applications everywhere in daily urban life. After acknowledging their presence, it is necessary to know how new media applications are affecting the city and the people in the city. This research will therefore set out a basis of knowledge on how urban screens are affecting Amsterdam her people. By providing an overview of why and how current urban screens affect numerous factors such as people making different choices and choosing different paths.

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Urban screens are highly pervasive and ubiquitous; as mentioned above, urban screens are everywhere. People are immersed by the huge number of screens around them. Immersion is a quality that has been frequently associated with new media generations (McQuire 146). Immersion is the experience of the submergence of media users in the media they are confronted with or the media that they personally use. Technology around us defines urban development in this century, says Nicos Komninos. Urban screens make use of different kinds of technology, which could be both static or interactive. People in Amsterdam are exposed to urban screens every day. Whether these are large public screens or small personal screens, the Amsterdam urbanites will use screens to use the city. For example, to create an itinerary a location-based app can be used. This makes it easy to find the closest lunch place or to find the route to the Rijksmuseum from the current location. Furthermore, laws are changed because of new media apps like Uber. In Berlin for example, regulations are sharpened to avert Uber from the city. At the same time, Dutch minister of Economics Henk Kamp is willing to change the law1_{to give Uber to expand their service. Out of these}

examples, we can conclude that the communication structure of Amsterdam is expanded by using media.

Since media is defining the cityscape more and more, research on this topic is inevitable, and necessary to understand the rapidly changing urban landscape. This research will shed light on the possibilities of urban screens for the city and most of all, the possibilities for the media users in Amsterdam and how a digital infrastructure is built.

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http://www.taxipro.nl/straattaxi/2014/06/02/kabinet-taxidiensten-als-uber-passen-goed-binnen-de-Mediated Amsterdam

‘Urban and regional development at the beginning of the twenty-first century is characterized by a shift towards technology, innovation and selective urban development.’ (Komninos 6)

Everywhere around us in the city, we see technology. The urban landscape is changing rapidly. This chapter will look into these changes. Furthermore, this chapter will look into the changes people in these urban area’s might or might not go through. First, this chapter will highlight the influence of technology on a city, and specifically, on Amsterdam.

As Komninos explains in the aforementioned quote, cities are subject to changes because of technology, or, new media. Currently, almost everybody owns one or more electronic

devices. Most of those devices, such as tablets and smart phones, are connected to the Internet. In every coffee shop we see people working on laptops. Cafes, shops, train stations and even tourist boats on the canals offer free wireless Internet (Wi-Fi). Everybody can be connected anytime and anywhere. In addition to the personal digital or electronic media, we can see new media in Amsterdam all around us. The biggest screen of Europe is positioned on the façade of a well-known club on Amsterdam’s Rembrandtplein. Trams are equipped with information screens that show (local) advertisements and news. In case of events in the city, like Koningsdag, matrix signs lead people to the right direction. It is obvious that in the past years, Amsterdam has become more and more mediated. The urban experience of Amsterdam is enhanced through the media around us. Both visitors and inhabitants are exposed to digital media in the city, as well as using digital media themselves. By

implementing digital media in the city, Amsterdam is becoming a highly mediated city. This is one of the signs of a ‘smart city’.

Amsterdam: A Smart City

In 1997, the prediction about the Smart Cities World Forum was that around 50,000 cities around the world would develop itself as a smart city (Hollands 304). Can we call Amsterdam a smart city, because of the digitalization in the urban area? A smart city is defined by a few different characteristics. One main ingredient of a smart city is the digital infrastructure (Komninos in Hollands 305). This digital infrastructure is used for communication and knowledge management. In addition to this, sustainability and cultural and urban

development are important in the definition of a smart city. As Robert G. Hollands explains:

One of the key elements which stands out in the smart (intelligent) city literature is the utilization of networked infrastructures to improve economic and political efficiency and enable social, cultural and urban development (Komninos, 2006; Eger, 1997). While this

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involves the use of a wide range of infrastructures including transport, business services, housing and a range of public and private services (including leisure and lifestyle services), it is ICTs in particular that undergird all of these networks and which lie at the core of the smart city idea (see Graham and Marvin, 2001; Komninos, 2002).’ (Hollands 307).

Besides the case that intelligent or smart cities are equipped to manage and diffuse knowledge (Komninos 11), the creative class is also important for a smart city. Cultural production and consumption play a key role in the revitalization and regeneration of

contemporary cities (Crewe and Beaverstock 304). The creative class provides a social core. This social sustainability implies social cohesion and sense of belonging (Hollands 310). In Conceptualizing Smart City, Taewoo Nam and Theresa A. Pardo divide the characteristics of a smart city into two groups; dimensions of technology and dimensions of people. The first dimension includes digital, intelligent, ubiquitous, wired, hybrid, information. The second category includes creative, learning, humane and knowledge (Nam and Pardo 284). The dimensions of technology and dimensions of people combined from smart communities. As we can conclude from these characteristics, not only the IT-aspect is important, but also the human aspect is very important because they define the eventual outcome of how the technology is used. Richard Florida is a theorist who agrees with the importance of the human aspect. He argues that creative people in a city contribute a great deal to smart cities because they generate new media, art and creativity in general in the city.

Richard Florida’s research points out that the creative class is important in the development of digital media in the city (Florida, 2002). The creative class produces new ideas,

technologies and creative content. Hollands calls this the soft infrastructure. This infrastructure consists of for example the nightly entertainment economy, voluntary

organizations and knowledge networks (Hollands 309). According to Florida, three T’s are important in the development of a smart city; tolerance, technology and talent (Florida, 2002). He discusses the talented creative class working in the IT-sector. The creative people are the ones who develop smart products, apps, and provide the matching technology. He also explains that the concept of bohemia is important for the creative class in the development of a city, the bohemia generate economic growth. This bohemia are clusters of artists,

musicians and designers, clusters of creative people. Amsterdam has countless co-working spaces, specially catered for Florida’s bohemia. In Bohemia and economic geography (2002), Florida determines that the presence of the bohemia will attract more creative people, and eventually the collection of this human capital generates innovative and

technology-based industries. The result of Florida’s research on concentration of bohemians, or the creative class, are that this group will attract similar people and the high tech industry.

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So there is not only a technological emphasis in the smart city, but the creative class is important as well in the development of a smart or digital city. Culture and economy are categories which are unified in the process of urban development (Crewe and Beaverstock 288). The knowledge-based economy is preparing people to take ownership of their

communities, and to educated people around them (Eger 2003, 4). John M Eger confirms that art and culture have a vital role in strengthening economic growth by constituting creative clusters (4). With this, Eger illustrates the importance of a creative class in the current information economy. The information economy is one where the production of goods or services is not the most important, but on ‘the emerging trend towards the production, use and transfer of information and knowledge’ (Eger 7). ‘The Internet is the digital bohème’s lifeline. It is where most of their business contacts happen, it is where they can easily produce and distribute their product or content, it is potentially even the subject they deal with.’ (Hartmann 429).

A smart city focusses on applying next-generation information technology and new media to every part of the city (Su, Li and Fo 1028). Important in the current information technology is ‘the Internet of things’. The Internet of things references to intelligent computer systems that are not necessarily operated by humans. The basis of the Internet of things is that every day object are connected to the Internet and can communicate with each other (Asthon 2013). Kevin Ashton defines the Internet of things not as just machine to machine communication, but as a system that goes beyond the traditional communication (Asthon 2013). The Internet of things is implemented in the city through for example RFID chips or alarm systems. Su, Li and Fo argue that the Internet of things combined with Internet connections makes a city smart (1028). In these cities, information and communication technology are used to sense, analyze and integrate information in intelligent ways (Su, li and Fo 1028). Su, Li and Fo argue that smart tourism is the only answer to acquire travel information (1030). Websites like Tripadvisor, which are filled with information from other travelers and inhabitants, offer (smart) information on local sights and restaurants. According to Su, Li and Fo, the Internet of things will help us find out way in a city, because we can take advantage of all digital information provided. They also argue that with the development of the Internet of things people’s lives will change dramatically (1031). With the Internet of things, people can let devices do things for them. This means that devices become more active and people don’t have to bother doing certain activities. Because devices are taking over tasks, the interface of people through the city changes since they can navigate away from the tasks. Su, Li and Fo state that people are important for a smart city; they decide how to use the provided technology and how to use the ‘smartness’. Teawoo Nam and Theresa A. Pardo agree with them. The three main dimensions (technology, people, and institutions) of a smart city:

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integration of infrastructures and technology-mediated services, social learning for

strengthening human infrastructure, and governance for institutional improvement and citizen engagement.’ (Nam and Pardo 282). A smart city is also defined by the knowledge economy. ‘The key component of a knowledge economy is a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources’ (Powell and Snellman 199).

Amsterdam has its own smart city organization, Amsterdam Smart City (ASC). ASC is a unique partnership between businesses, authorities, research institutions and the citizens of Amsterdam. This bureau is involved in projects to develop and improve Amsterdam as a smart, technological and economical durable city. ASC initiated projects like free public Wi-Fi, the ‘climate street’ in the Utrechtsestraat and We Go car sharing. The objective of ASC is to make use of smart city developments in three parts of the city: New West, South East and IJburg2_{. So even if it is not possible yet to determine if Amsterdam is in fact a smart city, the}

city is shaping itself into a smart area by initiating projects as mentioned above.

To summarize, for a city to become a smart city a few things are important. First of all, the city is highly mediatized; media in the city is ubiquitous and always in movement. This goes side by side with creative people, the digital bohemia. These people for a knowledge economy and they are the incubators and creators of digital applications. As Lindner and Meissner state in their work on slow art, Amsterdam has emerged as a hotspot of urban creativity (2).

Infrastructures and Interfaces

We now know that cities can change because of technology and that the creative class plays an important role in the development of urban creativeness and urban technology. In order to say something about these influences, it is relevant to look into the structures that are used to build the technology surrounding the urban landscape of Amsterdam. By doing this, we can gain insight into the role urban screens plays in the cityscape.

Every city has its own infrastructure. In Amsterdam, the common infrastructure of roads and sidewalks, is expanded with canals and many cycling paths. Furthermore, Amsterdam’s infrastructure is known for its ‘soft’ infrastructure of ideas, entertainment industry and

sustainable projects. These infrastructures are not visible per se, but they do exist in the city on multiple layers. In addition to both types of infrastructure, there is the infrastructure of the Internet. The Internet is used by everyone and by and for anything is daily life. The Internet has proven to be highly invasive: a study of the history of electronics has proven that no prior technology, such as TV, VCR or mobile phones ‘has penetrated public consciousness and secured such widespread public adoption this rapidly’ (Eger 5). The Internet has also highly

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contributed to the current knowledge economy (Powell and Snellman 199). The key concept of the knowledge economy is that human knowledge is treated as a business product, intellectual power is turned into an economic value. The knowledge economy emerged at the end the 1950’s. When the personal computer (PC) became popular, the knowledge economy increased, and when Internet and e-mail became available the landscape of the knowledge economy changed drastically (Powell and Snellman 199). Since the existence of the Internet, we can speak of an acceleration in knowledge production (Powell and Snellman 201). Knowledge is now easily transferrable and can be distributed to many people at once.

As mentioned above, the Internet means a great deal to the current knowledge economy. To understand the Internet, we have to look into the way people interact with the Internet. They environment through which people interact or communicate with digital devices and the Internet are called interfaces. An interface is an environment where two separate systems can adjust to each other (de Waal 140). In a way, an interface is an infrastructure. It is an infrastructure for humans to navigate through digital media.

Martijn de Waal (2012) points out that interfaces are becoming increasingly important in our daily life. For instance, apps use geographical data to link a photograph to the location where the photograph was taken. ‘Nowadays everything in the media world gets tracked, tagged, and mapped’, says Tristan Thielmann in his article on geomedia (2). He explains that every bit of information is linked to the geographical location. He calls devices and services that offer this geomedia. Instagram, Foursquare and Facebook are examples of apps that fuse social networking, personal data and geographical location to a new product, into geomedia. Alexander Galloways says in this book The Interface Effect that interface and media are different names for the same thing (31). He argues that every medium nowadays is operated through an interface and that an interface is always carried through a medium. He also says an interface is not a thing, but an effect (36). An interface is an effect of the modes of

interaction (Galloway 31). Within an interface, an intraface can arise (40). An intraface is an interface internal to the interface. It is also called a ‘zone of indecision’ (a concept by Gérard Genette), a zone between inside and outside.

The way we use the infrastructure of interfaces, changes our motions through the city and the places that we visit. These changes have a high impact on the way we construct our social, economic and cultural life (De Waal 11). ‘The upraise of the mobile phone maybe even changes the way the urban society as a whole functions’ (De Waal 11). He claims here that the mobile phone changes who a society functions; the use of a mobile phone or a smart phone assures a firmer grip on the city (De Waal 11). This grip can occur because people can find their way much easier in the city than without a smart phone (De Waal 13). Characteristic for the emergence of digital and mobile media is the way they present

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themselves in the urban public surroundings. It is not essentially a spatial process with physical contact or physical meeting of people, claims De Waal (13). According to De Waal, we organize out social lives through social media, we find our way in the city using the global positioning system (GPS) and we can use a card with a chip to enter our car or the office building. In other words, he argues that mobile and digital communication makes it less necessary to meet in the urban public surroundings; we can meet each other online. ‘The way we experience a public area is not only determined by the physic surroundings and who is present in that space, but the interventions that software and communication technologies allow are important for our experience.’ (13). A public area can also be defined by the layer of software, algorithms, radio masts, mobile phones and sensors (13). It can therefore be concluded that mobile phones are highly important in the city. People use mobile

communications in various ways in the city and it changes the way we interact with the city. In her book Mobile Screens, The Visual Regime of Navigation, Nanna Verhoeff writes about interfaces and movement in a city. ‘Navigation is a primary trope in urban mobility and visuality’ (13). Verhoeff sees navigation not only as the movement of a body, but also as the movement of information. This information is often contained in interfaces. ‘One of the most striking characteristics of screen-based interfaces is the possibility for people in transit to co-create the map of the spatial arrangement in which they are operating’ (13). This is what Verhoeff calls performative cartography. When navigating through a city, a person can create a map by interacting with screen-based interfaces (13). Especially haptic interfaces call for a lot of interaction, Verhoeff argues. The user of a haptic interface, a touch screen, is not only a spectator, but the user controls the interface. The viewer can virtually travel through the screen; ‘the screen is the interface of an interactive architecture’ (Verhoeff 24). These interfaces imply an immediate relationship with viewing, navigating and acting (Verhoeff 25). Verhoeff argues that haptic interfaces transform visual engagement from passive

spectatorship into active engagers of the interface. The screen has a double function; it is a site of navigation as well as a result of navigation (Verhoeff 65).

Verhoeff speaks about three different ways how interactivity in interfaces become important for navigation: ‘navigation understood as a constructive form of interactivity, as a

participatory form of interactivity, and as yielding a haptic engagement with screen space. We can conclude that interactivity makes us engage with the screen and with our

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The Networked Society

All of these infrastructures and interactivity lead to a networked city. Contemporary cities are media dense environments (Papastergiadis et al 325); technology is everywhere to be found in the city. The media in the urban area of Amsterdam is ubiquitous. New technologies often help subvert the established order (Sawhney 45).Society changes under the influence of new media. Manuel Castells opens his book The Networked Society with the argument that technology does not determine society, it is society (3). He argues that the society shapes the technology according to the needs and wants of the people in this society who use the technology. Especially with the rise of the Internet, Internet users became producers of technology (Castells 3).

To communicate with the Internet and electronic devices we use interfaces. Interfaces are environments that translate digital language into an understandable visual content.

‘Interfaces define our perceptions of the space we inhabit, as well as the type of interaction

with other people with whom we might connect. Interfaces are defined as communication mediators, representing information between two parts, making them meaningful to one another’ (Johnson, 1997; Lévy, 1993)’ is the opening quote of Adriana de Souza e Silva’s

article on mobile technologies. The interface translates digital information to understandable information (Da Souza e Silva 261). Social interfaces, that allow us to connect to one or more persons, reshape communication relationships (Da Souza e Silva 262). Da Souza e Silva speaks about hybrid spaces. She defines this as a new type of space, where there is no disconnection anymore between digital spaces and physical spaces. The disconnection dissolved because of, for example, the use of a mobile phone. Once this was just a phone, now it is a microcomputer and a collective social device (Da Souza e Silva 262). As stated in De Souza e Silva’s article, mobile devices create a more dynamic relationship with the Internet. It is embedded in everyday activities and outdoor life (262). De Souza e Silva’s hybrid spaces are defined via three interconnected analyses of spaces; the connected space, the mobile space and the social space. Together, they define the hybrid space as a space where the lines between the physical and the digital have faded. Or as De Souza e Silva writes: ‘Hybrid spaces merge the physical and the digital in a social environment created by the mobility of users connected via mobile technology devices (263). The emergence of mobile communication devices has enabled us to be connected at any time and in any place. Fixed desktops, fixed Internet lines, fixed telephones, all this belongs to the past now. Laptops, mobile phones and smart phones, wireless Internet and other

technologies make it possible for us to be connected whenever we want to. Because of this, a place is accessible from a distance, and we can distance ourselves from a place. ‘Once there is a shift from static to mobile interfaces, users are no longer required to sit in front of

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their computers, but rather, they move around in urban spaces— which are already social public spaces.’, De Souza e Silva elaborates (270). Cell phones have been the subject of many studies in two-way communication. The mobile phone can create a private space inside a public space (Da Souza e Silva 273). In De Stad als Interface, Martijn de Waal speaks about this as well. He says that when you make a call with someone, you distance yourself from the place you are in. You seal yourself from one place, into a different space during the call. Simultaneously, the person who answers the call, gets absorbed into the place of the caller (De Waal 28). The communication goes from public to private and vice versa. Mizuko Ito agrees with De Waal on the given that mobile phones are able to construct new communications; ‘The mobile phone can indeed enable communication that crosses prior social boundaries, but this does not necessarily mean that the devices erode the integrity of existing places or social identities’ (131). The mobile phone is very important for space-time compression and is often identified as the symbol for anytime and anywhere connectivity (Ito 131). Ito addresses mobile phones and e-mail as a new kind of technosocial space, which is defined by new mobile technologies (Ito 144). Both De Waal and Ito argue that mobile communication is leading to different social understandings, different networks and different modes of communication. Our community trusts on networks, and networks is what makes the whole world connect, as Castells explains: ‘because the network society is based on networks, and communication networks transcend boundaries, the network society is global, it is based on global networks (Castells 4). Fernando Paragas explains that mobile phones makes it possible for us to travel easily: ‘mobile telephony now affords the public the opportunity to travel and engage in mediated communication at the same time has indeed resulted in interesting conceptions of communicative activities in public transport as a public sphere’ (113).

Virtual Communities

Within the networked society, De Waal uses the concept ‘networked individualism’.

According to De Waal, it is a very important part of globalization. Network individualism is a social process in which people are always connected to each other (De Waal 35). It is relevant to look at Manuel Castells ‘space of flows’ to define networked individualism. This space of flows contains the communication networks, computers and mobile phones that connects the world (35). According to Castells, networks constitute a new social division of our society (Castells 469). With all these networks around us, we can always communicate. Sometimes, we do not even actively communicate, but our devices communicate for us. For instance, our mobile devices are able to send out our location or showing the ‘last seen online’ time in Whatsapp, an instant messaging app. Martijn de Waal illustrates that urbanites

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experience the city more and more through processes of software of screens. Everything is mediated through the interfaces of for example social networks (De Waal 32).

The urban environment, in the way it structures space, plays a critical role in the construction of social behaviors according to Briones and Mottram (3). ‘The city can be considered as a pattern of connected spaces that take on a social meaning by constructing patterns of co presence between people’ (Briones and Mottram 3), they continue. Like Martijn de Waal writes, urban infrastructure is a new kind of urban society (10). Social structures in mediated cities are different than what we were used to; we do not have to be physically together to communicate. A lot of communication nowadays goes through cell phones and online social media. Despite the fact that people do not necessarily see each other, they do form

communities. They form what Benedict Anderson calls an ‘imagined community’. This is an online community where the members do or do not know each other, but feel a sense of togetherness (de Waal 20).

Howard Rheingold also wrote about these imagined communities or, as he likes to call them, virtual communities: ‘a virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks. Like any other community, it is also a collection of people who adhere to a certain (loose) social contract, and who share certain (eclectic) interests. It usually has a geographically local focus, and often has a connection to a much wider domain’ (3). So despite people not knowing each other, they do sometimes meet face to face. Such a virtual community is thus possible to create new social constructions that also exist offline. One reason why virtual communities are so popular according to Rheingold is the fact that is it easy and quit to go to a place where particular interests are being discussed and that people can share their passions, ideas and love for different subjects. At the same time, like-minded people get connected (Rheingold 4). A virtual community is also a useful accessory to cope with

information overload. Rheingold explains that in the information age, people have to deal with information overload because there is too much information available (4). Information overload is the problem that an individual is not able to process all the information input, which often lead to decline (Inversini and Buhalis 382). A virtual community can act as a filter and guideline (Rheingold 4).

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Urban Screens

Like mentioned in the previous section, people in urban area’s experience the city more and more through media. This section explores the different components of mediated

Amsterdam. Urban screens are important for the mediatization of Amsterdam. Mediatization is the process in which everyday practices and social relations are shaped by media

technologies (Hepp, Hjarvard and Lundby 2010). No matter big or small they are, urban screens are present everywhere in the urban area of the city.

‘Urban screens and media facades are a rapidly growing phenomenon in metropoles around the world, and they are part of an extremely varied presence of multimedia in public space.’ (Verhoeff 24). According to Verhoeff, screens can be considered elements of architecture because they are integrated in our physical environment and blend material and a virtual space (110). Outdoor screens embedded in buildings are ubiquitous and pervasive (Verhoeff 24). A screen on a building makes the static into something flexible. Marcos Novak calls this

liquid architecture. Urban screens both take and make space. They take place in our

environment, and at the same time, they create space by making people entering a virtual space, a virtual infrastructure (Verhoeff 134). Screens influence the relationship with people noticing them, Verhoeff explains in her chapter about screen practices: ‘screens influence spatial and temporal aspects of mobility. Screens of moving images modify the relationship between the passing individual and the static structures of urban space’ (114). As a result, she writes, urban screens displace markers of separation because walls become screens. The end of a space is no longer the end, but the beginning of a virtual space. ‘In

contemporary urban spaces, people move in and out of particular settings, but these settings are themselves also in a constant mobility and a flux of transformation and subject of time’ (Verhoeff 101). The experience of the space is related to the movement, the interaction and the visual fields (Briones and Mottram 6).

According to Verhoeff, urban places are spaces of transit (99). Urban screens in Amsterdam are often placed in these places of transit. For instance, on a big square (Rembrandtplein) and in trams. ‘From personal hand-held mobile devices to large-scale embedded LED screens, media now routinely permeate urban space’ (Papastergiadis et al 329). The small and personalized screens are only used by one person, yet the large public screens enable collective public participation (Papastergiadis et al 328). Contemporary digital media have taken the relation between media and urban space to a new level of interdependence

(Papastergiadis et al 329). The large screens in Amsterdam have several purposes, such as informing (screens on Koningsdag with walking routes) or commercial use (the

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that the main target of commercial urban screen infrastructure is to manage and control consumer behavior (174). ‘Urban Screens combines the function of public space for commerce and trade with a cultural role reflecting the wellbeing of urban society: digital moving displays with a new focus on supporting the idea of urban space as a space for the creation and exchange of culture.’ (Struppek 174). In other words, urban screens might be commercial, but at the same time they exchange information and culture. Struppek also argues that urban screens can help the urban space to prevent it from disconnecting with the urbanites: ‘Besides creating architectural landmarks, the consideration of the locality and site-specificity of Urban Screens, both in shape and content, could help to prevent further disconnection in the perception of urban space.’ (177).

According to interactive public spaces researcher Mettina Veenstra from the University of Professional Education Amsterdam (HvA), urban screens can even contribute to a positive feeling of safety and good atmosphere in the city3_{. Urban screens are versatile and are used}

for commercial, cultural, informational and entertainment goals (Kanis et al, 2011).

Mobile Screens

‘Space is continuously framed by the lenses and screens of our mobile devices’ (Verhoeff 67). Next to large urban screens, we also see mobile screens everywhere in the city. Mobile phones invade daily routine behavior in many different ways (Geser 7). With a mobile phone, we are able to communicate with people and with online sources. That way, we can adjust our plans based on the communications we make. Mobiles phones are not just use for calling and text messaging, the modern smart phones act as a mini computer. Major and minor communication options that are available through mobile phones make our communication less univocal. All the options create new ways of communication (Haddon 7). Because mobile screens are ubiquitous and pervasive, there are concerns about people isolating themselves behind their screens. As De Waal calls this, they are in a ‘telecoon’ (13). Haddon addressed the fears that people could isolate themselves and become anti-social (9).

However, it turned out that communicating through computers and mobiles phones can be very sociable activities (Haddon 9) since people meet online and may also meet face to face. Nevertheless, reservations about mobile phone use in public still exist: ‘researchers have found that mobile phone use disrupts the use of shared space’ (Love and Perry, 2004 in Cuminskey 225). ‘People who use their mobile phone in public are perceived as rude and observers report this behavior to be outside the norm of social expectations (Ling, 2002).’ (Cumiskey 227). When on the mobile phone, users appear to be non-attentive to those physically present (Love and Perry, 2004 in Cuminskey 225). Consequently, the observer is

3 http://www.frankwatching.com/archive/2011/02/10/8-toepassingen-van-beeldschermen-in-openbare-ruimte/

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then placed in a position outside the “normal” realm of face-to-face social interaction’

(Cumiskey 227). Cumiskey continues: ‘mobile phones now occupy concurrent social spaces, spaces with norms that sometimes conflict such as the space of the mobile phone user and the virtual space where the conversation takes place (Palen et al., 2000).’ (Cuminskey 273). Nanna Verhoeff calls the mobile sphere the domain between private and public (112). The mobile sphere is the space derived from the impact of pervasive media technology and communication and connectivity possibilities. This mobile sphere is ‘characterized by

mobility, hybridity and network connectivity’ (Verhoeff 112). Verhoeff also states that (mobile) screens offer a suggestion of mobility; we can ‘travel’ through space and time with our mobile phones. Although a mobile phone can be isolating, it can also provide social behavior in other ways. Australian research pointed out that ‘the telephone factually enlarges the social networks of individuals by adding communication that otherwise would not occur’ (Geser 17). Geser pointed out that mobile phones strengthens networks or decentralized social fields. These networks make new interpersonal interactions (Geser 29).

Leopoldina Fortunati also argues that mobile phones have modified interpersonal relations (513). She even argues that mobile phones are not only changing society but it also changes the framework in which society exists (Fortunati 513). The use of different communication possibilities has obviously changed peoples relationships with space and time; space and time has expanded. These possibilities have also increased social production (Fortunati 514). Mobile phones make the public space less univocal (Fortunati 515) and surroundings more versatile because people gain extra possibilities to interact with their surroundings. In the past we would have to look at a map and write down directions, now we tap on our screen and get instant visual and vocal directions. Time is compressed by the use of the mobile route planner and space is used in a different way.

User Generated Content

Within the networked society and the virtual communities, user generated content (UGC) is a common practice. UGC is (online) media content, produced by the same people who use this content. In other words, it is not content from companies, but from private persons. As Henry Jenkins says: ‘Audiences, empowered by these new technologies, occupying a space at the intersection between old and new media, are demanding the right to participate within the culture’ (24). What he explains here is that people participate and interact through new media and create a new space. The result is a participatory culture.

The Internet is evolving from business to consumer marketing media to peer-to-peer communication and sharing within communities (O’Connor 47). Examples of UGC are

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weblogs and social media, as well as online recommendations and YouTube videos. This content is made by co-creaters or prosumers (van Dijck 41). A prosumer is someone who produces content and consumes content at the same time. According to McQuail, there are four common reasons for media use: information, personal identity, integration and social interaction and entertainment (Shao 9). In UGC all of these reasons come together. Guosong Shao claims that UGC, or user generated media, is changing the world: ‘Although their influence on the world at large is still unclear, user-generated media (UGM) are

fundamentally changing the world of entertainment, communication, and information, particularly thanks to their self-sustaining nature and ever-growing audience size’ (Shao 8). He explains that individuals deal with UGM on several levels. The first one is consuming media produced by others. Next comes participating, for example rating a review. The third and last level is producing media, for example uploading a video to YouTube or creating a web log (Shao 9). Within UGC, there are two kinds of interaction: user and user-to-content interaction (Shao 12). User-to-user communication often takes place between people that do not know each other in real life. One of the reasons for individuals to produce online content, is to get a feeling of community, a sense of belonging. People like the feeling that they matter to others in a group (Shao 13). People also produce content to inform and entertain others (Shao 14). This is an important motivation for the expression and self-actualization. Shao concludes that every level in UGC has its own purpose: the first level of UGC is consuming, for information and entertainment. Next comes participating, for social interaction and community development. Lastly, there is producing, for self-expression and self-actualization (Shao 15). Although UGC is a hot item nowadays, a large part of Internet users stay at the first level; consuming. About 80% of the Internet users belongs to this category (van Dijck 44). About 13% of the Internet users actively produce something, and this belong to the third level; producing. Just under 19% are what van Dijck call the ‘critics’, these are the people who participate but do not create (44). Even though not nearly most of the Internet users are active, the active part of the users is very important. The content produced by active users is consumed by passive users. The power of UGC should not be underestimated. UGC was found to be decision-changing in, for example music, album sales; research by Dhar and Chang pointed out that the sales of albums are positively influenced by blog posts (2009). Online restaurant recommendations also influence the eventual choices someone makes (Smith, Menon and Sivakumar 31). Recommendations are an important UGC part. For every product, holiday destination, restaurant or even for

teachers there are recommendation websites to be found. This is what we could also call e-word of mouth (eWOM) (Cheong and Morrison 3). Cheong and Morrison agree with Smith, Menon and Sivakumar that (e)WOM has a significant influence on decision-making

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(Cheong and Morrison 5), ties from Internet communities can also be strong and their influence can be significant. Research from Engel, Blackwell, and Kegerreis pointed out that (e)WOM is particularly strong when consumers are informing themselves about new

products or services they have no previous experience with (Cheong and Morrison 5). Online opinion leaders have the power to influence an unlimited amount of people (Cheong and Morrison 8). Goldsmith and Horowitz (2006) identified several motivations for using eWOM before buying something. Amongst those reasons are: to reduce risk, to secure the lowest price and to access easy information. With these motivations people seek online peer-produced information, to make their own decision. For tourists and visitors of Amsterdam, eWOM play a very important role since the information is easily accessible> Moreover, eWOM might especially have a substantial influence on tourists and visitors motivation to reduce risks of ending up in not enjoyable places, as they do not have any prior knowledge or personal experience.

Despite UGC is only produced by a smaller part of all Internet users, the power or influence is significant. Since people are able to access the Internet, and all the UGC, the effect of UGC is important for this research. It is proven to be decision-changing. With mobile screens people have the Internet within reach. Moreover, they can actively join and create content on the go. When people are influenced, this changes their path and their experience of a city. Hence, UGC and eWOM are important tools to see how peoples experience

whether people’s experience of Amsterdam change.

Constructing the City

As mentioned in the previous section, UGC is very important for the Internet. UGC creates and defines the current Internet. In the city, we see the same thing happening. The users of the city construct and define the city. As Michel de Certeau says in his 1993 work Walking in

the City, pedestrian movement form a system that makes up the city (97). Pedestrians,

people in the city, construct spaces within places. Places are established by the common infrastructure. Spaces are constructed by the people walking in the city (de Certeau 94). This space is invisible for others, but defines the places people visit and how they experience these places. This is what de Certeau calls creating and urban text, the creation of a subject within an object (93). This way, people will interweave places and this way construct their own infrastructure (de Certeau 97). De Certeau explains that pedestrians enunciate the city because they create urban fabric (103). This fabric acts as a personal city, so people create their own infrastructure. This way, a metaphorical city intertwines with the planned and readable city (de Certeau 93). The main idea form de Certeau’s text is that the people in the city, construct the city.

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In The Practice of Everyday Life, de Certeau writes about maps. He sees maps as static environments. Maps show where places are, maps are and isolated system of geographical places. When a map is used, spaces become places (de Certeau 121).

Recapitulation

This chapter provided an overview of research through literature on mediated smart cities, virtual communities and the infrastructures and interfaces media users in Amsterdam travel through. This chapter is the foundation of the research on urban screens in Amsterdam. Based on this literature, the analysis of several urban screen applications in Amsterdam will be discussed. To summarize, the most important findings from this research are presented below. First, cities are subject to changes because of new media (Komninos) and in highly mediated or smart cities, the creative class or digital bohemia is important for the

development of such a city (Hollands, Florida). Furthermore, interfaces are everywhere around us and change our motions in the city (De Waal, Verhoeff). Through these interfaces and digital media, we communicate and build communities (de Souza e Silva). Digital

communication can bring people together, but it can also isolate people (de Souza e Silva, Haddon). Outdoor screens are ubiquitous and pervasive and screens influence the

relationship with people (Verhoeff). Mobile screens give people the opportunity to create their own infrastructure in the city and make public surroundings more versatile (Fortunati). Lastly, the importance of (e)word of mouth is undeniable: it has proven to have a significant

influence on decision-making processes (Cheong and Morrison). EWOM is a result of user generated content, which is omnipresent in the digital age with people that have the

possibility to be connected at any time and anywhere (van Dijck).

Michel de Certau’s work is overarching in this research because of his thoughts on the people in the city. De Certau claims that the people in the city, define the city. This means that the actual city is constructed by the people in it and how they interact with the world around them. De Certeau’s text will act as groundwork on which the other above discussed theories are positioned.

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Method of research

In order to investigate the research objectives, a comprehensive qualitative research strategy was designed. This research is of explorative nature, and investigates urban screens and mobile screen use in the public and urban area of Amsterdam. The various urban screens and the way they present themselves are observed in the city of Amsterdam. All data is gathered by first hand exploration.

To explore the various urban screens, several sight visits took place between March 2014 and May 2014.

Furthermore, several apps and websites were subjected to this research. These apps and websites underwent a qualitative platform analysis and a content analysis. In this platform and content analysis, features of the website and/or the app on a level of communication and interaction with the user were examined.

Relevant Screens

Since the presence of urban media and urban screens is manifold, a focus on certain parts of the mediated Amsterdam is necessary. A division is made in two categories. The first are small, personal screens. This are mobile phones and tablet. Despite they do not necessarily define as urban screen, these screens are ubiquitous in the cityscape of Amsterdam, and thus, relevant for this research. The second category contains multiple large urban screens in the public domain of Amsterdam. These screens are for instance mounted to buildings. They are relevant for this research because they are prominent in the city and draw attention. The first focus in the analysis lies on the small and personal screens people use in the city. Almost everybody owns one or more mobile devices nowadays. In 2012, the Dutch

population owned 21,7 million4_{mobile connections with a telephone service company.}

Around half of those connections are smart phone or tablet connections. All of these devices have the possibility to be connected to the Internet. Every device has its own interface and every device interacts in a different way with the user.

The explore the possibilities a personal electronic device has, this research will look into apps for smart phones and tablets. With apps and web services about Amsterdam, an inhabitant or a tourist can gain information about the city, its features and sights. Several apps are part of this research. Some provide general information about Amsterdam, others provide a specific service in the city.

Both the app of local broadcaster AT5 and the IAMsterdam app present information about Amsterdam. The AT5 app is focused on news in and around the city. Since the app

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encourages people to participate in the city and interact with the app in several different ways this app is interesting to analyze in this research. The location-based app of the Amsterdam bureau of city marketing, IAMsterdam, is relevant for this research because it combines tips, reviews and direct communication possibilities with the mentioned tips in the app. The app also encourages participation with the app and the city and is therefore meaningful to put against the background of the digital cityscape.

The app that provide a specific service are Tripadvisor, Airbnb and Uber. Tripadvisor and Airbnb are mainly used by visitors of Amsterdam before departure to the city. Tripadvisor offers user generated reviews of food service industry and attractions. Since (e)WOM is proven to be influential in choices people make this website and accompanying city guide app Tripadvisor is relevant for this research since it is able to change paths. Airbnb is a website that lets individuals rent out their home or a spare room to visitors. Airbnb is known to draw profits from conventional holiday stays like hotels (Zervas et al 1). This app will be analyzed since it clearly alters paths of visitors in Amsterdam. The last app of this analysis is literally making people take other routes. Taxi service app Uber lets people order and pay for a cab ride through the app. Uber has raised controversy in many countries because regular taxi services are afraid they will cost them to much profit loss. Because of the controversy and the fact that Uber makes people interact with the city in a different way, Uber is relevant for this research.

Next, the analysis moves on to the big urban screens in the city. First of all, one of the biggest5_{screens in Europe is to be found at the façade of one of Amsterdam’s popular clubs:}

The Escape on Rembrandtplein. This screen is chosen as a part of this research because it is very prominent. The Rembrandtplein is a busy place of transit; many people come in contact with this screen every day. Next to this urban screen, another big screen is chosen as subject of this research. At the Rokin, in the heart of Amsterdam, is an art project on an urban screen can be found. This urban screen is positioned behind the windows of the special collections library of the university of Amsterdam. This screen is chosen to part of this research because it is a creative project, as opposed to the commercial screen on

Rembrandtplein. With this two large urban screens, this research contains both a commercial practice as a creative practice. Both screens are in the center of Amsterdam, were huge numbers of both locals and visitors pass.

In addition to the big urban screens, one art project on interactive screens at the central station of Amsterdam is part of this research. The Rijksmuseum had an interactive art project of one week in several metro stations in Amsterdam. This is a cultural project from KPN and Rijksmuseum to make people aware of the masterpieces collection from this

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museum. This project is part of this research because the Rijksmuseum is a prestigious museum with over 2 million visitors in a year6_{and the central station is probably the busiest}

place of transit in Amsterdam. The Rijksmuseum screens therefore have a huge reach. These three project together, commercial, art and cultural form the focus of the research on large urban screens. Apart from the large screens, this research will also focus on smaller urban screens. One important example of smaller urban screens are the screens that are installed in every type tram in Amsterdam. In almost every tram, multiple screens are placed that broadcast entertainment news and advertisements. The relevance of these screens in this research lies in their possible reach because of their location and their quantity.

This focus is set out to provide a clear overview of Amsterdam’s urban screens. The analysis looks into the interactive aspects of the websites and apps, and the possibilities the urban screens have to alter the city, the inhabitants and visitors of Amsterdam.

6 https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/nu-in-het-museum/nieuws/rijksmuseum-ontvangt-2.000.000ste-bezoeker

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Analysis

This analysis covers multiple aspects of urban screens in Amsterdam. The analysis will start with two new media applications, Tripadvisor and Airbnb, which might not be very visible in the city at first sight, but which do take account for many altered paths in the city. Both Airbnb and Tripadvisor are used mostly before departure to Amsterdam by visitors of the city. These websites are used to choose a place to stay and are used to create an itinerary for the actual visit. However, both websites can be used during the stay. Airbnb offers an unconventional way of booking an accommodation, whereas Tripadvisor offers eWOM through UGC on restaurants, bars, accommodations and attractions. Next, the analysis continues with IAmsterdam and AT5, two applications to be used on small personal screens that are about Amsterdam, both in a different way. Both apps encourage the user to interact with the app and AT5 also encourages the users to interact and engage with the city.

The last app for smaller personal screens to conclude the analysis on personal screen applications is Uber. Uber provides a new way of transport. No more calling or hailing, just tapping on the screen will get the user a taxi which will be paid through the app as well. Uber has raises controversy in several countries and offers different ways for a common practice and is thus important to include in this research. Next, the analysis moves on to larger public screens, as opposed to the above mentioned smaller and personal screens. The first public screen to be discussed is a collection of 75 urban screens in several metro stations in Amsterdam. This project had many static and some interactive screens that adjusted themselves to the time of the day (rush hours). The digital art gallery from the Rijksmuseum was a cultural project and thus an antithesis to the large screen and commercial on the Rembrandtplein, a lively square and place of transit in the center of Amsterdam. This screen has a commercial programming, mostly provided by large brands. The special features of this screen are that it is one of the biggest (urban) screens of Europe and it is also used in many highly interactive ways. Five examples of interactive approaches are discussed in this analysis, among them campaigns by Samsung and Sony-Erikson. Also an antithesis to the screen on the Rembrandtplein is a screen which is placed behind the windows of the special collections library of the University of Amsterdam. This screen shows abstract images to the people passing the Rokin, a busy street in Amsterdam center.

In addition to the discussion of the large urban screens, the information screens in the public transport of Amsterdam in the trams, establishes a bridge between small and large and between private and public. Almost every tram in Amsterdam is equipped with at least four screens providing news, entertainment and commercial messages. These screens build a bridge between public and private because their placement gives the user the feeling that

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they can seclude themselves from the other commuters (McCarthy 2001). Also, the screens are neither large nor small and are accessible for large amounts of people.

This combination of small and large urban screens, both private and public, provide an overview of current screens in Amsterdam. This analysis is therefore able to draw conclusions about urban screens in Amsterdam and their influence.

Small, personal screens

This section comprises two online platforms (Airbnb and Tripadvisor) and three mobile device applications (IAMsterdam, AT5, Uber). Together, they give a synopsis of important apps for Amsterdam and how these apps can change paths of the people who use them.

Airbnb

Airbnb is known to have caused profit loss for hotels around the world. ‘A social website that

connects people who have space to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay’, is

the way Airbnb profiles itself7_{. Airbnb is an online marketplace for people to rent their room or}

house to visitors, short term or long term and for people who seek unconventional

accomodation. In 2013, Amsterdam had about 2400 hosts8_{. The website also has an app to}

make on-the-go-renting even easier. By using Airbnb, visitors of Amsterdam skip the hotels and hostels to stay in houses of locals. Finnish’s research pointed out that being an Airbnb-host is rewarding and it builds social cohesion (Ikkala and Lampinen 173). Both the Airbnb-hosts and the guest can review the stay, all of this is visible for possible guests. ‘Reputational capital’ is important for the guest as well as the host; it makes decisions to rent easier (Ikkala and Lampinen 175). The effects of Airbnb on the hotel industry are visible all around the world; in the state Texas in the United States, every 1% growth of Airbnb causes a 0,05% drop of quarterly hotel revenue (Zervas et al 1). Recently, Dutch research by KPMG pointed out that 40% of Dutch hotels experience competition from private renters9

It is thus fair to say that Airbnb changes the path of tourists on the level of their

accommodation. It is customary that hosts give a list of their personal preferences of places in their city, which contributes to the guests experience of the city. According to Airbnb’s own facts and figures, 76% of the Airbnb guests chose to use the city to explore a specific

neighborhood and 89% wanted to live like a local10_{. In 2012 and 2013, Airbnb hosted over}

62.000 guests in Amsterdam11_{. By staying in someone’s house instead of a hotel, the guest}

7 https://www.airbnb.nl/about/about-us 8 https://www.airbnb.com/economic-impact/

9 http://nos.nl/artikel/651215-hotels-hebben-last-van-airbnb.html 10 https://www.airbnb.com/economic-impact/

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meets a local and, according to Airbnb, establishes social connection. Many of the hosts on Airbnb publish or print out a list of things to do in their city or they add this information to the Airbnb platform. Research from Smith, Menon and Sivakumar showed that (online)

recommendations influence the actual choices someone makes and that they decrease the search effort invested in the eventual decision making (31). Hence, Airbnb does not only change the way people seek and find their accommodation, it also changes the location where people stay (e.g. locations outside the center of the city to experience a certain neighborhood) and it also changes the path of a visitor on a level of what places they visit in the city.

The Airbnb website and coordinating app provide an easy way of staying at the house of locals in a city. Staying at a local’s place instead of a hotel often provides the visitor a list of handpicked favorites locations in the city. Since recommendations are known to change decision making, this extra feature of booking through Airbnb is able to change or at least add a layer to the interface of the city for the guest. As a consequence, Airbnb makes staying in a city more personal, because of personal interaction with the renter in different ways. For instance, one stays at a private house, which means that there is interaction with the renter’s home and personal belongings. In addition, this combined with the above mentioned

handpicked tips causes a social connection. Altogether, Airbnb creates facilities for people to make social connections through an online interface.

Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor is an international website for travelers to review accommodations, restaurants and sights. The website contains over 150 million reviews worldwide12_{. Over a hundred}

million people have downloaded apps by Tripadvisor6 _{like the general Tripadvisor app and}

the city guide apps. Since this website is so extensive, well known and used by people from many different countries, this website and app are important to incorporate in this research. The website and app are designed for visitors of the city as well as inhabitant who are searching a nice restaurant. Because the app has several interaction-based features, it is interesting to look at how these apps could change the path of the user of this app.

Tripadvisor was founded in 2012 and currently employs more than 2000 people. According to their own data, Tripadvisor is the biggest travel website in the world13_{. Tripadvisor is a}

website build out of user generated content to advise people where to eat or sleep and what attractions to visit while on vacation. The primary function of the site is to collect and to disseminate user reviews. The website has over 60 million visitors every month. Tripadvisor

12 http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-c4-Fact_Sheet.html 13 http://www.tripadvisor.nl/pages/about_us.html

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is active in thirty different countries and contains over 150 million experiences. Over 4 million business can be found on the website. The larger part of those businesses are restaurants (2,2 million)14_.

According to research by Pew Internet Research and the American Life project (2005), the Internet plays an important role in travel planning (O’Connor 51). Customers actively seek other’s opinions to manage possible risks (O’Connor 49). This type of information is usually referred to as word-of-mouth and is perceived as more vivid, more trustworthy and easier to use than information provided by the companies themselves (O’Connor 49). In the offline world, world-of-mouth plays an important role in customer decision-making (O’Connor 48). The Internet makes it easier for consumers to disseminate their viewpoints. As a result, the Internet has a huge effect on where consumers spend their money (O’Connor 49). Travel website Tripadvisor makes use of this demand for online word-of-mouth. The top motivators for people to write a review on Tripadvisor are desire for social interaction, concern for other consumers and the possibility to enhance their own online profile (O’Connor 50). Visitors of the Tripadvisor can leave a review about a hotel, restaurant, vacation rental, sights and attractions. When one wants to write a review, Tripadvisor asks them to write a few

sentences and give a review using a rating system on a variety of subjects. When posting a review about a restaurant, one has to rate the food, the staff, the price-quality rate and the atmosphere. After that, the reviewer makes an overall choice between excellent, very good, good, average, below average and terrible. The website shows the percentage of the positive overall reviews (e.g. ‘86% recommends this place’). Because of the written review, the possibility to upload photos and the fact that reviewers have to give their opinion in numbers, Tripadvisor does not only use qualitative data but also quantitative data.

The mobile app has been downloaded over 100 million times15_{. The general Tripadvisor app}

is a copy of the website. It includes all online reviews bundled in the app. The main parts in the general app are the search bars for hotels, restaurants, things to do, flights and holiday rentals. The app also has GPS features to find things in the neighborhood. This part of the app shows a map of your current location with little pins on the places where restaurants, bars, hotels or attractions are to be found. The app displays only one of those categories on the map at a time. A small menu on the side of the app shows a list corresponding pins on the map. This list shows the name of the place, the ranking (‘Number 402 out of 1.985 in Amsterdam’) and a grade on the scale of 1 to 5. Within this feature, filters can be applied. In the case of restaurants, filters such as the kitchen, the price and the sort of establishment

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(bar, lunch, fast food, etc.) can be selected. In the attractions section there are a lot more filters, such as: museums, cultural, shows, sights, outdoor and shopping. These filters make it easy the app users to find what they are looking for. A combination of filters and locations can create clarity in the information overload of all available options. Tripadvisor can be seen as a social app since the information can easily be published and generated by users of the site (Inversini and Buhalis 382). A tool within the enormous amount of information on Tripadvisor is necessary to avoid information overload. Tripadvisor achieves this by letting the users apply filters.

In addition to the option to see all the information on a map, the user can also change to a list view. This list shows the same information as mentioned above and some extra information is added. For instance, the list also shows the percentage of people who would recommend the attraction, hotel of restaurant and it shows one short quote from the written recommendations. When selecting one of the search results, the full information pops up. This new page contains all written recommendations, the full address and contact details, and pictures by visitors (Tripadvisor call these ‘Spontaneous travel pictures’). The pictures create a sense of togetherness, because photography operates on an emotional level (Rivière in Ling and Pedersen 174). The addition of pictures creates a social part in Tripadvisor. The user also gets the option to write a review, save a page

(hotel/restaurant/attraction) and upload pictures. At the bottom of the page, nearby places are shown and pages that people who also visited this page a shown. All the

recommendations that are not written in the users mother tongue, are automatically translated. This is a default feature, but can be turned off by the user.

Despite the vast amount of information on the Tripadvisor website and app, Tripadvisor has various features to facilitate the use of the app to avoid information overload.

Next to the general app, Tripadvisor also offers a city guide app. When opening this app, the user is directly asked to log in with Facebook. Tripadvisor wants the user to connect with the social network and take the experience of the app a step further. This City Guide contains the same categories as the general app, but there are a few additions. The app has a list of suggested itineraries with walking routes through several district and with different themes. The app also offers the possibility to buy tickets for things like Madame Tussauds or a canal boat tour. The app redirects the user to the ticket website of the attraction. In the ‘Learn about the city’ part background and historical information can be found. It also contain public transport information and a list and map of nearby ATM’s. The app off course also offers the possibility to add a review and draft reviews can be saved. The last function is the trip journal. Every user with a Tripadvisor account can check in at places they visit(ed) and all their check ins together form a personal trip journal. The user can also add their own photo’s.

Interfacing Amsterdam: How urban screens are able to change paths