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< Back Catalina Iordache Guest Professor catalina.iordache@vub.be Coming from an Eastern European background, my life completely changed in the early 1990’s when the colours and fast-moving images of cable TV reached our living room, and I experienced an instant fascination with film, television programmes and music videos. Through my studies, I became interested in the market forces behind audiovisual media and the cross-border flow of content. At SMIT, I have the opportunity to apply qualitative methods in investigating the production and distribution of content, as well as its consumption by diverse audiences. I have been working at imec-SMIT-VUB since 2014, where I obtained my PhD on the transnational flow of media content in the online environment in 2022. I am currently conducting postdoctoral research on the platformisation of Public Service Media (PSM) and am also a Guest Professor and co-titular of the course Media, Culture and Globalisation Theories, for the Digital Media in Europe Master’s programme at the VUB. During my time at SMIT, I have also conducted research on the topics of media literacy, digital literacy and e-inclusion, and acted as Teaching Assistant for the Bachelor in Social Sciences programme. Before joining academia, I worked as a project manager in the cultural field with a community arts organisation based in Edinburgh. I then moved to Brussels and followed the international MSc in Communication Studies at the VUB. I also hold a BA in International Relations, European Studies. Visit my research profile

< Back Serendipity Engine SBO We increasingly rely on algorithmically generated recommendations to navigate in both online and offline contexts: listening to music on streaming platforms, reading news online, or following recommendations about activities and events in your favorite city. These recommender systems help us dealing with the abundance of available information, but at the same time raise questions about their impact on individual citizens and society. Many advocate for designs for serendipity in recommenders, but what does this mean in practice? While serendipity is generally understood as a beneficial design principle ought to deliver societal value, putting it into practice still presents major challenges. The Serendipity Engine project sets out to address these challenges and support societal stakeholders in designing recommender systems to foster serendipity in public contexts. Researchers on this project Lien Michiels Postdoctoral Researcher Brett Binst PhD Researcher Annelien Smets Research Professor Consortium partners SBO_ IDLAB.png SBO_ ADREM.png SBO_ IMEC.png SBO_ IDLAB.png 1/3 Tags Recommenders, Artificial Intelligence, Smart City, Diversity and Serendipity Previous Next

< Back Second Annual ALGEPI Workshop 19 May 2025 Insights on AI, Innovation and Media Regulation On April 23rd, 2025, the Université de Namur hosted the second ALGEPI Annual Workshop , bringing together researchers, students, and industry experts to discuss how AI is shaping the media landscape. The day was packed with presentations on artificial intelligence, algorithmic recommender systems, media regulation, and user-centric innovation. Some highlights: Prof. Heritiana Ranaivoson kicked off the day by outlining the ALGEPI project, which is a collaborative effort aiming to tackle the challenges AI poses to epistemic welfare. Dr. Lien Michiels dissected the elusive concept of filter bubbles, stressing the need for diverse, but standardised research methods and validated metrics that consider all stakeholders to gather robust evidence and make meaningful normative judgements about diversity and recommender systems. Aina Errando , Michelle Kulig, and Hanne Vandenbroucke shared some findings from their comparative systematic literature review on the multi-stakeholder challenges and opportunities of news recommender systems in newsrooms. Their work highlights the need for more interdisciplinary and multi-method research to address both organisational and societal challenges, and also to explore the opportunities of news recommender systems more holistically. For the full report on the 2nd ALGEPI workshop, have a look at https://www.algepi.com/ai-innovation-media-regulation-insights-ii-annual-workshop/ Previous Next

< Back Policy Brief on Public Service Media in Belgium 27 Mar 2025 Findings and recommendations on the organisational and cultural challenges facing PSM in Belgium In this new policy brief Tim Raats and Cataline Iordache share results from the latest research conducted during the second year of the PSM-AP project . Their findings show that Public Service Media (PSM) organizations in Belgium, being RTBF (French-speaking) and VRT (Flemish) face growing competition from global tech giants such as Netflix, Apple, Google, and Amazon. This requires a transition into fully digital, online-first broadcasters. While both are integrating digital tools and skills, structural barriers rooted in traditional broadcasting, such as bureaucracy and departmental silos, slow down this transformation. They are adapting their commissioning and distribution strategies to better meet audience needs while maintaining their public service mission and managing brand perception. However, their digital transition differs: VRT is positioning VRT MAX as the central platform for content, whereas RTBF struggles to rebrand Auvio beyond a catch-up service, as linear TV is still dominant for reaching audiences. Their study identifies the following four key factors that shape the way in which both Belgian PSM organizations are managing the rise of internet delivery and increasing competition with international streamers: If you want to learn more about the outcomes of in-depth interviews with employees in both PSM organizations, have a look at the full policy brief here . Previous Next

< Back Challenges and opportunities for recommender systems in media markets Ranaivoson, H., Smets, A. & Ballon, P. (2024). Challenges and opportunities for recommender systems in media markets. In U. Rohn, M. Rimscha & T. Raats (Ed.), De Gruyter Handbook of Media Economics (pp. 215-228). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110793444-015 Recommender systems have become omnipresent in media markets, fromproduction to distribution and consumption. What is often overlooked, however, isthat the multi-sided nature of contemporary media markets implies that recom-mender systems need to balance the needs and requirements of actors on differentsides of these markets, such as content providers and end-users. Starting from an overview of the rapidly growing literature on recommender systems in media mar-kets, and emphasizing their multi-sided nature, we first describe the main typologies of recommender systems and analyze how various stakeholders might adopt particular strategies to have these systems create novel market opportunities. Then, we discuss media market dilemmas that result from these stakeholders’ often competing objectives in terms of biases, notably filter bubbles, management dilemmas, and is-sues around privacy and transparency. We argue how revisiting these concerns from a multi-stakeholder perspective opens up new angles to understand recommender systems’ impact on contemporary media markets. Recommender Systems Previous Read the article Next

< Back Ulysse Maes PhD Researcher ulysse.jan.l.maes@vub.be Ulysse joined SMIT in September 2023 as a PhD researcher. His focus is on comprehending the multifaceted challenges and opportunities presented by the evolving landscape of AI, particularly in news and video recommender systems. He holds a master’s degree in Business and Information Systems Engineering, where he graduated magna cum laude. His academic pursuits took him to SKEMA Business School in Antibes, where, during an Erasmus exchange, he deepened his knowledge on entrepreneurship in an international setting. Notably, his master’s thesis was dedicated to the development of a user-oriented chatbot enhancing DMN execution. This was followed by his successful completion of a Postgraduate Degree in Tech Innovations in Ventures and Teams. During that year, he co-founded Amodamo , a platform endorsing responsible fashion, and established Scribewave , an online transcription service specialised in converting speech-to-text in local languages. Visit my research profile

< Back Annelien Smets Research Professor Annelien.Smets@vub.be Annelien is a senior researcher at SMIT in the Media Economics and Policy unit. Her research centers around personalization and recommender systems, and their value in media markets. Annelien holds a PhD in Media and Communication Studies (VUB) on the topic of serendipity in recommender systems and smart cities. She holds a master’s degree in Information Management (2016) and Artificial Intelligence (2017) from KU Leuven. Currently, Annelien is Research Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where she teaches courses on media economics, digital economics, digital business models, and digital innovation management. She is also co-chair of the Serendipity Academic Researchers Network, part of the Serendipity Society. Visit my research profile

< Back How Should We Measure Filter Bubbles? Michiels, L., Vannieuwenhuyze, J., Leysen, J., Verachtert, R., Smets, A., & Goethals, B. 2023. How Should We Measure Filter Bubbles? A Regression Model and Evidence for Online News. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems. News media play an important role in democratic societies. Central to fulfilling this role is the premise that users should be exposed to diverse news. However, news recommender systems are gaining popularity on news websites, which has sparked concerns over filter bubbles. More specifically, editors, policy-makers and scholars are worried that these news recommender systems may expose users to less diverse content over time. To the best of our knowledge, this hypothesis has not been tested in a longitudinal observational study of real users that interact with a real news website. Such observational studies require the use of research methods that are robust and can account for the many covariates that may influence the diversity of recommendations at any given time. In this work, we propose an analysis model to study whether the variety of articles recommended to a user decreases over time in such an observational study design. Further, we present results from two case studies using aggregated and anonymized data that were collected by two western European news websites employing a collaborative filtering-based news recommender system to serve (personalized) recommendations to their users. Through these case studies we validate empirically that our modeling assumptions are sound and supported by the data, and that our model obtains more reliable and interpretable results than analysis methods used in prior empirical work on filter bubbles. Our case studies provide evidence of a small decrease in the topic variety of a user's recommendations in the first weeks after they sign up, but no evidence of a decrease in political variety. Recommender Systems Previous Read the article Next

< Back Elevating Customer Value of media recommendations through Enhanced User Satisfaction and Development Media recommender systems often fall short by prioritizing behavioral data over user perception and experience, resulting in a disconnect between user preferences and actual consumption. The intricacy of multi-dimensional user preferences poses a challenge, compounded by an intention-behavior gap in high-quality media consumption. Unintentional content consumption can be exacerbated by recommendations geared towards engagement or revenue goals, potentially leading to misguided outcomes. Consequently, there is a critical need to refine recommender system designs from a user-centric perspective, accounting for nuanced preferences and intrinsic needs. This project takes a user-centric approach, delving into the role of media recommender systems in aligning user needs, preferences, and consumption. The overarching aim is to cultivate the generation of healthier, more beneficial recommendations, ultimately enriching user satisfaction and overall development. Researchers on this project Dongxiao Li PhD Researcher Consortium partners China Scholarship Council China Scholarship Council 1/1 Tags Recommenders, User studies Previous Next

< Back 10 trends in streaming market 1 Mar 2024 Report of the Living Lab project Discover the first deliverable of the Streaming Affordances for Small Media Markets living Lab project, in which the research team outlines 10 key trends in the international streaming market that have an impact on developments in the Flemish market (the report is in Dutch). The 10 trends highlight a diversification of genre and payment modules, and a quest of streamers for revenue and profit rather than market dominance and number of subscribers. Trendrapport voor 'proeftuin Streaming Affordances for Small Media Markets .pdf Download PDF • 3.74MB Previous Next

< Back Talking about Stakeholder Perspectives at WMEMC 22 May 2025 Hanne presented her research on stakeholder alignment for news recommender system development Today at WMEMC, Hanne presented her work on what happens behind the scenes of news organizations that are developing in-house News Recommender Systems (NRS). Spoiler alert: it’s no smooth ride. As newsrooms explore the possibilities of algorithmic curation, it turns out there's a lot more involved than just building smart tech. The real challenge? Getting all organizational stakeholders on the same page: journalists, software developers, managers, and business units each have their own goals, logics, and some concerns or doubts about (personalized) news recommendations. That’s where Hanne's research comes in. By setting foot in large-scale commercial news organizations (in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia) and speaking to different stakeholders. Those interviews allow to explore the intricate (and let's be honest, sometimes messy) process of getting all organizational stakeholders to cooperate and negotiate NRS. The result? Balancing on a tightrope while juggling goals, demands, and objections. 🔹 Balancing Act #1 : Aligning Stakeholders Different stakeholder groups - newsroom, commercial units, and tech development teams - hold different perspectives on the opportunities and risks of (personalized) recommendations. Opposing views and expectations might lead to tensions between departments, and different product owners (POs) are assigned the role of mediators. These POs are ambidextrous actors with knowledge, experience, and professional backgrounds, crossing the traditional stakeholder boundaries, which enables them to create a shared understanding, translate jargon and build bridges between distinct stakeholder groups. A multi-disciplinary, cross-functional team of different POs, each representing another stakeholder group, sits around the negotiation table, and they are in charge of the decision-making around NRS. 🔹 Balancing Act #2 : Exploration vs. Exploitation Organizations constantly have to decide: do we explore new features and test new capabilities, or do we focus on optimizing our current technologies for ROI? With limited resources, news organizations can’t do both at full speed, simultaneously. Therefore, the team of POs needs to decide on which actions should be undertaken and, in doing so, develop a strategic roadmap navigating the tricky waters of budget and time allocations, and find that sweet spot between experimentation and exploitation. Both balancing acts are intertwined, as good alignment between stakeholders facilitates how these trade-offs are made. And the decisions made about the strategic roadmap for NRS development, in turn, influence whether stakeholders stay aligned or drift apart. It’s a dynamic, ongoing dance. The big takeaway? We need better, smarter ways to manage the decision-making on AI innovation in newsrooms, whether that relates to NRS or generative AI. This study is a first step in that direction — and just the beginning of figuring out how to align perspectives, reduce friction, and get these powerful tools off the ground in ways that actually work. Because building a scalable and effective recommender system is hard. But getting different stakeholders to agree on what the NRS design such look like? That’s where the real challenge lies. Previous Next

< Back Wendy Van den Broeck Associate professor wendy.van.den.broeck@vub.be As the world of media and television is ever changing, it’s something I’ll never grow tired of. My first research project was on interactive digital television and it is unbelievable how rapid the industry and the technology have evolved since. New services like time-shifted viewing, Netflix, personalised advertising and immersive media applications have entered our everyday lives. At the same time, these trends are often not as disruptive as expected. For example when iDTV was introduced, it was announced that broadcasters would disappear and the 30 second commercial would die a silent death. Users are often surprising in their habits and practices. On the one hand, old habits die hard and user patterns tend to change slowly. On the other hand, surprising or unexpected usage of technology can lead to fascinating new developments. That is why user research is my biggest passion. I like to interact with users and unravel their motivations and expectations. I really believe in our living lab approach that puts the user in the centre of the design and development process. By involving users from the very early stage of an innovation process, we can help to develop technological services and products that are really user-friendly and society proof. This also helps the media industry to face the different challenges and disruptions they have to cope with today. I am currently head of the Living Lab cluster at SMIT and assistant professor at the communications studies department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where I teach several international and national courses, most of them related to research methodology. My current research projects relate to personalised and immersive media and include the EU projects Immersia TV , CPN and HRadio. I joined SMIT in 2003, after completing a master in communication sciences (VUB-2002), and obtaining a postgraduate diploma in management and economics (VUB-Solvay-2003) and a teaching degree (VUB-2003). During my time at SMIT, I finished my PhD in communication sciences in 2010 entitled: “From analogue to digital: the silent (r)evolution? A qualitative study on the domestication of interactive digital television in Flanders”. Visit my research profile