More about me

Born and raised in the north-eastern part of The Netherlands, went to university about 90KM south in Enschede, where I still live, together with my partner Ton Zijlstra, independent consultant as well.

Education

Educated as a communication philosopher I look at the communicative value of the Social Web.

Back in 2002, while studying Communication Sciences at Twente University, I got fascinated with blogging. During the last phase of my studies I skipped the prescribed courses and created an individual programme to research this phenomenon from a philosophical point of view. This research resulted in a Master Thesis: Een goed gesprek onder miljoenen ogen: het weblog als knooppunt voor online interactie, which I summarized in a paper for the BlogTalk conference in 2004.

Work

Since 2004 I consult on the whole of Social Media, since blogging was just the beginning of the Social Web. I look at all the tools that are available on the Net andhow you could use them: to aid your work, cooperate more easily or to be able to publish online. I'm on top of new developments and focus on the real added value instead of jumping on the latest hype.

I love to lower thresholds. The world of Social Media still feels daunting to many people. I feel responsible to make it less daunting, show what is available and guide people through the landscape of Social Media so they can discover their own unique path.

Since the beginning of 2009 I returned to one of my older passions, creating videos. There are a lot of projects that aim to change people's behaviour and thinking. These are the kinds of changes that are very difficult to capture in a written document. I think of this as a great challenge to make these changes literally more visible by collecting anecdotes and capture them on video. To kick-start my work on this I created the project In Full Flow in which I portray the people in my online tribe and ask myself the question why I surrounded myself with so many independent minds.

Network

I work together with people whom I trust and complement my skills.

Together with my partner Ton Zijlstra I work on knowledge driven assignments in which we directly link vision and practical implementation.

I organize workshops on Social Media and Online Facilitation with Joitske Hulsebosch (knowledge management, community of practice), Simon Koolwijk (facilitator, developing work) and Sibrenne Wagenaar (learning, community of practice).

By starting to blog relatively early I'm embedded in a strong international network of people greatly experienced with and knowledgeable on Social Media. I interact with many of them online and meet them face-to-face at early-adopter conferences like Reboot and SHiFT.

My connections with interaction designers and programmers across Europe keeps me in touch with the latest in technology and social software.

Coaching

Since 2005 I coach together with Mark Oolders at the fencing club in Ter Apel, the club where I started fencing as a seven year old. Every Friday evening I drive the 100KM back and forth from Enschede. I teach kids from the age of 7 and adults to the age of 75 to fence and support them in refining their techniques. Next to learning how to fence properly, to me as a coach it is just as important to teach the kids to have fun playing sports, make them feel at home at the club and help them acquire skills that give them a solid base to fly from when they leave for college.