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Profile: Geke van Dijk

Geke van Dijk

After living in 't Gooi for years Geke van Dijk landed in the socio-political scene: squatting, campaigning and environmental movements. She entered the world of alternative uses of information technologies via the Galactic Hacker Party: ICATA '89, next5minutes, De Digitale Stad (DDS) (The Digital City), XS4ALL and ‘Hacking at the End of the Universe’. She became fascinated with the influence of technology on society and culture, and vice versa. The early adopter set up the media company, ACS-I, and was the co-founder of Random Friday, an informal meeting place for people involved in the new media. In the early nineties, she put web design on the map in the Netherlands, and Geke van Dijk has remained an Internet pioneer since that time. She is currently running STBY, a company specializing in research into the use of media and technology, was a co-author of the publication, Uncommon Ground, Creative Encounters between Sectors and Disciplines, and is also working on a new fascination: Service Design, which she recently promoted in London.

Company name:
STBY (pronounced as Standby).

Company founding date:
2002.

Place of business:
Amsterdam and London.

Names of founders:
Geke van Dijk and Bas Raijmakers.

Ages of founders:
46.

About the company:
Social research into how people use technology and media in their daily lives. The results of the research are used to inform innovation processes in companies and organisations. We collaborate closely with strategists and designers. Generally speaking, the end result is a series of new concepts for improved service provision. In many instances this concerns integrated multi-channel service provision in which portable technology plays a central role. We study the context of the daily life in which the new services are designed to play a role. The resulting visual documentation inspires the creative concept development process.

Current project:
Research for the IB-Groep, Elsevier, Leiden University, the BBC and District Council Cornwall.

Source of inspiration:
Sites like YouTube, FlickR and personal blogs are sources of inspiration for social researchers in media and technology. They are a perfect reflection of the rather chaotic, complex and fascinating daily lives of ordinary people. It’s all about ‘making do and getting by,’ as the English say.

My big idea:
To spend as much of my time as possible working with people similar to me in different parts of the world.

Favourite tools:
Stills and video camera, digital voice recorder, laptop and obviously my iPhone.

Favourite website:
Over the past few weeks, buienradar.nl has been really important for the plans of our fieldwork for a number of different projects in the Netherlands and Great Britain.

Hobby:
Cooking and dining with friends.

Best advice I ever received:
From my father: ‘It doesn’t matter what or how you learn, as long as you develop yourself’.

Biggest blunder:
Arriving at the wrong airport in London to check in and the racing to the right airport in a taxi.

Tips for professional colleagues:
Mutual exchange of knowledge and experience is not only fun, but also important for further professional development in this fast changing market.

As an ambassador of Amsterdam, I would...
Encourage the local creative industry to start up more international partnerships.

Company website:
www.stby.eu

Company email address:

Web 2.0:
Good blogs and Flickr group related to my field:
www.janchipchase.com
www.experientia.com/blog/
www.flickr.com/groups/19253565@N00/

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