Tag: amsterdam

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The Open State Foundation has its office on the old naval yard in the heart of Amsterdam. Right next to the national maritime museum, in the 17th century warehouse of the Dutch admirality, and across from the 1960’s former Base Commander’s home our (as I’m a board member there) offices are surrounded by other small organisations, start-ups, assorted innovative efforts, a tech academy, a hostel and a microbrewery.

Normally it is easy to forget that the area is also still in active use by the Dutch Navy, for which parts of it are unobtrusively shut off to the public. During summer people swim in the former harbour basin, there’s a sauna lodge at its edge, and floating gardens, just steps from surveilled fences.

This morning it was very obvious that this is still an active navy compound.
Four artillery pieces were shooting across the harbour basin, right as I traversed the pontoons across it with my bike to reach the Open State’s offices. Despite the serious looking military police cordoning off the otherwise public street, it was clear it was a ceremonial thing. The cannoneers wore gala outfits with lots of gold tresses.
The noise was enormous though as I moved towards my destination under their fire.

Turns out the Emperor of Japan is on a state visit and in Amsterdam today, and the firing was a salute.
It also explains the very visible large police presence at Central Station when I arrived from home and picked up a bike there.


Four guns firing over the harbour basin, seen from the harbour basin’s other end, at Marine Terrein in Amsterdam.


Amsterdam Central Station, image Ton Zijlstra, license CC BY NC SA

Last Monday I had a meeting early evening in Amsterdam and took the train. I walked out of the central station right during the ‘golden hour‘ and snapped this image. I probably should have cleaned the phone’s lens beforehand 😀

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..is supposedly taking place next Monday in Den Bosch. This may come as a surprise for those, like myself and BarCamp co-originators Chris and Andy, who remember visiting the second ever BarCamp globally 16 years ago, in Amsterdam on 20 and 21 October 2005. Or those who attended any of the Dutch BarCamps thereafter documented on BarCamp.org (albeit sparsely, I admit). Mediamatic kindly provided the venue in PostCS for that first Dutch BarCamp.

I heard E guffaw as she read that LinkedIn posting and after hearing why, couldn’t resist kindly pointing out their mistake and linking to the relevant BarCamp.org page for that first BarCampAmsterdam of 16 years ago.


Roland in a BarCamp Amsterdam 2005 t-shirt. Image Ton Zijlstra, license cc by nc sa


Part of the BarCamp Amsterdam schedule in 2005. Image Ton Zijlstra, license cc by nc sa

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De Gemeente Amsterdam wil een meldingsplicht voor sensoren in de publieke ruimte. Iedere organisatie die sensoren in de buitenruimte plaatst zou vanaf het najaar moeten melden waar die sensoren staan. Dit is nuttig om meerdere redenen. Allereerst omwille van transparantie en om de discussie over nut en noodzaak van al die sensoren om ons heen diepgaand te kunnen voeren. Of om te zien welke gegevens die nu door private organisaties worden verzameld, eventueel ook voor een gedeeld publiek belang kunnen worden gebruikt.

Amsterdam gaf eerder al een voorbeeld dat navolging verdient met de start van een algoritme-register, en dit sensorenregister lijkt me een uitstekende aanvulling.

(Defect) reclamebord op Utrecht Centraal Station dat ik in 2018 fotografeerde, met een ondoordachte camera in de publieke ruimte om aandacht voor de advertentie te meten. Burgerlijk verzet plakte de camera af.

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Had fun facilitating a workshop today exploring ethical data use around the Amsterdam Ajax Arena, for crowd control, safety and security around events as well as embedding the several large scale venues on that location better into their urban surroundings. An interesting mix of various threat models and responses in combination with creating a lively urban center where the quality of living is high for all involved. ‘Digital perimeters’ were at the center of discussion. Within various perimeters ever closer to the venue tighter security profiles might apply, meaning different types of data collection and use.

The workshop took place right in the middle of the case under discussion, the Arena board room itself, with a view of the pitch. We’re facilitating a range of these workshops, focusing on ethical collection and use of location related data. The Arena was one of two cases discussed today. The other case concerned responsible use of mobility tracking data supplied by volunteers.