Martijn de Waal

I am a writer and researcher based in Amsterdam. In my work I explore the entanglement of new media technologies and public spaces. 

I currently work as a professor at the Civic Interaction Desgin research group at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. In our group, we explore future visions for a democratic network society. With our work, we strive to develop new visions, concepts, roles, design approaches and prototypes that contribute to public life.

With an MA in Film and Television Studies, another in Cultural Studies and a PhD in Practical Philosophy and a professional past as a journalist, my background is rooted in the humanities. In the last few years I have tried to connect the more analytical, critical and discursive practices of these disciplines with the field of design. 

I folowed my MA-programmes at the University of Amsterdam (1998) and received a PhD from the Univeristy of Groningen. As an exchange student and a visiting scholar I spent a semester at UC Berkeley (1996) and The M.I.T. Centre for Civic Media (2009).

From 2018-2021 I was the chair of  the Media Architecture Biennale 20, taking place in the summer of 2021 in Amsterdam and Utrecht. From 2018-2020 I served as the chair of the Digital Culture committee at the Creative Inudstries Fund NL, and from 2008 to 2013 I served as a member of the board at the Dutch Fund for Cultural Broadcasting. With Michiel de Lange, I also co-founded The Mobile City, a non-profit that since 2007 has organized numerous workshops and events on digital media and urban culture. With Frank van Vree and Theo van Stegeren, I also co-founded DeNieuweReporter.nl in 2005, a leading Dutch blog on the future of journalism, for which we have won the National Press Prize De Tegel in 2006.

I have spoken and hosted workshops at many international events, from academic conferences and biennales to professional events in the worlds of policy, design, architecture, and new media.

In 2022, with Gijs Gootjes, I started Recast, a bi-weekly newsletter on technology, design and society.

I post semi-regularly on LinkedIn , announcing new publications, events, job opportunities or brief commentaries. You can follow me there, if you'd like to receive updates.

As a personal project, I enjoy photographing urban public spaces.  

If you are interested in collaborating, or want to invite me as a speaker or otherwise, please contact me at martijn AT martijndewaal DOT nl

Some of my key publications include:

The City as Interface. How New Media are Changing the City.  Nai 010 Publishers, 2014

The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World. With José van Dijck and Thomas Poell.  Oxford University Press, 2018

The Hackable City. Digital Media and Collaborative City-Making in the Network Society. With Michiel de Lange. Springer 2019.

See here for a a full list
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=t9CFbSAAAAAJ&hl=nl