Four things I am occasionally asked to do
Once in a while people ask whether I’m available for things outside of my day job at the archives. The honest answer is: sometimes, yes. Below are the four kinds of work I’m asked to do most often — what they tend to look like in practice, and how I usually approach them.
If any of this is useful to you, send me a note. I try to reply within a week, and I’ll say so plainly if it isn’t the right fit.
Night at the Museum, 2023
Of conferences, panels, and the occasional symposium.
I moderate conferences, panels, and symposia. Most of them sit in the worlds of heritage, archives, and craft, though I’ve ended up at adjacent events too — on data, regional history, and once a long evening on permaculture.
What I bring is preparation and flexibility. I read everything in advance, I sit with the speakers beforehand if there’s time, and I write a fresh set of questions rather than recycle the ones already in the programme. If anything unexpected comes up, I love improvising. I work in Dutch and in English.
I’m happiest at events where something is actually at stake, however small; less so at the kind that exist mainly to be photographed.
Slavery tour of Groningen for the Minister of the Interior, 2023
Of archives, craft, and the corners where they overlap.
I give talks about the work I actually do: archives and information management, the philosophy of craft, regional history, and the odd corners where those three overlap.
The most-requested talks at the moment are about the role Groningen played in colonialism and slavery; pigments and paints in 17th century Groningen; the role of archives in an age of AI; and about the digital lives of regional collections. I write each talk for the room it’s going into.
I’d rather show up with the right forty minutes than the same hour and a half I gave somewhere else last month.
Spoonfest, 2022
Of craft, attention and patience.
I teach traditional crafts — spoon carving, leatherwork, Japanese lacquerwork (urushi), and now and then sandalmaking. I teach at festivals like Spoonfest and Von Hand, Spoon Burn and when I have time at smaller workshops I host myself.
My classes are practical and unhurried. Beginners are welcome, and so are people who’ve been at it longer than I have. For organisations or schools wanting something more tailored — a multi-day course, a series of evenings, a single deep day — I’m happy to design a curriculum from scratch.
I also have extensive experience as an educator, so if there's anything else you need a workshop in and it falls within my expertise, feel free to ask!
I’d rather you finish one thing well than start three you don’t know what to do with.
Talk for the Province of Groningen, 2026
Of data, policy, and public history.
I advise organisations on digital innovation, collection data, and information management. By day I lead the Information and Advisory services department at the Groninger Archieven, which is also where most of my thinking on these subjects gets tested against reality.
Outside of that day job, the consulting I take on tends to be small and well-defined: a strategy that needs a second pair of eyes, a digital finding aid that needs a plan, a policy that needs to actually work for the people stuck applying it.
I also have some experience working in the museum field. Over the years, I have curated exhibitions, acquired new pieces, and described collections. This experience allows me to help museums and cultural institutions think about their content. I assist them in connecting historical narratives with the practical systems behind them.
Most useful in the unglamorous middle of the work, where strategy meets a spreadsheet, or where a good idea has to survive its first contact with the harsh reality of an organisation.