Jorgen van der Sloot

Jörgen van der Sloot is Senior Research Director of FreedomLab Future Studies, an Amsterdam based research lab and think tank that uses the future as a reference point for reasoning about today. Prior to joining FreedomLab in 2003, Jörgen has had a long career in commercial and public television broadcasting and format development. He experienced the boom and bust of the first internet bubble with an internet company that explored the frontiers of online storytelling.

What Jorgen will be doing at DIY DAYS

Reasoning From The Future: Wicked Storytelling in the Media Mass

Are we living in a network society and how does that impact media? Is this the end of mass media and are we now confronted by a media mass? The media are embedded in society. As such the future of media is really about the future of our entire world. In the age of participation every organization and every media endeavor is confronted with a future of complex interdependencies that creates a world of wicked problems. Doing business in the future will increasingly be about designing for those wicked problems. FreedomLab Future Studies helps companies to do just that, by developing alternative visions that allow them to become sensitive for the future and adaptable to change. In this talk Jörgen will share FreedomLab’s perspective on the future of media and will elaborate on how wicked storytelling might proof to become a crucial capability for every organization in the future and how you can become part of it.

DIY DAYS asks Jorgen

What are you currently working on that you’re excited about?

I’m currently leading the development of FreedomLab’s ThinkLab methodology and 4-step program that challenges organizations to deal with wicked problems in intensive small group power-settings. During such strategic sessions we take an outside-in look from a future perspective and help the organization to build a mindset that generates new ideas and creates an alternative vision to the challenges they face. To me it’s very exciting to help these people think differently and to be able to take a front row seat in those places where decisions about our future are being made everyday: in classrooms, boardrooms and in politics.

What are some of your favorite sites and / or mobile apps and brief why?

I don’t know if it’s my favorite site or not, but the one place that I frequent the most is Facebook. To me it’s a mind boggling platform for real life storytelling. I’m hooked to some of the best stories I have ever read from people that I don’t necessarily know very well. I can get my episodes whenever I want, experience as much as I want and the surprising twists in some of the plots is amazing. And the best thing is: it’s almost all real and truly interactive.

What’s are you currently watching, reading or playing?

I recently got intrigued by a book called ‘Sustainism’ by Michiel Schwartz and Joost Elffers. The book reads like a manifesto for a new more sustainable era. I like the fact that the authors are not talking about it as ‘sustainability’ but are arguing for it to be a new era and see this as the new modernism. Visually just as interesting as what they write about.

For more on Jorgen and his work visit

Site:
www.freedomlab.org