About me

Hello, I’m Tessel Renzenbrink

I’m a freelance writer focusing on the impact of digital technologies on our society. In 2019 I visited the Waag FabAcademy to write an article for electronics magazine Elektor. When I stood outside the Waag after the class I knew: this is what I want to do! And here I am now, for the class of 2020. I am very very happy to be part of this network and join in this experience.

I’m fiercely in favor of democratizing technology. We should all have a say in what kind of future we’re going to build with humanity’s expanding capabilities. This is some of the stuff I do toward that end. I’ve co-founded stichting Gr1p with Dorien Zandbergen. Gr1p’s aim is to enable people to get a better grip on the technologies that surround them. Currently Dorien and I are teaching the course Toward Digital Freedom at the University of Amsterdam together with Zane Kripke. That’s also the university where I did my Philosophy master’s degree. To promote a free and open internet for all, I’m a board member of the Dutch chapter of the Internet Society.

In 2018 I was alloted a plot of land in a communual garden (volkstuin) on the outermost western city limit of Amsterdam. It’s a magical place at the lowest point of the city at 4,5 meters below sea level. This makes it a mountainless green valley where plants happily grow.