Kees Boersma

Contact

Welcome at my website. Find out what I am doing as a researcher, teacher and consultant!

I am born in the Hague at 22 April 1969. Currently I live in Amsterdam with my wife Halleh Ghorashi.

I work as Associate Professor in the Department of Organization Sciences of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the VU University Amsterdam. I am management committee member of the COST Action project: Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS) financed by the EU. Next, I am the project leader of the Amsterdam Research on Emergency Administration (AREA).

My research is about: 1) the organization of safety, security and surveillance, 2) the organization of knowledge-intensive institutes like research laboratory and higher education institutes.

During the last 10 years I have been teaching in the courses Organizational Behavior, Organizational Politics, Organization Theory and Technology and Modern Culture. I supervised over 75 Master-students and I am/was involved as a co-promotor in 7 promotions.

At this website I show what I am doing and in what projects I am involved in. Please contact me if you have any questions: f.k.boersma@vu.nl

From February – August 2012 I am appointed visiting scholar at the University of Illinois in the Department of Communication and the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (I-CHASS) where I work with professor Scott Poole and professor John Lammers. I am also researcher at the Illinois Fire Safety Institute (IFSI) during this period.

Office in Amsterdam:

VU University Amsterdam
Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Organization Sceinces
De Boelelaan 1081c
1081 HV Amsterdam
Room: N 322 (Metropolitan-building)
Phone: +31 (0)20 598 6769
e-mail: f.k.boersma@vu.nl

After the Hype

This book aims to help researchers and practitioners to understand hypes about ICT and government without becoming cynical. Hypes can be functional in triggering processes of change, but one should be able to distinguish a 'trigger' from a realistic set of expectations. This book combines an analysis of the discourse (in terms of hypes) with an analysis of practices (in terms of stable routines and relational patterns).
Internet and Surveillance

This book explores the changing landscape of the Internet and Social Media (Web2.0) by addressing topics such as commercial data collection by advertising, consumer sites and interactive media; self-disclosure in the social web; surveillance of file-sharers; privacy in the age of the internet; civil watch-surveillance on social networking sites; and networked interactive surveillance in transnational space. This book is a result of a research network launched by the European, intergovernmental network COST Action Living in Surveillance Societies.
Jaarboek KennisSamenleving 2010

Jaarboek KennisSamenleving 2010 stelt kritische vragen bij de alomtegenwoordige blik van toezicht. Nieuwe technieken maken het opslaan en verwerken van informatie makkelijker en maken de weg vrij om gegevens vast te leggen voordat duidelijk is welk inzicht we eigenlijk nastreven. Toezicht wint zo terrein ten opzichte van de kennisverwerving. Voorbeelden van toenemend toezicht zijn elektronische dossiers over burgers, informatievergaring door de politie en in private initiatieven zoals Google Earth.
Inventing Structures for Industrial Research

This is my awarded book. It describes the early, organizational history of the Philips Research Department. The story indicates that it was not enough for Philips to simply have a tradition of innovation - the company needed to create a culture and structure that permitted the coordination between people and resources that was necessary for developing innovations in an industrial context. I can send you a copy of the book.

- English
- Nederlands
Recent Publications
Boersma, F.K., F.P. Wagenaar and J. Wolbers (2010). Organizing Emergent Safety Organizations. The travelling of the concept ‘Netcentric Work’ in the Dutch Safety sector. In: Proceedings of ISCRAM. Seattle, April 2010. S. French, B. Tomaszewski and C. Zobel (eds.): 1-6.
Ghorashi, H. and F.K. Boersma (2009). Iranian Diaspora and the New Media: From Political Action to Humanitarian Help, Development and Change, 40(4): 667-691.
Boersma, F.K., C. Reinecke and M. Gibbons (2008). Organizing the University-Industry relationship: a case study of research policy and curriculum restructuring at the North-West University in South Africa, Tertiary Education and Management, 14(3): 209-226.
Boersma, F.K. and M. de Vries (2008). Transitions in Industrial Research. The case of the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (1914-1994), Business History, 50(4): 509-529.
Wagenaar, P. and F.K. Boersma (2008). Soft sister and the rationalization of the world. The driving forces behind increased surveillance, Administrative Theory & Practice, 30(2): 184-206.
Publications and Lectures

Kees Boersma

Contact

After the Hype

Internet and Surveillance

Jaarboek KennisSamenleving 2010

Inventing Structures for Industrial Research

Recent Publications

Publications and Lectures