Hi Steemit community, this will be my new home

Hey Steemit community, in the last few weeks I have used Steemit in the opposite as it was probably intended and that was through lurking. Seeing the community and the discussions here an itch started to be a part of this space and to share my ideas. My atricles will be mostly on notes taken during my travels on topics I think are interesting within the cryptospace and decentralization. Furthermore I might share some photos from my travels if people enjoy them.

As someone with a background in International Development, Development Economics and Sociology I would like to write out my notes in the coming weeks. Share my thoughts, experiences and ideas about this space in relation to cryptotechnology but most of all provide an avenue where such things are discussed, shared and critiqued by people with other backgrounds. Down below you will find some topics I will tackle in the coming weeks. Follow me if you think these might be of interest to you.

First a little bit about myself

My name is Liam and I am from the Netherlands, currently I work for the city government of The Hague where I work on the social and physical improvement of neighborhoods in relation to existing or future social problems.
I like to challenge myself with new ways of looking at this world. I do this online by reading a wide variety of new or differing opinions and offline by traveling the globe. Be it for work, on an academic basis, vacation or in doing volunteer work. I like to submerge myself in new locations, for the majority of the times I stay at least for multiple weeks in one location. Trying to understand the feel and vibe of a place, going beyond initial impressions and perceptions. Hang around in local places and with people from that area. As a social scientist by trade, (for a better description of my diverse background is lacking) I want to understand how people perceive the world, how they describe what is going on, their actions and the people around them.

When I was 20 I took my first trip to West-Africa and immediately a love for the region started. Having extensively traveled before- from visiting almost every corner of Europe to countries like China and Egypt- my traveling habits became more focused after visiting Ghana. Since then I have visited multiple countries in East and West-Africa. For me these countries can best be described as places in a constant state of flux, where a palpable feeling of change is brewing within a confining structure of limited means. This energy and tension is what provides a challenge and leads to a motivation to be a part of what is happening here and now.Having a strong interest in the new field of technological advancements through decentralization in the wake of the new cryptocurreny-sphere since 2011 I found myself thinking about the application within these developing regions and emerging markets. Steemit seemed to the right platform to finally share these thoughts.

Future topics

-Development aid and the possible use of partially public ledgers in the use of inter-agency cooperation between large aid organizations and local actors such as NGO’s, local governments and businesses. This is based on my experience in the aid setting for refugees located in Kenya and the funds management (accountability) of larger organizations such as the World Food Program, the UNHCR and the Lutheran World Federation towards smaller local NGO’s.

-The role of new technologies in regards to (current and future) issues surrounding mobility and transport in metropolitan hubs in Sub-Sahara. This is based on my time in Nairobi (Kenya), Accra (Ghana) and Lome (Togo) in which I extensively used public transportation in my time there.

-Bigdata, privacy and urbanization in Sub-Sahara Africa and the role of new cryptotechnologies in this space.

-Smartcities, Smartmobility and the Smartgrid in The Netherlands. While the Netherlands is on the forefront on many technical innovations structural challenges hindering further adoption are currently slowly breaking down. In my current position within the municipal government of one of the largest cities in the Netherlands I follow these changes closely and I would like to give an overview into pilots and projects sprouting up all over the place in the Netherlands at the moment.

-IOTA, Jinn Labs and the role of the ternary microprocessor in the successful adaption and implementation of IOTA.