Almar van der Krogt (http://www.linkedin.com/in/almar) is founder of VIRVIE (http://www.virvie.com), an internet consultancy based in the Netherlands that strives to connect the real and the virtual world. As a Virreal Architect he develops visionary website concepts that stand out in terms of beauty and ambition. Whilst his years of experience in customer/user centric websites and internet applications ensure solid usable designs, his urge to incorporate non-functional (but contextually relevant) components adds to the overall user experience. Thus realizing lasting impressions.

His speaking engagements include the Experience Architecture Forum at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Boston (http://www.viddler.com/explore/avanderkrogt/videos/4/ ) and the Web and Beyond conference in Amsterdam (http://www.viddler.com/explore/avanderkrogt/videos/3/)

Almar currently is involved with several projects for libraries and cultural heritage institutions, including an Augmented Reality pilot that makes youth aware of background information regarding their immediate surroundings.

project description ‘PeRSoN.NeL’

The project that is the basis for the Hybrid City presentation is an elaboration of the ‘virtual decoration’ service PeRSoN.NeL (http://www.prsn.nl ), which I founded in 2010. It is based on an idea presented at the REBOOT conference in Kopenhagen in 2009 (http://www.slideshare.net/avanderkrogt/from-reboot-with-love-for-reboot11 ). It strives to elicit peoples values and intentions in order to facilitate communication and cohabitation. In comparison think of clothing; simply wearing a T-shirt with certain statement/print invites ‘strangers’ to respond. In this respect also think of graffiti, or better: tattoos! It’s a permanent statement of what matters to that person. Of course these are forms of exhibitionism that don’t come natural to everybody. That’s why I will be making the case for ‘virtual decoration’, a way to decorate your augmented environment and/or your augmented self.