So now what?

Graduation, the big black hole…  What have I been doing since handing in my thesis? Well I certainly haven’t been chilling in that big black hole, I have been busy as hell avoiding it!

September 2010 I started working as an editor at Mediamatic Travel. Mediawhat?? Mediamatic Travel is an online DIY – travel agency, focusing on underground arts & culture scenes in cities that are not so obvious to visit. Think of Dakar, Tbilisi or Nicosia. Not really places that attract huge herds of tourists. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything interesting to see. On the contrary, these cities have a thriving contemporary art scene that really is worth visiting. However, it is not always easy for these scenes to survive in countries that sometimes suffer from dictatorship, war or poverty. By giving them an online platform, we support these cities and exposure is given to artists and art projects there.
Being an editor basically means keeping up the website, making sure is kind and pretty to its visitors. I update documents and pages, edit contributions, persuade people to write travel stories and occasionally write editorials myself. Besides that I am very busy attracting new guides and so far I have recruited 6 guides in Cologne, Dakar, Bratislava, Buenos Aires, Skopje & Istanbul. Furthermore, we want to attract more people to the website. A Facebook-page was created which sped up traffic to the website and we’re busy spreading the leftover Mediamatic Travel glossy’s from last year. Interestingly, this travel network can’t do without some help of old media. There’s the paper travel glossy’s, which we’ve printed ourselves. But attention given to Mediamatic Travel by TV (3 Op Reis), magazines (LIV) and newspapers (The Frankfurter Rundschau, no I’m not kidding!), really helped drive interest and traffic to the network. As if people only believe it’s real, when a website is on print…

Unfortunately, I can’t stay forever at the non-profit network that Mediamatic Travel is. So I have joined the 100.000+ just-graduated & desperate job-seekers. Luckily for me, this puddle has only been a temporary resort for me. As from February I will start my new job as a City Content Manger for youropi.com ! Youropi.com is a travel website mainly focused on city information, and that is where I come in. I’ll be producing and editing content about various cities in Europe, updating information, photographing and keeping everything up-to-date. So far, I have enjoyed three very good interviews with the team at Youropi and I am very excited to start. This small, but thriving young company really seems like the right step to make. More on Youropi.com will follow once I have started there, but if you’re planning a city trip soon then take a look on Youropi.com. You’ll easily find the information you’re looking for, select, create a PDF and print your custom made travel guide. All the blessing of online media (convergence, selectivity and real-time information) come together here.

 

Oh and yes, of course I have planned a trip! Before I start at Youropi is is Bali & Borneo in January. More on that in coming blogposts.