Michel Vuijlsteke
| Michel Vuijlsteke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Born | 27 August 1970, Ghent, Belgium |
| Occupation | User experience architect; writer; former BBS/Internet early adopter |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Employer(s) | Ghent University |
| Website | blog.zog.org |
Michel Vuijlsteke (born 27 August 1970) is a Belgian user experience architect, writer and former Internet early adopter.
Biography
Vuijlsteke was born in Ghent and studied law, but did not pursue a legal career.[1] In 1992 he participated in the pilot program of the Central European University in Prague, an experience he later summarized as leaving “mainly culinary impressions.”[1] In 2016 he obtained a cooking diploma at the Spermalie Hotel School in Ghent, formalising a long-standing interest in food.[1]
He lives in Ghent, is married and has four children; two cats also feature prominently in the household logistics.[1]
Career
Netpoint
In 1995 Vuijlsteke co-founded Netpoint, an Internet company building websites for a range of clients.[1] From 2000 he served as managing director within the Unit4Agresso group.[1]
College of Europe and Namahn (first period)
After a short period at the College of Europe, Vuijlsteke joined Namahn in 2006. He worked on information architecture for clients including SD Worx, Belgacom and KBC, from facilitating workshops to producing wireframes.[1]
Doggybites / Adhese
Between 2010 and 2018 he was product owner of Adhese, an online advertising platform, demonstrating Belgian ad-tech used internationally within its niche.[1]
Namahn (second period)
Since 2018 he has again worked with Namahn, this time as a user experience architect at EUROCONTROL, contributing to applications used in the management of European airspace.[1][2] He has jokingly described the role as “drawing complex PowerPoint for people with airplanes.”[3]
Volunteering
- At cirQ he contributed to projects labelled as “artistic experiment”, such as Datakamp and Batastunt.[1]
- At Refu Interim he built a volunteer-management application that continues to run.[1]
- For Gentblogt he wrote articles and took photos for many years, later serving as chair of the non-profit.[1]
- For Doorway Productions he worked as a screenwriter and script doctor.[1]
Online presence
Since 2002 Vuijlsteke has written the blog Zog.org, mixing technology, personal notes and commentary, which he once called “a diary that got out of hand.”[3]
Languages
Vuijlsteke speaks Dutch and French as mother tongues, English fluently, and has working knowledge of German, Italian and Spanish.[1]