Richard Kastelein

Innovator, Strategist, Media Guy

Canadian Expat based in Holland covering Picnic as freelancer writer.

Currently fascinated with Social TV and working on some articles for new innovation in this arena. See - agoramedia.co.uk/blog/social-media/social-tv-convergence/

Working on new startup this fall in London. www.agoramedia.co.uk

I am the founder and publisher of the Free Press Group which works with over 400 progressive writers worldwide in an Open Source Journalism framework based on the GNU. The writers are syndicated to Google News, Lexis Nexis, Ebsco and other networks via the platforms - built on Open Source Software. Over 20,000 articles published since 2005.

And I have published a number of writers On Demand, most recently Andre Vltchek's Oceania which Noam Chomsky calls:

"...In this work, Vltchek extends his penetrating gaze to a lovely, desecrated, almost forgotten vast area of the world, Oceania, which he shows to be “a microcosm of almost all major problems faced by our planet. He brings to light the strength and courage of the people, and their achievements, and explores the hopes for decent recovery and survival if the powerful can allow themselves to comprehend what they have done, and to accept the responsibility of actually protecting their victims instead of mouthing comforting and self-serving slogans."

www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/oceania/7521076

Other Ondemand projects here:

www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=expathos&x=0&y=0

C-level strategist with several start-ups with strong skills in Social Media Architecture and Analysis - Community/SNS building using Open Source technology. New Media publishing and remodeled old school print media using on-demand technologies. Top notch communicator.

Adept team player - a publisher, writer, photographer, marketing director, web developer and graphic designer with more than 20 years experience in the development and operation of newspapers, magazines, web media and marketing of multinational, companies in international settings.

Current

• Chief Executive Officer - CEO - Agora Media Group, London
• Chief Strategy Officer - CSO - Worldticketshop - Netherlands
• Advisory Board Member of Tel Aviv-based Zephyr Financial Technologies.
• Advisory Board Member of Pixengo, UK
• Consultant with Travolon Belgium in building news, opinion and multilingual social media portal for European Travel Industry.
• Built own company in Holland – Expathos – focusing on Social media analysis and strategy, new media publishing, and open source technologies.

Past

• Board member and shareholder of Sparkling Media UK, building Cross Media Social Platform (CMSP) merging telephony 2.0, web, TV, and Virtual environs (3D).
• Managed the marketing departments of two Caribbean-based multinational marine companies.
• Editor and publisher of several Caribbean publications.
• Extensive media history with various publications - Native Press in the Canadian Arctic, freelance work for a number of magazines in the boating and travel arenas.
• Skippering sailboats offshore over 15 years as professional skipper.

Who am I?

Richard G. Kastelein

  • Been known as a 'grottie yottie' while living barefoot onboard our sailing vessel in the Caribbean for ten years.
  • Built a 1.3 million dollar catamaran in Brazil in 2004.
  • Publisher and founder of www.freepressgroup.eu - a group of online publications that work with over 300 academics and media creatives who focus on progressive politics and ideas.
  • Open Source CMS junkie having been in movement since phpnuke all the way to Joomla.
  • Viral web projects including thankyouqwest.org and unassociatedpress.net covered by NYT's, USA Today, IHT, CNN and more...
  • Sailed across Med and Atlantic with wife in 1994 on small sailboat. Pacific in 1991.
  • Interviewed Canada's first woman astronaut, Roberta Bondar, about what the Northern Lights looked like from above... while looking at them from below in the Canadian Arctic.
  • Did over 100 restaurant and bar reviews as Editor of What's ON St. Martin and St. Martin's Week.
  • Published on demand print book by Chris Floyd on Amazon.com called 'Empire Burlesque' for under 100 euro. Published Oceania by Andre Vltchek for less.
  • Devised and innovated on new system to deliver a Quest 3D environment on the web using a wowza flash streamer, advanced streaming capture solutions, and delivery on a linux server.
  • Broke story and uncovered a human smuggling ring as an investigative reporter in St. Maarten - after 25 bodies were found floating in sea.
  • Wrote the Hitchhiker's guide to the sea, the first travel guide on crewing on sailboats in 1991 after sailing around the world hitching on yachts.
  • Delivered sailboats for a year between the Virgin Islands and St. Maarten for Sunsail.
  • Fathered three lovely daughters all currently under seven.
  • Married to Groningse for a dozen years.

What do I do?

  • Write, photograph, design, code, dream, organize, structure, feed, mould, shape, feel, warp, laugh, smile, elucidate, innovate, invigorate, appreciate, empathize, sympathize, enterprise...

What do I want?

  • Creative Work that tests the core of who I am and makes a difference.
Fan of:
Ferhan Cook, Matt Locke, Anthony Citrano, Antonio Camara, Christian Nold, Dale Herigstad, Greg Skibiski, Gerri Sinclair, Matt Adams, Moeed Ahmad, Michael B. Johnson PhD, Seth Shapiro
Participant:
Request a Press Pass, Reality Continuum Special, Augmented City Lab: THINK!, PICNIC Mobile Bites, PICNIC '09

Contact information

  • Richard Kastelein