Best Bessensap masterclass presentation given by Martijn Kleppe

According to the jury, Martijn Kleppe, Erasmus University Rotterdam PhD student from the Faculty of History and Arts, gave the best of the nine presentations at the Bessensap ‘press-meets-academia festival’ organised by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and held on Monday, 7 June 2010.

During the Bessensap event, Kleppe gave a presentation on the methodology used by the committee that established the Dutch history and culture canon (Canon van Nederland). Basing his conclusions on interviews with stakeholders and committee meeting minutes, he demonstrated that the images on the iconic canon wall chart (canonwandkaart) were largely compiled by one person. This individual initially formed an idea of the subjects based on his own memory and then searched for corresponding images on Google and in his personal library. Kleppe demonstrated that it is possible for the memories of a single individual to determine the collective visual memory.

Martijn Kleppe was one of nine young researchers who presented surprising and interesting research. The presentations were made in groups of three before an audience of scientists, communication officers and scientific journalists. The presentations were judged by a jury of three experts in communicating science to a broad audience: Marcel Hulspas (science journalist for De Pers), Alex Verkade (De Praktijk) and Gerda Bosman (Teleac, including for instance Hoe?Zo! radio).

Both the audience and the jury were impressed by the content of Kleppe’s presentation and his presentation style, praising the fact that he did not present his discoveries in a sensational manner, but instead remained scientific. He succeeded in communicating his presentation clearly and in piquing the interest of the audience, whom he better informed about the importance and significance of images in a historiography. After the presentation, members of the audience enthusiastically asked more about the specific example of the historical canon used in his presentation. In recognition of his excellent presentation, Kleppe was awarded the opportunity to speak about his research in an interview on Teleac Radio and to make a presentation at the science festival Discovery Wetenschapsfestival 2010.

About Martijn Kleppe
Martijn Kleppe is currently working on his dissertation Nederlandse fotografische iconen - Een onderzoek naar de werking van foto’s in Nederlandse geschiedenisboeken en een inventarisatie van de ideeën en werkwijzen van historische beeldbepalers (Dutch photographic icons – An exploration of the role of photographs in Dutch history books and an inventory of the ideas and methodology of those who determine historical images) at the Department of Media and Communication (Faculty of History and Arts). While his research interests, on the one hand, address the established and new selection processes employed by editors for various forms of media, such as newspapers and magazines, as well as history books (including chronicles), Martijn is, on the other hand, interested in the depiction of historical and recent events in press photographs. Martijn is associated with the Erasmus Research Centre for Media Communication and Culture (ERMeCC). His supervisor is Professor Henri Beunders.

See for more information:

Amanda Koopman, Communications Officer Faculty of History and Arts,
e-mail: koopman@remove-this.smc.eur.nl