A false sense of security?

By Dennis Houtzager on 11 April 2011

Last Wednesday we had Emiel Kanters from Qantel star as a guest speaker at the lab. He was telling us about our edentity (your online identity) and how we currently are not in control of our own data or as he calls it edentity. This quickly turned into a vivid debate where slowly the 2 sides of the debate became clear. 

tagged with: qantel, emiel kanters, online identity, qiy, security, privacy

Hello, I'm the Mayor

By Matthijs Rotte on 6 April 2011

A year ago now, I started using foursquare, just to see what it is all about. Let’s call it a professional interest. I was the only one I knew who used it, expect for the guy who introduced me to the service. Nowadays my colleagues started using it and it’s become great fun. At least, I think so. Just this morning I ousted one of our graduate students who got to be the mayor of the University in my weeks absence when in Africa. A couple of weeks later I got it back. And it brings me joy…

What's this with QR?

By Kees Winkel on 3 April 2011

Strolling through the streets of my hometown, my eye was attracted to a poster in a tram stop. The poster announced that Samsung has launched a new phone in cooperation with Google; the new Nexus. And then there was the QR code. Curious as I am, I opened my QR reader app in my iPhone and scanned the QR. Having installed a new and quite fast new QR code reader at QRscanner.nl, I was led to a website almost straight away. I tell you, it was a website. A fripp’n website and not a mobile site. I could not believe my eyes. Samsung in collaboration with Google led me to a practically non-readable common website to try sell me their new Nexus. Within an instant, I was in complete navigation confusion. Where was I? What were they trying to tell me? What was their call-to-action? Never ever shall I be drawn into the innovations of Samsung again.

tagged with: deloitte, oneshoe, samsung, nexus, qr, google

Jason returns

By Harry van Vliet on 30 March 2011

Last week I read two PhD proposals on how ‘smart’ agents and microsystems can do their work more ‘intelligently’ if they become ‘aware’ of their surroundings. This is not an uncommon way of putting things: we have ‘smart’ phones, ‘intelligent’ video recorders, and security systems that are ‘aware’ of a possible breaking and entering. But there is a difference between using these words in everyday life as a shortcut to express ourselves and using these words in a scientific context. In the latter you commit yourself to explain what exactly you mean by it. Mostly this boils down to references to ‘schemata’: knowledge structures that are used to infer what the situation is and how to behave in it. The ‘restaurant’-schemata of Schank & Abelson is one of the most famous.

tagged with: artificial intelligence, frame problem, schemata, smart

Nuclear crisis in 140 characters

By Rogier Brussee on 24 March 2011

tagged with: history of the future, energy, fukushima, twitter, social media

How dumb do we want to be?

By Yvonne Buma on 16 March 2011

Last week I attended a lecture by Nicolas Carr, the Mediatheek had tipped me and it turned out to be a great tip. It’s always nice to hear an expert expressing your suspicions. And mine is that the internet isn’t always a blessing.

tagged with: multitasking internet thinking neuro

Why and how edutation will change

By Harry Smals on 12 March 2011

The education system really has to change so Roger Schank tells us. He has a very strong quote on his website to underline this: There are only two things wrong with our education system: 1. What we teach; 2. How we teach it. Actually, many people say that the education system should change radically. Bill Gates is convinced that people do not only learn at school and that they should be rewarded for what they learn elsewhere. Of course he himself is a convincing proof of that; he dropped university to start his own business and he is rewarded with being the second richest man on the planet. Now, what he means is that people should be rewarded with certificates and diploma’s for what they are able to, instead of receiving a certificate or diploma for having passed all the exams. I agree.

tagged with: blended learning environment, learning space, future of learning

Who gets my vote?

By Michiel Rovers on 27 February 2011

Coming up: the provincial elections. On March 2, I again have to decide who gets my vote and especially why. Right now I am a true undecided voter. For that reason I am looking for the politician and the party that is able to convince me. So for the last few weeks I’ve been looking on Twitter and television to find the most reliable politician and party.

tagged with: elections, politicians, twitter, social media

Bad science is good for you

By Harry van Vliet on 24 February 2011

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre is a tenacious and sometimes hilarious showdown of scientific research gone wrong. It is not cheap entertainment though, although Goldacre is no stranger to a comic pun, but is set out to make a point of what it means to do research and communicate about it. The abundance of examples of bad research is just collateral damage in an exposé of scientific pitfalls that most of the time can easily be avoided (such as the CONSORT guidelines which describe best practices in writing up trail results. The book is essentially about being misled into thinking something is more effective than it really is. This may be inconvenient in our daily life; in science it is a sin. 

tagged with: placebo, cognitive illusions, science

Twitter revolution

By Yvonne Buma on 21 February 2011

The twitter revolution is roaring in the Middle East. Looking at the headlines at this moment (Sunday evening) they are about continuing revolts in Libya, thousands demonstrating in Morocco, daughter of an ex president of Iran taken prisoner during demonstrations and last but not least calls for revolution on the internet in China.

tagged with: socialmedia, revolution, twitter