De hele week gratis reizen. Tot 16 maart kunnen studenten dat doen, of ze nu een week- of een weekendkaart hebben. De oorzaak is een overlap tussen de oude ov-kaart en het nieuwe chipsysteem.
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Een woordvoerder van Translink, dat de chipkaart invoert, erkent het probleem. Doordat studenten tweemaal per jaar mogen wisselen van week- of weekendkaart, staan op de OV-chipkaart nu beide kaartsoorten. Tot 16 maart blijft de kaart voor 2009 ook nog werken. Studenten die toen een weekkaart hadden en nu de weekendkaart activeren, reizen de hele week gratis.
Bij Translink merken ze sinds anderhalve week dat studenten de overlap ontdekt hebben. “Het aantal studenten dat er gebruik van maakt, is niet groot”, zegt een woordvoerder. Op 16 maart is het uit met de pret. “Dan worden in één klap alle oude kaarten eraf gesmeten.”
Eerder ondervonden studenten vooral veel nadeel van de invoering van de OV-chipkaart. Ze kregen hun kaart te laat of niet opgestuurd, de oplaadpunten werkten niet goed en er rezen vraagtekens over de privacygevoeligheid van het systeem.
Overigens is vandaag onder het motto “laat je niet buitensluiten” de slotcampagne begonnen die studenten duidelijk maakt dat ze hun chipkaart voor 16 maart echt moeten opladen. Ze zijn de eerste groep die vanaf dan alleen nog met de chipkaart kunnen reizen.
What is the Entrepreneurial Scientist Award?
“The prize is jointly awarded by TU Delft’s Valorisation Centre and by Yes!Delft. I was chosen as the winner for the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM), where I work in the Policy, Organization, Law & Gaming department. Together with the entrepreneurial award came 5,000 euro in prize money as well, which I can use within the faculty for innovation.”
Why do you think you’re regarded as the TPM faculty’s most entrepreneurial scientist?
“I’m not quite sure, but I presume because some people within the faculty think I’m entrepreneurial innovative, but this also raises some questions: what does it mean to be an entrepreneurial scientist? Does it mean having lots of patents? Or does it mean having your own company? Here, it means that if you look at my activities, you see some examples, you see that I assisted some students in gaming, and they liked it very much, and then they started their own companies via Yes!Delft. I really like those experiences that approach research in an innovative, interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial way.”
What exactly is a serious game?
“The simplest definition is that you use game technology and game concept for non-entertainment purposes. So it’s a game with a meaning, a game that has been designed deliberately to have a purpose outside the game! Serious game means using a game language or game technology to transfer meaning from in the game to outside the game. We use the game to understand changes.”
How can researchers benefit from gaming?
“Gaming is an excellent research method, and many PhD students use serious games as research instruments. This means that if there are no interviews, case studies or econometrics modeling available, you can still conduct research by serious gaming.”
How long has serious gaming been around?
“Gaming in itself is a method with a long tradition. It is however perhaps still difficult for people who have a strict definition of science to understand, the people who ask: Can I do this? Can I repeat this? Is it viable enough? But as soon as they accept that not everything in science can be repeated, serious gaming can be understood. If I do a scientific interview, I cannot repeat it. But in a game, I can do it many times; it’s a very creative, innovative research method in environmental science and urban planning, for instance. Its applications are not only for
learning and education.”
What is the relationship between serious gaming and entrepreneurship?
“Entertainment gaming and serious gaming are two of the fastest growing industries in the world. The number of people playing games is growing incredibly fast – it’s a bull market. And we have no idea what’s coming next; there are completely new games mixing reality with the virtual world, and using virtual things in the real world. So there’s lots of innovations growing up. Serious gaming is a magic driver for ICT innovation. Moreover, so many young people are in this business; it’s usually young people who start game companies, not the ‘bigs’! Big companies find it difficult to handle this industry, because they’re bureaucratic.”
If the big companies don’t start gaming companies themselves, presumably they do invest in serious gaming?
“Yes, they very much like to invest in serious gaming; for example, Google Earth is a base for many game platforms, because these are mixed reality games. A major IBM program runs the serious games. These are the major players. These big companies have the resources to buy serious gaming companies, and they’re now searching for the smart companies to buy.”
Is it difficult to enter into this business?
“Actually, for the big companies, it is. But small companies who start in gaming can eventually become a Google or Microsoft, like how those companies started. Because it’s possible to start a gaming company with just a few people, Google and other giants are interested, and this is happening now.”
Do you design games upon request from businesses, or do you first design a game and then try to sell it?
“We design games upon the requests of businesses, but sometimes the game is designed first and then sold, as is the case with some students at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering who had an idea, which they developed as their Master’s thesis, for a small application that communicates with global positioning systems, gives indications and positioning, and has been used by children playing at school. It’s a sort of mixed reality, has a new kind of interface, and children can make all kinds of relationships in a group, for example, playing hide and seek. These TU Delft students designed the game and founded a business based on it, although they have no idea what the market for it will be. It’s not a serious game yet, but they believe they can ultimately turn it into a serious game.”
What process is involved in selling a serious game?
“Any company experiencing a problem can go to a gaming company and request a serious game. But it’s important to remember that it’s not possible to design a game for a company that doesn’t have a problem. First, there should be a problem, and then there can be a game. You need to have a problem or an opportunity, and you need to want to change something. It’s serious gaming. And you can use gaming in this way as a research tool; for example, a company perhaps wants to know what its future will be like in five years if things go a certain way. Search for the problems, and turn them into serious games.”
Is serious gaming happening only in universities, or is it a business?
“It’s a business in itself. If you’re good enough, you can establish your business on it. But if you’ve failed to understand your client’s specific problems, or you don’t have enough experience in building games, you won’t get in the market. We at the university teach students something about why universities and businesses play serious games and their applications in management, but it’s up to you, as an entrepreneur, to get in the market.”
ov-chip
Een woordvoerder van Translink, het bedrijf dat de chipkaart invoert, erkent het probleem. Doordat studenten tweemaal per jaar mogen wisselen van week- of weekendkaart, staan op de ov-chipkaart nu beide kaartsoorten. Tot 16 maart blijft de kaart voor 2009 ook nog werken. Studenten die toen een weekkaart hadden en nu de weekendkaart activeren, reizen de hele week gratis.
Bij Translink merken ze sinds anderhalve week dat studenten de overlap ontdekt hebben. “Het aantal studenten dat er gebruik van maakt, is niet groot”, zegt een woordvoerder. Op 16 maart is het uit met de pret. “Dan worden in één klap alle oude kaarten eraf gesmeten.”
Eerder ondervonden studenten vooral veel nadeel van de invoering van de ov-chipkaart. Ze kregen hun kaart te laat of niet opgestuurd, de oplaadpunten werkten niet goed en er rezen vraagtekens over de privacygevoeligheid van het systeem.
Overigens is vandaag onder het motto ‘laat je niet buitensluiten’ de slotcampagne begonnen die studenten duidelijk maakt dat ze hun chipkaart voor 16 maart echt moeten opladen. Ze zijn de eerste groep mensen die vanaf dan alleen nog met de chipkaart kunnen reizen.
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