InhollandInHolland University will terminate nine study programmes that were deemed to be substandard. The Delft branch of InHolland University will stop teaching computer science.
For a programme focused on naval architecture, InHolland is currently looking for partnerships in the region.
Bikes
It is a typical Dutch image: a train station with bikes parked everywhere. The community of Delft is fed up with bicycles that are parked outside of the racks at Delft Central Station, however, and as such all bikes parked ‘illegally’ in and around the station will be removed as of May 9, 2011. In the meantime, Delft is building hundreds of new bikes racks, so that everyone will be able to park their bikes correctly.
Crime wave
According to Dutch police records, the police arrested more suspected robbers this year than during the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2011, the Dutch police recorded 710 robberies and arrested 243 suspected robbers, compared to 822 robberies and 187 arrested suspects the year before. The number of robberies had been on the rise since 2007, reaching its peak in 2009 when 2,898 robbery-related incidents were reported. This led to the start of a Robberies Task Force, headed by the Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, which has apparently helped stem the crime wave.
Reprimand
Dean Marco Waas, of the faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, has been reprimanded by the Works Council. The Works Council states that the restructuring of the model construction and processing lab was already completed before the council had a chance to look at it. Members of the Works Council said it was not the first time that Dean Waas has exceeded his authority and asked the Executive Board to intervene. Dean Waas said that the project had already been running for three years, but admitted the action was wrong. The Executive Board was surprised, unaware that there had been a problem.
Online NL
The Netherlands Internet Domain Registration Foundation (SIDN) issued more domain names last year than in any previous year. SIDN, founded in 1996, issues all domain names ending in ‘.nl’. SIDN’s 2010 annual report states that it registered 514,230 new domain names in 2010, bringing the total number to 4,192,454. Some 1,500 new domain names are issued every day. “With the total number now at 4.3 million, this means ‘.nl’ is in third place among the 250 country domains worldwide,” says Roelof Meijer, SIDN’s director. Meanwhile, Dutch kids aged between 9 and 12 have the highest number of internet profiles of all European children. Some 70 percent of Dutch kids have a social networking site personal page, according a recent European Commission report. Those with the lowest profile are French kids, with just 25 percent having social networking site pages. And in 13-16 year-old category, the Netherlands also has the highest percentage: 87 percent.
No ban
To the displeasure of the PVV Freedom Party, the provincial government of North Holland voted down a proposal to ban municipality employees from wearing Islamic headscarves at work. The proposal was tabled by the populist PVV, which charges that headscarves symbolise Islam’s oppression of women and hinder social integration. The PVV said that governmental councillors and civil servants should set a good example by being the first to ban Islamic headscarves.
Big Google
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP) has charged US internet company Google with intercepting people’s private information in the Netherlands via insecure wireless networks. Google has destroyed this information. The CBP, which functions as a privacy watchdog, said Google vehicles, which photograph Dutch streets for Google’s ‘Street View’ service, collected information that included financial and medical information. Google also collated the identification numbers of 3.6 million secure and insecure WiFiRouters. The CBP started investigating Google’s private information collection methods in the Netherlands in May 2010.
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Rising tide
If Antarctica’s icecap melts, the sea off the Dutch coast will rise by 120 centimetres, according to a report by the Netherlands’ National Weather Centre, but if Greenland’s icecap melts the North Sea will only rise by 40 centimetres. The research in this report was conducted by Utrecht University, TU Delft and the National Weather Centre. Global warming’s impact will differ per region and depend on factors like ocean currents and interactions between oceans and icecaps. “As the ice sheet becomes smaller and the ocean holds more water, less water will be drawn to the icecap,” the report concluded.
Honderdvijftig vrienden; dat is zo ongeveer het maximum aantal contacten dat je op communities als Facebook, Hyves en LinkedIn echt kunt onderhouden. Als je meer contacten hebt, kun je beter ‘ontvrienden’, want echt veel aandacht kun je volgens Britse onderzoekers dan niet meer aan deze vriendschappen besteden.
Het aantal ‘digitale’ vrienden schijnt hierbij overigens gelijk op te gaan met het aantal vrienden in de werkelijke wereld. Nu heb ik er niet zoveel, maar ik verwacht dit jaar wel de honderdvijftig te kunnen halen met mijn werkgerelateerde contacten op Linkedin. Een nieuwe werkgever wil daar ook wel bij helpen: sinds mijn vertrek van de TU naar Stichting Kennisnet vorige maand heb ik er al zo’n tien ‘volgers’ bij gekregen. En eigenlijk verwacht ik wel dat alle honderdvijftig (!) werknemers van Kennisnet op de diverse netwerksites te vinden zijn; het is namelijk een organisatie die het gebruik van ict in het onderwijs ondersteunt. Waar het een en ander wordt uitgeprobeerd in de onderlinge communicatie.
Soms mislukt dat. De dienst Yammer, waarmee collega’s informatie kunnen delen, bleek toch niet te doen wat er van werd verwacht. En een vergadering waarbij je tegen laptops en iPhones aankijkt is best irritant. Maar er wordt wel naar middelen gezocht om het communicatieproces te versterken.
En het moet gezegd; het digitale communicatieproces ondersteunt de persoonlijke interactie. Ik heb in de maand die ik bij Kennisnet rondloop sterker het gevoel dat ik bij een gemeenschap hoor dan in de twee jaar dat ik op de TU Delft rondliep. Natuurlijk is het makkelijker om een corporate community te onderhouden met honderdvijftig werknemers, dan een met ruim vijftienduizend studenten en 4500 werknemers wiens loyaliteit meer bij hun vakgenoten ligt dan bij de universiteit. En toch, zeker in deze lastige tijden met minder prettige maatregelen kan een persoonlijke en goed geplaatste weblog wonderen doen.
Waar blijft ‘The World according to Dirk Jan’, of Luyben? Eet de rector eigenlijk nog met buitenlandse studenten? En waarom staan die buitenlandse recepten (en die van Fokkema) nog niet in het Delft Digital Cookbook? Het web wordt nu vooral gebruikt om te zenden, niet om te bloggen of voor de menselijke interactie. En dat is Yammer.
Dit is de laatste column van Kasja Weenink.
Inholland
InHolland University will terminate nine study programmes that were deemed to be substandard. The Delft branch of InHolland University will stop teaching computer science. For a programme focused on naval architecture, InHolland is currently looking for partnerships in the region.
Bikes
It is a typical Dutch image: a train station with bikes parked everywhere. The community of Delft is fed up with bicycles that are parked outside of the racks at Delft Central Station, however, and as such all bikes parked ‘illegally’ in and around the station will be removed as of May 9, 2011. In the meantime, Delft is building hundreds of new bikes racks, so that everyone will be able to park their bikes correctly.
Crime wave
According to Dutch police records, the police arrested more suspected robbers this year than during the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2011, the Dutch police recorded 710 robberies and arrested 243 suspected robbers, compared to 822 robberies and 187 arrested suspects the year before. The number of robberies had been on the rise since 2007, reaching its peak in 2009 when 2,898 robbery-related incidents were reported. This led to the start of a Robberies Task Force, headed by the Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, which has apparently helped stem the crime wave.
Reprimand
Dean Marco Waas, of the faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, has been reprimanded by the Works Council. The Works Council states that the restructuring of the model construction and processing lab was already completed before the council had a chance to look at it. Members of the Works Council said it was not the first time that Dean Waas has exceeded his authority and asked the Executive Board to intervene. Dean Waas said that the project had already been running for three years, but admitted the action was wrong. The Executive Board was surprised, unaware that there had been a problem.
Online NL
The Netherlands Internet Domain Registration Foundation (SIDN) issued more domain names last year than in any previous year. SIDN, founded in 1996, issues all domain names ending in ‘.nl’. SIDN’s 2010 annual report states that it registered 514,230 new domain names in 2010, bringing the total number to 4,192,454. Some 1,500 new domain names are issued every day. “With the total number now at 4.3 million, this means ‘.nl’ is in third place among the 250 country domains worldwide,” says Roelof Meijer, SIDN’s director. Meanwhile, Dutch kids aged between 9 and 12 have the highest number of internet profiles of all European children. Some 70 percent of Dutch kids have a social networking site personal page, according a recent European Commission report. Those with the lowest profile are French kids, with just 25 percent having social networking site pages. And in 13-16 year-old category, the Netherlands also has the highest percentage: 87 percent.
No ban
To the displeasure of the PVV Freedom Party, the provincial government of North Holland voted down a proposal to ban municipality employees from wearing Islamic headscarves at work. The proposal was tabled by the populist PVV, which charges that headscarves symbolise Islam’s oppression of women and hinder social integration. The PVV said that governmental councillors and civil servants should set a good example by being the first to ban Islamic headscarves.
Big Google
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP) has charged US internet company Google with intercepting people’s private information in the Netherlands via insecure wireless networks. Google has destroyed this information. The CBP, which functions as a privacy watchdog, said Google vehicles, which photograph Dutch streets for Google’s ‘Street View’ service, collected information that included financial and medical information. Google also collated the identification numbers of 3.6 million secure and insecure WiFiRouters. The CBP started investigating Google’s private information collection methods in the Netherlands in May 2010.
Rising tide
If Antarctica’s icecap melts, the sea off the Dutch coast will rise by 120 centimetres, according to a report by the Netherlands’ National Weather Centre, but if Greenland’s icecap melts the North Sea will only rise by 40 centimetres. The research in this report was conducted by Utrecht University, TU Delft and the National Weather Centre. Global warming’s impact will differ per region and depend on factors like ocean currents and interactions between oceans and icecaps. “As the ice sheet becomes smaller and the ocean holds more water, less water will be drawn to the icecap,” the report concluded.
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