Enron´s accounting methods revealed...

UM is in the Finals!!!!

Hartelijk gefeliciteerd!

Our University of Maastricht team has made it into the final round of the Citi International Case Competition taking place in Hong Kong. 

The picture displays the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology´s beautiful campus, btw. 

Talking about Case competitions, there are also 3 lucky students looking forward to participate in the CaseIT Competition. 

Update: Maastricht did its best, had innovative ideas and fought hard. But, eventually UC Berkely won this case competition. Congratulations. Still, reaching the finals is quite an achievement. I think we can all be proud of our team and provide them with a spectecular welcome when they are back.

We are back!

As of today the summer is officially over! Nothing to worry about, though. According to reliable sources it is coming back next year.

Most importantly, we are back and YOU can join us!

Just send your ideas and stories to speakum@gmail.com. What do you like about studying at the University of Maastricht and what is driving you nuts?

You may as well announce your house-warming party here ;-).


Hope to see you soon.

McCain hates me...

and you too, if you join. So what are you waiting for?
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IT professors leaving UM for Tilburg

Bad news: According to what I heard on the radio today, several IT professors of the University of Maastricht are leaving. A 5 million Euro artificial intelligence center at Tilburg is supposedly the reason for their action. And now there appears to be a shortage of professors for the fall semester of 2008.

The Personal Schedule – 2 steps forward, 1 step back

Good news everyone, we finally have a personalized schedule for all students and the faculty! My excitement, however, lasted as long as I did not actually see it. Don’t get me wrong, the schedule is a really nice tool. Yet, the layout and functionality make me want to have back the good old excel sheet telling me my group and tutor (name) explicitly at one glance.

I know we just started with the schedule and there is (hopefully) going to be some improvement. To my mind, a parallel strategy should have been followed: Introduce the personalized schedule, while still posting the old schedule as an Excel sheet. Once the personalized schedule works as it should the Excel sheet can be abandoned.

Just have a look at the picture and spot the mistakes. Okay, so, although the time is stated in the lower right corner of every box, the box does not extend to the right time, but always misses a quarter of an hour. Further, it is great that you tell me the week number (25/26), but who honestly looks at the week number?! I need a date, because I make my plans according to specific dates, not the week.

When using the “Course Timetables” (see picture), I can see all the different tutorials, but only few of mine. What is purpose of this view? And in “My timetable” I have to select week by week. Well, enjoy doing that when you have 8 weeks of classes!

Okay, so let’s say I would like to print the schedule. In Opera 9.27 I cannot even see half of my schedule – even when using the Print View, because the upper frame uses about 50% of the page. In Firefox 2.0.0.14, the individual SCREEN VERSION is better than the PRINT VERSION for printing, because it displays the schedule magnified. Using the Internet Explorer and printing only the selected frame, the view of the timetable is adequate. However, the text is so small that in order to read it, I would have to print a poster.

You can choose between three Start and End times when displaying your schedule. But if all my classes are from 13.30 – 15.30, I could not care less about having no classes between 8.00 – 13.30 and between 15.30 – 18.00. Why doesn’t the schedule only show me the timeframe of my classes? An Excel export feature would also be nice. We would also appreciate different colors for distinct classes.

This project is still in its infancy; I am aware of that. I am also aware of the fact that it takes time to implement changes and that it took a lot of effort to develop this schedule. However, if the project is still in beta status, then please do not discard the old schedule format immediately.

Multi-thousand Dollar Interactive Whiteboards for 45 Euros at UM

Sorry for not posting new stories lately, but I had been busy reading phone books. Uuups, I should not do that (Point 3). Well, I thought; and I have been thinking about the future of using more technology at the University of Maastricht. I know that not all faculties have - unfortunately - equally many beamers (not this beamer, although it would certainly be nice for every faculty to have one), yet did you know that we could get interactive whiteboards for just about 45 Euro a piece?

All we need, is the following:

- Wii Remote = 40 Euros

- Infrared LED <= 1 Euro

- Push Button Switch = 2 Euro

- Pen (case) and some easy soldering work = 2 Euros

See the Multi-thousand Dollar Interactive Whiteboard for 45 Euros in action here.

Johnny Chung Lee, a student at Carnegie Mellon University, has also some other interesting uses for the Wii remote. Check it out at his website. He also shows you how you can easily turn your screen into a Virtual Reality Display by using a Wii remote. I am surely going to try this out - and if successful post the results here, of course.

So, what else are we (not) going to see in the future?

The Future

- Aptera - the car of the future.

- The disappearing car door - This concept has been developed in the 80s, yet had been discarded. This is not fake; it is real.

- CyberWalk - one step closer to Virtual Reality Environments.

- Self-reassembling robots - if that were only possible with cars.

- The Search Engine that understands you - so far you can only search Wikipedia articles, though.

- Dmitri Gaskin - explaining jQuery.

- An Electric Car beating a Porsche and a Ferrari

- Finnish Polka 1: Loituma. People really sing that. And there are is a techno version by BassHunter and someone else available as well.

- Finnish Polka 2: Eläkeläiset - they cover almost everything, from Smells like Teen Spirit to Barbie Girl.

Not the Future

- ICat - please get a real pet.

- Flying Cars - The Moller SkyCar is a waste of energy. But hey, it's only 324,000 GBP. If you had that kind of money you would merely have to figure out how to get a license for it and where to take off and land.

- Skateboard Car

- Chessboxing

- Funky but still useless car features

In Between

- Super Icat - I have no idea what this guy is talking about, but it certainly looks interesting.

- Tresling


So, will you assemble the Interactive Whiteboards if UM agrees to buy the components?

Reduce your stress level

As a student of the Maastricht University University of Maastricht you have to read a lot. And with a lot I mean phonebooks. Reading phonebooks causes stress. Stress causes your productivity level to go down as fast the US economy. Now, to mitigate these effects you could laugh. This will not help the US economy, but according to about.com it will almost cure every itch there is.

Here are ten ways of reducing your stress level:

10. An honest college ad.

9. When war calls, it is time for a phone fight.

8. How to handle annoying bluetooth guys?

7. Survival of the fittest M&M.

6. Don't judge too quickly.

5. I will see you in h*ll Pachelbel.

4. How to greet your friends.

3. You suck at Photoshop.

2. And one more thing: The Apple I-Rack.

1. The Matrix Spoof (MTV Movie Awards).


Extras
- Spiders on drugs.
- Demotivational Posters.

Just scream! part 1

Good day everybody,

I like the idea of this website.

If somebody wants to get rid off something special that he has experienced at the University Maastricht, he or she can do it here, may it be positive or negative, just scream it out here!!

datobi

Research 2.0 – Be the next Jimmy Wales

Some people do not know what to write about and come up with the most amazing ideas. Bret Taylor is sure one of them. Maybe he has not been the first to suggest a Wikipedia for data, yet his webpage is the first place where I came across this brilliant concept.

How often did you have to want do a research project on a bigger scale, but due to time and financial constraints were not able to do so? What if you could just go to a reliable (peer reviewed) source and download the specific data set you need for your paper? The data set would have to be accompanied by a detailed description of the research method applied as well as provide information about the setting in which the data had been collected, of course.

Once this has been accomplished, the next revolution in research history is about to come. Sharing data sets in an open community would enable researchers to draw different conclusions from the same data – because they could be addressing different questions that they particularly want to answer. It is actually about time that the web opens up for science, especially since that is where it originates from.

You can already find open access journals, which are a great way of exchanging information and opinions. Christopher Surridge from the Public Library of Science On-Line Edition thinks that “science happens not just because of people doing experiments but because they’re discussing those experiments.” (Scientific American) To my mind open access journals are paving the way for how research will be carried out and accessed in the future.

Although, it still may take some time and effort before this new way of sharing research results and study insights is going to be adopted by the scientific community. According to the Scientific American, scientists are only slowly turning to these new and open tools that are readily available on the web, such as blogs.

Maybe they fear losing reputation or not being able to further build it up. Evidently, getting an article published in a renown scientific magazine is an outstanding accomplishment, not (yet) comparable to publishing it online. Furthermore, some scientists might think that they will be more occupied responding to the scrutinizing comments of the readers than with doing research.

Yet, isn’t open access to a database full of research data and scientific articles the dream of every scientist? Open access would encourage more interaction, because it decreases the barriers of accessing scientific journals and allows to reach a greater audience.

I don’t suggest every researcher to open a blog now, and besides, some have already done so: Nicolas Carr’s (IT doesn't matter) is one of the few I can really recommend. I do suggest however to create a scientific news aggregation site, which can basically act as the main link connecting the widespread scientific community.

With open access data comes the downside of sharing it publicly – abuse and misuse. Thus, security mechanisms will have to be implemented in order to not falsify data and prevent people from submitting false data. However, I will leave solving this issue to you, dear future entrepreneur.

So, hands up if you want to be the next Jimmy Wales.

Speak Ur Mind at the UM Blog

You might be asking yourself what this blog is all about. And I am willing to answer that question. This blog is for you, the community of the Universiteit Maastricht.

Here you can tell your stories, speak out and make yourself heard. Speak Ur Mind is the place where you can share your experiences and discoveries. Talk about topics you consider being important. Address issues that you think need to be tackled.

Writing a short article is not a one-way street as it is mostly the case with submitting a story to a magazine. This medium gives you the opportunity to become interactive and comment on articles or take part in polls. You can also submit polls, of course. Just send the question with the corresponding answers to speakum@gmail.com.

Another advantage compared to magazines is that your article will get published here, no matter how long or short it is. There is not going to be a selection process either – as long as you adhere to certain rules, such as not using foul language or purposely making false statements. So, this is your chance to get involved, raise issues of your interest and talk to others.

This blog’s purpose is to give you a platform where you can easily and quickly express your mind and at the same time reach an audience instantly. You do not have to reveal your name, but instead can use two letters or just a pseudonym (which shall not be the name of someone else). Further, it might be a good idea to stick to that chosen pseudonym – thereby you can build your reputation.

I am curiously waiting for your stories and comments – don’t let me wait too long ;-). Speak Ur Mind!

The Blogging Season has started

Herewith, I declare the MU UM Blogging Season to be open.

This blog is mainly for students (and the faculty) of the Maastricht University. The who? The what? You might ask. The university is also known as Universiteit Maastricht. Recently, there has been some discussion about the change, or respectively, the addition of the English surrogate name. Especially, since calling it Maastricht University instead of University of Maastricht, leads to switching the well-known UM into MU. Could that have anything to do with the ivy league naming standard maybe(nonexistent, btw, but it is there)?

What is wrong about University of Maastricht? Why not adhere to how (other) top-notch European centers of education call themselves? University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Parma, University of Bologna. Is this solution too obvious or too easy?

According to the Observant "any contacts in Dutch will continue to use the name 'Universiteit Maastricht', but not with the abbreviation UM." Oh noes, um, no UM, but MU [mooh; or Em Ju - just like Ef Ju] instead. Could someone please tell me why it’s not simply called University of Maastricht? Besides, being called Universiteit Maastricht, of course.

It has also been argued, that since the Universiteit Maastricht is a Dutch university, the additional name should be dropped. True, it is a Dutch university. Yet it claims to be an international epicenter of higher education - don't you think that an additional, more international name is more than appropriate?

You can transfer this argumentation to this blog. Why not blog in Dutch, or German, or Kisuaheli? Although my Dutch is better than my Kisuaheli, I - as many of you have as well - noticed that some students at UM speak Dutch, some speak German, a few speak Mandarin and again others speak Spanish. Now, what do all of them have in common, besides working and or studying at UM? Right, all of us speak English.

This, in part, unites us, because it enables us to communicate on common ground. The English language is the catalyst sparking the cross-cultural exchange and makes UM what it is - an international epicenter of education and cultural exchange.