The “European Night of the Researchers” is an event that includes more than fifty activities that could be enjoyed virtually. This is the first time that the University of Vic participates in the organization of this initiative that is held in more than 400 cities on the continent and is supported by the European Union. The main objectives of the event are to publicize the work of people involved in research, to show the benefit it brings to society, and to encourage the vocation for research among new generations.
Throughout these two days, it was possible to access free of charge a wide program of activities aimed at all audiences.
Ruth S. Contreras presented a short session entitled “Gamification, what is it and how is it used? Where she explained that gamification serves as an improvement of the already existing services that have to imply their own purpose and intrinsic value. In the project “CO3, Disruptive digital technologies to co-create, co-produce and co-manage open public services with citizens”, gamification is used to encourage various behaviours among citizens and public servants. Citizens will be able to vote for a city government initiative through the use of a gamification platform. This creates a cycle of commitment that includes a challenge to their goal and where they are also asked to take action. Other challenges and actions that are posed to citizens through the CO3 platform are to participate in crowdfunding activities, to deliberate on proposals, to create initiatives or citizen activities, to define working groups, to detect spaces that can be useful for citizens, volunteering, etc. For each of the activities developed, the user receives points and tokens (virtual currencies) that can later be exchanged for coupons, for example.
