Identity Card

Someone asked about the identity card seen on the photo of Golden Bear in an earlier post, and what that was all about. You see, these identity cards have been in vogue for many years now at the Olympics (as well as at many other large-scale international gatherings) and serve as an accreditation badge for official delegates to the event. Typically, the cards are embedded with a silicon chip or scannable bar code to permit the bearer entry to certain restricted-access venues. Of course, our Seminar Abroad '08 delegation's identity cards are not for any purpose other than to give our students a place to keep their trading pins (although these official-looking cards have been known to unexpectedly open doors from time to time), and to serve as a nice souvenir of their attendance at the Beijing Olympics.