The Web on the Move, Part 2

Taking what we had learned from Monday's lesson, our computer lab exercise asked us to design a mobile device app that fulfils our needs as City students.  There was a lot of discussion and good ideas flying around; a lot of looking at our own smartphones and seeing how they presented their apps and such.  There was also much checking of City's Moodle system and its many flaws and drawbacks.

I'd initially been a bit worried about this exercise, not knowing exactly what I could bring to it; but the conversation and ideas were so stimulating, I soon became very excited about designing my own app.  As soon as I got home, I started making a mockup of a City Moodle app on Photoshop.

A City Moodle app mockup.  Does not discriminate between smartphones (but only because I don't actually have an iPhone).

• Mail - Instant access to your City email account.
• Discussion - Feed of the latest posts on the Moodle discussion boards with the option of instant posting/replying.
• Compass - GPS or wi-fi based showing your campus location.  It allows you to key in your classes and get room directions.
• Bluetooth - Allows you to instantly download lecture notes and slides so that you can read them on the move.
• Scanner - Liam's brilliant idea!  See a book in the bookshop, and scan the barcode to check its availability at City's library.
• Library - Access to your library account and the library catalogue; allows you to reserve and renew books whilst on the move.

On top of this there is a drop-down menu which allows you to access your course details whenever you want.  The drop-down menu unfolds over the length of the screen, and folds when you touch outside the body of the menu.  I'm sure there's a lot more that could be integrated into this.  I think it would be a great idea to have such an app for City students; the exercise made me realise just how useful it could really be.

The Web on the Move, Part 1

So I guess this lesson succeeded in that it made me upgrade my ancient (i.e. 2 year old) phone and get a new touch-screen smartphone!  So unfair that I have to wait hours for it to charge before I use it! T_T

Frankly, I was surprised I managed to hold out for so long.  Smartphones are now pretty ubiquitous, and being a bit of a gadget fan, the temptation was certainly there to capitulate to the web as mobile platform.  So why are smartphones so popular?

Having a computer in your pocket whilst on the move is certainly a big pro.  The main pro of mobile devices is that they are context aware.  The know where they are, and can provide lots of information about their location, e.g. in-built GPS system.  The cons are obviously the limited screen and keyboard size (not so much of a problem for someone with tiny hands like me, and I like bite-sized phones, but hey...).  Other cons like limited connectivity and battery life are Moore's Law problems, and will probably get solved if you sit around for another couple of years (which is what I ended up doing before I got my new phone, lol!).

The main problem with mobile devices is that they don't really fulfil user's information needs.  It is the current technology that defines our needs.  For example, with my old phone, I knew there was no point in trying to connect to City's Moodle system, because my phone simply could not handle it.  It would have been mighty useful to have access to Moodle like I would have had on a Smartphone, but it was impossible and so I would just wait until I had access to my laptop.

Looking at it from another angle, technology can also provide users with things they never knew they wanted.  Just now I saw an advert for the new iPhone 4S, with voice control technology.  Want to know if you need an umbrella when you go out tonight?  Just ask your phone.  It'll give you an immediate answer.  But who would have thought you'd even want this before it became reality?

My laptop has in-built voice recognition technology.  Wow, I thought!  I can really do with this.  After setting it up and using it for a day to get it to learn my speech patterns, guess what - I never used it again.  Maybe I didn't need it so much after all.