1. UWeng Mobile App Erick Engelke Director Engineering Computing

2. Need Students request/demand mobile access 85% have a mobile device:phone/tablet/pc MacLeans and others judge us on points like this Regular web pages don’t cut it these days Mobile: one has to start somewhere

3. Technologies Many available technologies –Reviewed them, tried some Most people write for one brand (Apple, Android, Blackberry, MS Phone) Chose open technologies: HTML5, Javascript, AJAX which work on all phones Embarcadero framework helped a lot

4. Organize Content Places – eg. maps, parking, food Ref – Reference Material – dictionary, etc. Happens – current events, blogs, eating, weather, etc. Courses – course related Other – semi random: games, etc.

5. Result: UWeng Is a web page, could also be native app Is highly modular –Subscreens can be any technology,+ back btn –Subscreens can be iFrame – load in window –Or can be entire screen, eg. google scholar Screen can be navigated with thumb Relatively intuitive

6. Problems Many devices have small incompatibility with Internet standards. Coded around most of these issues before beta. Different devices have different screen dimensions, people have different sized fingers. Android demands larger buttons. Only discover issues by having testers

7. Schedule Feb. 1, 2013 – started Apr. 12, 2013 – beta released (test server) –Issues discovered (some bugs, some compatibility issues, some inter-app issues) Apr. 15, 2013–production hardware arrives Apr. 19, 2013 – second beta Apr. 29, 2013 – production release

8. Data Sources WatIAM’s UWdir extract Various open data feeds on api.uwaterloo.ca Some other applets depend on Internet

9. What does it mean? Anyone can create mobile apps from same backend data As long as they don’t store the data, it remains current… not stale Can cache data for 1 day simply for speed We can have a variety of interfaces –Akin to GM, Ford, Honda, etc. different feel, different market, same essential functionality

10. What UWeng Means Open standards for maximum portability Usability on variety of topics - small screen Proves useful mobile systems can be produced relatively quickly – 1-2 months Emphasizes need for Open Data and Open Enterprise Data – enable developers

11. What UWeng Means Part II Pick your least favourite application (Fore) Make select RAW data available (require permissions, ACLs, etc.) Enlist other people on campus to do the GUI design… AND platform choice… after all, why would IST bother doing mobile for Fore… but many profs would like it. IST can concentrate on core, let others do supposed fringe, but don’t stop us.

12. What Open Data Means Lose some control of data –Central orgs often resist Requires some sanitization to remove confidential data People allowed to access for one reason but often come up with better ideas later, but very different from original Allows mashups – combining two or more sources of information to do new things Eg. user defined thresholds on accounts could generate Email alerts for spending, available funds, etc.