![\"osumobile\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osucws\/files\/2010\/01\/osumobile-217x300.jpg\")
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Have you heard or seen?\u00a0 OSU has launched the new mobile site, m.oregonstate.edu.<\/p>\n
The official launch date was on December 7th, 2009, and there was some information in The Daily Barometer<\/a> and on OSU Today<\/a> about this, if you want to read what was said then.\u00a0 Or you can find more information here as we continue with its development.\u00a0 This project was a collaborative between Central Web Services providing the core mobile development efforts, Facilities, the Office of the Registrar, and Web Communications.<\/p>\n What you missed if you did not see it during the launch week was the display of finals schedules, thanks to the information provided by the Office of the Registrar.\u00a0 Not to worry though, there’s plenty more finals to come along in 2010.<\/p>\n So why mobile, and why now, or really why back in December?\u00a0 The reason is simply the prevalence of mobile computing in the world today.\u00a0 Phones that weren’t smart are becoming smarter, and the smart phones, well they are just adding more and more.\u00a0 There are plenty of studies on how mobile computing is where people will find their main source of information in the future, so I’m not going to rehash that here.\u00a0 Just use your favorite search engine and go read about it.\u00a0 So why now?\u00a0 Now because we cannot afford to wait and be left behind other Universities that are advancing on this front.\u00a0 The reality is, trying to find a building isn’t something you should have to pull your laptop out of your backpack, especially when it is raining, or go find a computer lab and a computer to log on, to find a building.\u00a0 Much of this information can be provided via a mobile device, and for certain phones we have in fact provided this.<\/p>\n What we dubbed the alpha release, which is a working release with a few main features, buildings, parking, the full campus map, and some essential phone numbers are provided via m.\u00a0 There’s still some things to work out to provide in future releases, such as providing location information, and other detailed information, but the alpha release was just that, alpha.\u00a0 Showing this now, provides the OSU community the ability to see some of the capabilities that mobile can provide, and let’s us ask the question, what’s next?\u00a0 Well, how about a directory search?\u00a0 Or News or personalized class schedules or finals?\u00a0 These things are all possible.\u00a0 No doubt everyone has seen news releases about all the numerous schools with iPhone applications, right?\u00a0 Stanford, Duke, the University of Texas and others have released or are releasing applications specifically for the iPhone.\u00a0 Did you know there is a team working on an OSU iPhone application as well?\u00a0 That’s right, there is a Capstone Project<\/a> that is working on just this.\u00a0 So then you ask, why another mobile platform?\u00a0 The simple answer is that not everyone is walking around with an iPhone.\u00a0 If you’ve acquired a Palm Pre, or an Android, or a Blackberry, what do you do?\u00a0 Well, that’s why we have m.oregonstate.edu.\u00a0 Currently, Palm Pre and Android phones will be supported (ie. you should be able to see and use the site).\u00a0 The newer Blackberries also will work for most features.\u00a0 With some of the older blackberry models, the UI will not be correct.\u00a0 We’ll be laying out a list of supported models soon, and we’ll provide a blog post on it soon.\u00a0 Unfortunately we won’t be able to support every single phone, but we figure the ones we do will be a good subset.\u00a0 And did I mention m.oregonstate.edu will also work on the iPhone?<\/p>\n There is plenty left to do, but the way I see it, we’ve only just begun.<\/p>\n Thank You,<\/p>\n Jos Manuel Accapadi<\/p>\n Interim Associate Director, Central Web Services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you heard or seen?\u00a0 OSU has launched the new mobile site, m.oregonstate.edu. The official launch date was on December 7th, 2009, and there was some information in The Daily Barometer and on OSU Today about this, if you want to read what was said then.\u00a0 Or you can find more information here as we… Continue reading