Kevin Pratt » Coding

No Man is an Island – On Open Source

Kevin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:56:00 +0000

So I want to make an iPhone app. With my limited coding skills, I always knew that the likelyhood of this happening wasn’t very high. I could, of course, get hip deep in code and piece my way though. I’ve done it before with wordpress themes, wikimedia preferences, and integrating different sets of software together. I learned the basics of javascript, PHP, and how to structure a mySQL database.
But if you look carefully, you’ll see that I cheated. It wasn’t just me and a hello world script all the way to a blog, wiki and forum online. I took existing open source programs and templates and modified them to meet my needs. Now I want to work the other way around. I want to create the idea and the interface and put it out to be built upon by coders much more talented than myself. According to Clay Shirky in his book Here Comes Everybody, “Open source software has been one of the great successes of the digital age” (240). He then compares it to a Wikipedia article where someone starts an article and an army of people come along and finish it.
I don’t know if I’ll find an army, but a few good coders will do. For now though, I’m going to see how far I can get.

Feature List – iPhone Library App

Kevin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:42:57 +0000

Core Features (done before the end of semester)

Search and find books using the GSU catalog
At least allow for title, author, keyword and isbn searches.
Display catalog results in an iPhone friendly style
Ensure that the call number is highly visible
Be able to save books to a queue to be found later
Display queue with book name and call number in a scrollable list
Sort queue by call number for easy stacks navigation
Be able to clear something from queue with a swipe

Optional Features (if time permits)

For books not found or not available extend search to all georgia libraries.
Login to request a book through GIL Express
Login to recall a book

Future Features

Generalize to work with any library that uses the same database system.
Create a list of libraries the app will work with and the option to add more.
Expand to include article database searches

The Competition – There isn’t much

Kevin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:37:45 +0000

First of all, Apple not having a webpage for their applications that doesn’t have to open in iTunes is maddeningly annoying. In protest I won’t link directly to any app and will instead link to the Apptism or AppCraver page instead.

So I found two applications that are similar to what I want to do. First is WorldCat Mobile created by/with Boopsie, Inc. In short, it’s terrible. It hangs, doesn’t find libraries very well and doesn’t even tell you where to find the book. For example, one librarian reviewer lamented that the app doesn’t provide the call number for the book meaning you can’t find the book if you’re already in the stacks. I think I know why though, more on this later.

The second was DCPL, a local library application for the DC Library by DCPL Labs. It’s a pretty basic application that can search the catalog and give you local branch hours and locations. Besides that, the app does let you login and put a book on hold for pickup later and gives summaries and photos for books. I don’t think I have time to set up the ability to login with my app, but maybe I can get the summaries and photos to show. From the comments, it seems like quite a few people wish it worked with their local libraries.
I don’t expect this app to be very popular outside of college students and professors. But since I’m open sourcing it, it should be able to be adapted to local libraries as well.

Next step, develop a list of features.

Coding an iPhone App

Kevin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:15:00 +0000

So I’ve decided to create an iPhone application for my Comparative Studies in Emerging Media class at GSU and document my progress here.

For now I’m working on creating a library search application that will allow me and others to search my university’s library from anywhere and create a list of the books I need to find there. I’ll create this as an open-source application which should be able to be adapted to any university using a project called VuFind to connect to their database.

But first, I’m going to do some research and see if it’s a good idea for me to spend the $99 for a iPhone developer license.