After listening to Dr. Tom Savel speak to our class about what the CDC was doing with mobile app development, what I found most surprising and fascinating, was how much time, effort and thought goes into creating a user experience.
I didn't think that creating a user experience was going to be easy but I also didn't realize what goes into making a 70 page pdf document into a mobile app. Some of the decisions that need to be made include:
- how to categorize the document (by topics, by chapter, etc)
- how to allow the user to choose the category (list alphabetically, create icons for each category, etc)
- once a user clicks on a category, how is that information displayed? does it read like a book? are there a list of sub topics to click on? should those sub categories be in a list or have icons?
- should topics be cross references? if so, how?
- should there be a back button, a forward button, a 'go to the beginning' button, a 'go to the end' button?
- should there be storage of a users history? If so how? how will they access?
- should there be a home button? where? on the screen at all times?
These questions just hit the surface of all the questions that a team must ask themselves before creating a web app.
Doctors and other health professionals having access to information literally in the palm of their hand, is an amazing concept and I think the field of Health Informatics is only going to grow. I have noticed in the past year or two, my doctors have all converted from written charts to carrying laptops and inputting all information there, I can just imagine mobile being the next step in electronic health records.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Google I/O conference session 2012
The Google I/O conference was held on June 27-29, 2012. Videos of their sessions are posted at http://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions. The session I listened to was titled "The next generation of social in the hangout." Developers discussed Google + hangout, how it came about and how it is used.
I found this session fascinating. I have used Google hangout only a couple of times for a group project for school. I thought it was pretty cool but never really stopped to think about he possibilities.
The developers talked about a Hangout as being the new way to do social. Mimicking real life but having everyone actually there where they can be seen as if everyone was at a conference table. Hangouts have been used to give cooking demos, guitar lessons and to show power point presentations.
Google hangout is being used more and more for business collaboration so the Docs app was added so colleagues could share documents, live in real time.
The Google hangout API can be used to:
- build activities inside hangouts
- build enhancements for live conversations
- bring Google + hangout to your app
Examples for companies that have incorporated the Google Hangout API are:
- Aces Poker, which lets everyone sit around a table and play poker and when it is your turn, your camera displays you in the big center square for everyone to see your "poker face".
- Scoot and Doodle - where a group of people can sit around the same canvas and draw, play pictionary or make a collaborative work of art.
To create an application using Google + hangout, go to http://developers.google.com/+/hangouts and start new application.
Google + is free, web based software that could truly change the way businesses conduct meetings, the way presentations are made, the way friends meet, the way students ask for help and so on. The possibilities seem endless.
I found this session fascinating. I have used Google hangout only a couple of times for a group project for school. I thought it was pretty cool but never really stopped to think about he possibilities.
The developers talked about a Hangout as being the new way to do social. Mimicking real life but having everyone actually there where they can be seen as if everyone was at a conference table. Hangouts have been used to give cooking demos, guitar lessons and to show power point presentations.
Google hangout is being used more and more for business collaboration so the Docs app was added so colleagues could share documents, live in real time.
The Google hangout API can be used to:
- build activities inside hangouts
- build enhancements for live conversations
- bring Google + hangout to your app
Examples for companies that have incorporated the Google Hangout API are:
- Aces Poker, which lets everyone sit around a table and play poker and when it is your turn, your camera displays you in the big center square for everyone to see your "poker face".
- Scoot and Doodle - where a group of people can sit around the same canvas and draw, play pictionary or make a collaborative work of art.
To create an application using Google + hangout, go to http://developers.google.com/+/hangouts and start new application.
Google + is free, web based software that could truly change the way businesses conduct meetings, the way presentations are made, the way friends meet, the way students ask for help and so on. The possibilities seem endless.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)