Tim Fernando

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Tim Fernando Tech. Project Manager Oxford
University Computing Services
Mobile Oxford http//m.ox.ac.uk _at_mobileox
Molly Project http//mollyproject.org _at_mollyprojec
t
University of Oxford http//www.ox.ac.uk
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0.00
Cost
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No

• licence fee
• 3rd party development costs
• app store bureaucracy

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Compatible with virtually every mobile device
Source Gartner http//www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp
?id1689814
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Powerful Accessible You control the data and
security
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talen
ieithoedd
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Multilingual
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langues
Sprachen
Thanks to Bangor Universitys efforts
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HTML5 kicked into 2014 Another three years of
crushing hype - The Register 14th February 2011
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• Not using HTML5 is like not using
  English/Welsh because it hasnt been finished

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You need to develop for the web

• All caps signifies importance of this statement

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But it wont do what a native app will!
Check out what this document says
http//www.w3.org/TR/dap-api-reqs/
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• Do you have a significant use case that _needs_ a
  native app?

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Many tasks cheap computing many devices
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Each form factor suits certain uses more than
others
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Do you really want to write a native app for each
of these?
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Mobile Oxford
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Institutional Innovation funding strand 18
months, approximately 2FTE From October 2008
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Erewhons Aims
Geo-spatial database (with temporal sensitivity)
Demo Mobile Apps
Mobilisation of Sakai VLE
Disseminate knowledge learned
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The available options (Q1 2009)
Was made freely available under MIT License Q1
2009. Works on many devices. - Code was
dumped as open source - No community input - We
were not a PHP shop
Promised fast deployment times (perhaps
unrealistic) Fully managed with contractual
obligations - iPhone Only (at time) - Service had
not been deployed anywhere - Vendor lock-in -
Yearly fees - Development fees - Long term
sustainability/relevance unknown
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Mobile Oxford work started in Q3 2009
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For prospective students, current students, staff
and the general public
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An Open Source Community Project
The community being pivotal in its long term
sustainability
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Extensible and have significant longevity
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Work on any web-capable device
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Not reactionary.
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Perform a number of key functions server-side

• Not proxying, not iframing etc.

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m.ox.ac.uk
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Winner - UCISA Award for Excellence
2010Finalist - Learning Without Frontiers
Innovation Award 2011UK Nomination - UN World
Summit Award in Mobile (Education) 2010
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Device Detection

• Smartphones, Featurephones, Desktops (Tablets
  coming)

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Accessible

• Consistent UI and tested with screen readers

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Places
Multiple geo-data sources including Open Street
Map (community sourced), OxPoints, Department for
Transport etc.
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Transport information a compelling reason to
revisit
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Transport
Integrated view of Oxfords transport
incorporating Park and Ride spaces, real time bus
and railway information
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Contacts
Via LDAP
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Library Search
Z39.50 (library protocol), OpenStreetMap, 3rd
Party GIS
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Universal Search

• Pattern matching for ISBNs, Bus Stops and
  interfaces with our Google Search Appliance.

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Weblearn
Oxfords VLE Integration
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Weblearn Tools

• Polls (simple survey)
• Evaluations (extended survey)
• Sign Ups (book events)

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Polls Tool Example

1. Lecturer sets up a poll in Weblearn
2. Lecturer pastes short URL and 2D Barcode in
   slides
3. Students answer on whatever device they have

http//m.ox.ac.uk/3523
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URL Shortener
Only shortens valid links on m.ox.ac.uk and
provides an easy to type numeric short code
e.g. http//m.ox.ac.uk/3
or QR code
If the page contains secure content, the number
is randomised
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Other ideas/work in progress

• Walking/Cycle Routing
• Short Course Bookings
• College Meal Bookings
• Location based study group organiser
• Augmented reality layer
• Further social networking integration
• Local city event listings
• Official Traffic cameras
• More Sakai tools
• Many more!

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Mobile Oxford The one stop shop for Mobile
devices
Side effect has become a central aggregation
point
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Black Box Data Flow (Simplified)
etc. phones under 100USD
Molly as Mobile Oxford
Feature phone UI
Data Aggregation and Manipulation Layer
Web User Interface
Lots of Data Sources
RESTfull API
Smartphone UI
Native Applications
Other Applications
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Mobile Oxford is now developed entirely in the
open as part of the Molly Project
FREE!
mollyproject.org
Licensed under AFL v3
1.2 shall be released in mid-july with
multilingual extensions
Deployment time depends on existing skills set.
Those with existing Python/Django skills can
often customise and test deploy within a day.
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Is a complete framework to quickly deploy and
potentially develop mobile web applications.
The framework includes almost every shortcut and
tool you could hope for to help develop powerful
and integrated systems.
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check us out on ohloh.net
COCOMO Based
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The future of Molly
New separate UI, based on Sencha Touch 2 Full
offline storage capabilities Native apps with a
single code base
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• Me
• tim.fernando_at_oucs.ox.ac.uk
• _at_timfernando

Mobile Oxford http//m.ox.ac.uk _at_mobileox
Molly Project http//mollyproject.org _at_mollyproject