research library mobile app development current conditions and strategic choices bruce washburn...
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Research
Library Mobile App Development
Current conditions and strategic choices
Bruce WashburnSoftware EngineerOCLC Research
TAI CHI Webinar SeriesTechnical Advances for Innovation in Cultural Heritage Institutions
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There’s something happening here …
Pandora Radio
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Overview
• “library”, “mobile”, and “app” – some definitions
• The landscape
• Native vs. Web apps
• The Hype Cycle
• Some suggestions
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Defining “library”
• The library catalog
• Library services in general
• The institution providing the library
• Links from the wider world
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The Library Catalog
• A scaled-down version of the full search interface
• Search result details are also limited
• Some indicate if titles are available
• Some provide a way to request an item
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The Library Catalog
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Library Services
• For mobile users, the catalog is not the only service of interest
• Library hours, reserving a room or computer, checking out materials, paying fines, reading e-resources
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Library Services
Santa Clara County Library
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The institution providing the library
• Promotion can work well for an institution-focused app, including library services
• A one stop shopping advantage
• Other app features provide gravitational pull
DukeMobile
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Links from the wider world
• Libraries surface in shopping apps
• A way for the library to be seen in the flow of popular apps, without the user having to focus first on the institution or library
RedLaser
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Links from the wider world
Pic2Shop CompareEverywhere Book Bazaar
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Defining “mobile”
• A medium, a concept, devices, networks
• Blurring distinctions between feature phones and smartphones
• The past: slow networks, constrained data entry, small screens
• The future: fast networks, bigger screens, improved keyboard input, voice recognition
• Maybe it means “ubiquitous”, or “always with me”
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Smartphones are still outnumbered
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1306513
2009 Phone Sales
iPhones Other SmartPhones Other Mobile Phones0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Devices Sold
Devic
es
sold
(M
)
• iPhones: 25 million
• Other Smartphones: 148 million
• All Mobile Phones: 1 billion
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http://blog.quantcast.com/quantcast/2010/03/mobile-os-share.html
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Smartphones and web browsing
http://metrics.admob.com/2010/03/february-2010-mobile-metrics-report/
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Defining “apps”
• Convenient shorthand, or horrendous jargon, depending on your point of view
• An application
• Might be a “native” program for a specific device
• Might be a website that is designed with mobile devices in mind
• Might be a widget, or an embedded feature in someone else’s application
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Mobile Apps for Library Services
• Some libraries have a mobile web interface
• A few libraries have developed native apps
• Many library websites are not mobile-friendly
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Mobile Web Apps
• Content is served by a website
• XHTML optimized for mobile
• Widely accessible
• Optimizations vary a lot
• May not be accepted by some mobile marketplaces, e.g., the iTunes App Store
• Some mobile device features unavailable (Geo-location, local data storage, camera, inter-operability with other native apps)
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Library mobile web apps
New York Public Library Univ. of Virginia Library Victoria University
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Mobile Native Apps
• Written for a mobile operating system, e.g., iPhone, Android, Palm, etc.
• Significant effort to support all mobile devices
• Mobile developer communities are growing
• Device features (camera, microphone, speaker, GPS) are all available
• HTML5 technologies may push the pendulum back to web apps, for capable mobile browsers
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Library mobile native apps
New LIS Books DC Public Library DukeMobile
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Strategic Choices
• Access to a catalog or something else?
• Native or web app?
• One device or several?
• App code built, bought, or borrowed?
• How much to invest?
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Native vs. Web
• Strong advocates of both
• Easy to get absorbed in the arguments
• As with most things in life, when determining which path to choose, the choice comes down to “it depends”
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Developing apps for one device
Sometimes it makes good sense:
• You require a feature that only that device supports
• The device’s market is big enough, for you
• You know all of your app users have the device
• You’re experimenting
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WorldCat Mobile Pilot library mobile apps
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The Gartner Hype Cycle
• Represents the maturity and adoption of various technologies
• Term coined by Gartner, Inc.
• Five Phases, from trigger to productivity
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Gartner Research: Hype Cycle
http://blogs.reuters.com/commentaries/2009/08/11/twitter-backlash-foretold/
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http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1124212
Gartner Research: Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies, July 2009
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Library Mobile App Hype Cycle – Where are we?
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Expectation, then disappointment
“ … it is tempting to wish that this cycle of
expectation and disappointment could be
avoided. In fact, the cycle is an essential part of
the innovation process. It is a collective measure
of our goals, and the distance that must be
traversed in order to realize them.”
Saffo, Paul. “’Revolution’ the Hype Word of Computer Industry Advances." InfoWorld 4
Feb. 1991: 60. Print.
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iPhone Apps and the Long Tail
“The average iPhone or iPod Touch owner uses 5 to 10
apps regularly, according to Flurry, a research firm
that studies mobile trends. This despite the surfeit
of available apps: some 140,000 and counting.”
Hafner, Katie. "When Phones Are Just Too Smart." The New York Times. The New York Times
Company, 29 Jan. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2010..
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/fashion/31apps.html.
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iPhone Apps and the Long Tail
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What counts as success?
• More use, not just the same use on a different
device
• Fewer clicks per transaction
• New uses
• Moving library services into the flow
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Promotion, Use, and Buzz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZAbB1kJ-HU
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Some suggestions
• Mobile devices are reaching your content. Make that work.
• Work with, and improve, existing library mobile applications.
• Don’t disenfranchise users of mobile devices that tend not to browse the web.
• Study user needs, study results of use, and refactor accordingly.
• Report your study results to the library community.
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What Makes a Great App?
Pandora Radio
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Resources noted
In Print
Fenn, Jackie, and Mark Raskino. Mastering the Hype Cycle: How to Choose the Right Innovation at the Right Time. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press, 2008.
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/213312226
Fling, Brian. Mobile Design and Development. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, 2009. http://www.worldcat.org/title/mobile-design-and-development/oclc/318413920
Mobile Strategyhttp://m-strat.org/
Griffey, Jason. Mobile Technology and Libraries. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2010.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/mobile-technology-and-libraries/oclc/498135636
Mobile Usabilityhttp://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html
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Resources noted
Apps
Book Bazaarhttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-bazaar/id309067586
CompareEverywhereVisit the Android Market on an Android device
DC Public Libraryhttp://itunes.apple.com/app/dcpl/id301077850
DukeMobilehttp://itunes.apple.com/app/dukemobile/id306796270http://m.duke.edu
iStanfordhttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/istanford/id292922029
Nashville Public Libraryhttp://waldo.library.nashville.org/airpac/jsp/airpacIndex.jsp
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Resources noted
Apps, continued
NCSU Libraries MobiLIBhttp://www.lib.ncsu.edu/m
New LIS Bookshttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/new-lis-books/id352102769
New York Public Library Mobilehttp://m.nypl.org/
Pandora Radio http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pandora-radio/id284035177
Pic2shophttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pic2shop/id308740640
RedLaserhttp://itunes.apple.com/app/redlaser/id312720263
Santa Clara County Libraryhttp://sccl.boopsie.com
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Resources noted
Apps, continued
UNC Library Mobilehttp://www.lib.unc.edu/m/
University of Virginia Libraryhttp://m.lib.virginia.edu/
Victoria University Library Mobilehttp://m.library.vu.edu.au/
WorldCat Mobilehttp://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/content/mobile/
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Resources noted
Development Resources
Android Developershttp://developer.android.com/index.html
DC Public Library Labs iPhone Applicationhttp://dclibrarylabs.org/projects/iphone/
iPhone Dev Centerhttp://developer.apple.com/iphone/index.action
iUI iPhone web app libraryhttp://www.joehewitt.com/blog/introducing_iui.php
MIT Mobile Web source codehttp://sourceforge.net/projects/mitmobileweb/
W3C Mobile Web Best Practiceshttp://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/
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Contact
Bruce Washburn
Software Engineer, OCLC Research, San Mateo [email protected]
TAI CHI Webinar Series
http://www.oclc.org/research/events/taichi.htm