1. Mobile Oxford
Oxford Libraries’ IT Users Forum
16 May 2011
Tim Fernando
Tech. Project Manager
Oxford University Computing Services
Mobile Oxford Molly Project
University of Oxford
http://m.ox.ac.uk http://mollyproject.org
http://www.ox.ac.uk
@mobileox @mollyproject

2. Many tasks + cheap computing = many devices

5. Each form factor suits certain uses more than others

6. ‘Glance’ Device
Weather, contact information, sports results,
meeting room status

7. ‘Watch/Ultra compact’ Device
Who’s calling, number of e-mails waiting

8. Tablet Device
Web browsing, e-mail,
photo viewing, mapping, visual design

9. E-Reader
Low eyestrain document display, note taking

10. Smart Phone
Fast e-mail, simple tasks e.g. booking a tutorial, finding a library
book, and a primary location sensitive information display

11. Samsung i5500 Galaxy Europa
SIM Unlocked ≈ £140
Features
Android 2.1 Wifi
QVGA 2.8” Screen 3MP Camera
Quadband GSM + Accelerometer
3G Digital Compass
GPS FM Radio

12. £111
Excellent Reading Experience
WiFi, Web Browser

13. Do you really want to write a native app
for each of these?

14. Mobile Oxford

16. “Institutional Innovation” funding strand
18 months, approximately 2FTE
From October 2008

17. Erewhon’s Aims
Geo-spatial database Demo Mobile Apps Mobilisation of Sakai VLE
(with temporal sensitivity)
Disseminate knowledge learned

18. Demo Mobile Apps Mobilisation of Sakai VLE

19. The available options (Q1 2009)
+ Was made freely available under MIT + Promised fast deployment times (perhaps
License Q1 2009. unrealistic)
+ Works on many devices. + Fully managed with contractual obligations
- Code was ‘dumped’ as open source - iPhone Only (at time)
- No community input - Service had not been deployed anywhere
- We were not a PHP shop - Vendor lock-in
- Yearly fees
- Development fees
- Long term sustainability/relevance unknown

20. The available options (Q1 2009)
Both required a lot of work on our side

21. Mobile Oxford work started in Q3 2009

22. It needed to be:
Accessible and Inclusive

23. For prospective students, current
students, staff and the general public

24. An Open Source Community Project
The “community” being pivotal in its long term sustainability

25. Extensible and have significant longevity

26. Work on any web-capable device

27. *Not* reactionary.

28. A consistent UI

29. Perform a number of key functions server-side
Not proxying, not iframing etc.

30. m.ox.ac.uk

31. Winner - UCISA Award for Excellence 2010
Finalist - Learning Without Frontiers Innovation Award 2011
UK Nomination - UN World Summit Award in Mobile
(Education) 2010

32. Device Detection
Smartphones, Featurephones, Desktops (Tablets coming)

33. PLACES
Multiple geo-data sources
including Open Street Map
(community sourced),
OxPoints, Department for
Transport etc.

34. Transport information
- a compelling reason
to revisit

35. TRANSPORT
Integrated view of Oxford’s
transport incorporating Park and
Ride spaces, real time bus and
railway information

36. CONTACTS
Via LDAP

37. LIBRARY SEARCH
Z39.50 (library protocol),
OpenStreetMap, 3rd Party GIS

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

39. WEBLEARN
Based on the Sakai VLE

40. Weblearn Tools
Polls (simple survey)
Evaluations (extended survey)
Sign Ups (book events)

41. 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

42. 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

43. Other ideas/work in progress
More Sakai tools
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
Fully AJAX interface
Official Traffic cameras
Many more!

44. Mobile Oxford
The ‘one stop shop’ for Mobile devices
Side effect: has become a central aggregation point
Op
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Str
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et
Map Ne
Service status Library search
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45. Black Box Data Flow Diagram (Simplified)
etc. phones under
100USD
Molly as ‘Mobile Oxford’
Feature phone UI
OSS Data Aggregation
and Manipulation
Oracle Student System
Lots of Data Sources
Layer Web User
Oak
Directory Service Interface
OxPoints RESTfull API
Geo-Spatial Database
Smartphone UI
Oxford iTunes U Integration
Oxford Library Information Service
Other Native
Open Street
Map Applications Applications
And More...

46. Mobile Oxford is now developed entirely in the open as part of the Molly Project
mollyproject.org
Licensed under AFL v3
1.1 About to be released

47. Mobile Oxford is now developed entirely in the open as part of the Molly Project
FREE! mollyproject.org
Licensed under AFL v3
1.1 About to be released

48. check us out on
ohloh.net
COCOMO Based (probably rubbish in this case)

49. Me:
tim.fernando@oucs.ox.ac.uk
@timfernando
http://m.ox.ac.uk
Mobile Oxford
@mobileox
http://mollyproject.org
Molly Project
@mollyproject