Presence and Value
of Mobile Apps in the NJ
Academic Environment
I’ve Got an App for It!
Maria Deptula – Berkeley College
Romel Espinel – Stevens Institute
Lawren Wilkins – Hudson County College
1
1. Overview of the mobile world – Maria
2. Vendors apps in depth – Lawren
3. Mobile presence of NJ academia – Romel
2
New Mobile World
 February 2012 – New Media Consortium Horizon Report for the
Higher Education – “mobile apps and tablet computing are
expected to become pervasive within higher ed. in the next 12
months.”
 “Smartphones including the iPhone and Android have redefined
what we mean by mobile computing, and in the past three to four
years, the small, often simple, low cost software extensions to
these devices — apps — have become a hotbed of development.”
NMC – New Media Consortium – “an international community of experts in educational technology”
 May 2012 – comScore study reported that during the first quarter
of 2012, more mobile subscribers used apps than browsed the
web on their devices: 51.1% vs. 49.8% respectively.
3
According to Pew Research Center, as of
September 2012, 88% of American adults have
a cell phone and 45% have a smartphone
4
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2351/smartphone-ownership-young-adults-high-incomehouseholds
New Mobile World
 Smartphone ownership has increased from 35%
in May of 2011 to 45% in September 2012;
 Age group 18-29 – 66% own smartphones;
 “Some 17% of cell phone owners do most of
their online browsing on their phone, rather
than a computer or other device. Most do so for
convenience, but for some their phone is their
only option for online access.” Pew Internet
5
What’s Out There –
OPERATING SYSTEMS
“An operating system
(OS) manages the
resources of a computer
so that many different
processes can share the
computer memory and
processor.”
Software platform –
system under
which ”various smaller
application programs
can be designed to run.”
A mobile device is
often tied to a single
operating system,
which resides wholly
on the local device
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What’s Out There –
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Apple - first iPhone
introduced in 2007
iOS - operating system
for Apple devices
Proprietary system
Not licensed for
installation on third-party
hardware, but allows third
party apps.
 Android: smartphone
operating system and
software platform
 from Google
 Linux based
 Emerged in 2010
 Uses Open Source software
components
 Android smartphones are
made by many
manufacturers
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OTHER OS
Nokia's Symbian
RIM's BlackBerry OS
Samsung's Bada
Microsoft's Windows Phone
Hewlett-Packard's webOS
8
Android vs iOS
“New data shows that Android nabbed 75 percent of the world's smartphone
market share, while iOS trailed with 14.9 percent and BlackBerry brought up
the rear with just 4 percent.” CNN News, Nov. 1, 2012
 March 2010 - 34 Android
based devices on the market
from 12 manufacturers
 September 2012 - Google
announced that total
activations of Android-based
devices exceeded 500 million
 smartphones
 tablet computers
 e-readers
 Other (smartwatch, players)





iPhone
iPod Touch
iPad
iPad mini
September 2012 – 400 million
iOS based devices
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An App
“Software applications coded for
a specific platform (Android, iOS,
Blackberry) that can be
downloaded and accessed directly
using one’s phone or another
mobile device, like a tablet or
music player.”
 Computer software
designed to perform
specific tasks
 Runs on a specific
operating system
(platform)
 Not standardized
 Found only in app stores –
pertinent for the device’s
operating system
10
Android / Apple Apps Market
 Google Play – formerly
Android Market – store for
Android based apps
distributed through the
https://play.google.com/
 Over 500,000 apps
available
 More than half are
available free of cost and
the rest require nominal
fees
 Third party apps – some
of poor quality
 iOS based pps available
through the App Store
 More than 700,000 apps in
iTunes App Store
 Only software scrutinized
by Apple is allowed onto
Apple devices and in store
 Consistency & centralized
support
 Universal App (iOS)
designed so after purchasing
can run on iPhone and iPad
(+ sign in Apple store)
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Apps – Categories
Entertainment
Games
Productivity
News
Business/Finance
Reference
Research
Sports
Social networking
Utilities
Lifestyle
Music
Navigation
Photo
Shopping
Travel
Video
Books
Weather
Many More
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/appcenter/categories/
12
Apps categories by numbers
13
www.appbrain.com/stats/android-market-app-categories
Apps features





Free and paid (free trials)
Some require to create an account
Download free – content (upgrade) paid
Some allow content to be shared
Many have social media components/integration option (i.e. apps
for location)
 Some have multiple functions (Stanza for many publ. formats)
 Some allow you to sync data with document storage apps such as
Dropbox , Google Docs or Evernote
The term "app" has become so
popular that in 2010 was listed
as "Word of the Year“ by the
American Dialect Society
http://www.americandialect.org/app-voted-2010-word-of-theyear-by-the-american-dialect-society-updated
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Apps for Academia










Books – iBooks, ebrary, Stanza, Classics…
Collaborating – Dropbox, Orchestra To-do, GroupMe….
Distance Education – Blackboard, iTunes U, Edmodo…
File Storage – Dropbox, SkyDrive, Idrive, iDisk….
Presenting – Showpad, Prezi Viewer, Keynote….
Productivity – Wunderlist, Backupify, Evernote…
Research – PubGet, Wolfram Alpha, ACS Mobile…
Reference – Dictionaries, Britannica, World Factbook…
Writing – MyMLA, EasyBib, Documents to Go…
Vendors’ App – JSTOR, Ebsco, Gale (Access My Library).
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Ebooks
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http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/10/23/younger-americans-reading-and-library-habits/
Apps for Reading
Ebook readers: Kindle, Nook, iBooks for iOS, Bluefire
(Android & iOS)
Textbooks: Inkling Interactive Textbooks, iBooks Textbooks,
Kno Textbooks
Magazine reading: Flipboard, Reeder, Zite (iOS), Feedly
(news aggregator), Pulse News (Android & iOS)
Journals: Chronicle of Higher Ed., APA Journals, PLoS (Public
Library of Science app)
PDF readers: GoodReader (iOS), Adobe Reader, Stanza
RSS readers: Reader, Newsrack, Feedly
Flipboard - reads content from Facebook, Google Reader,
Twitter, and more in a magazine-style layout.
Apps from e-Books vendors
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http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/10/23/younger-americansreading-and-library-habits/
Apps for Productivity
 Task Management apps: Wunderlist , Remember the Milk,
Astrid
 Note taking: WritePad, CourseNotes, Evernote
 Sharing ideas (group work): Corkulous, Trello
 Office Suite: Quick Office Pro recommended from a long list
of office suites
 Word processing and presenting: Pages, Keynote
 Communication: Skype, Facetime
 Sketching: BombooPaper, SketchyPad
 Scanning: Genius Scan+ (for reading QR codes)
 Lists: Orchestra To Do
 Other tasks: AirPrint, Calendar, Graphic Calculator,
iHomework, WIFI Finder……
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Apps for Reference
 General encyclopedias: Britannica, World Fact Book, Wikipanion..
 Specific encyclopedias: integrate multimedia elements – Skeletal
Anatomy 3D, Periodic Table Explorer, History: Maps of the World..
 Location & Research: WolfWalk (photographic guide of NC),
Tagwhat..
 Photography & Video: Instagram, Diptic, iPhoto, Snapchat
 Music: Pandora (streaming Internet radio), Kling Klang Machine
 Art: ArtStudio, iDraw, Artnear (helps finding museums and
exhibits)
 Math: Wolfram Alpha
 Dictionaries: Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster Dictionary
 Article Search – Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search
for iOS – “enables you to perform simultaneous searches across
multiple sources, for easy access and instant results using your
iPhone, iPod-touch or iPad!”
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Apps for Research
 Citations: EasyBib, QuickCite, Zandy (Zotero for Android)
 iSource APA or iSource MLA: both $1.99
 Professional organizations research materials:
 ACS – American Chemical Society
 IOPscience express – latest papers from the Institute of Physics
 iResearch – searches and browses journals published by the
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
 iSSRN – searches over 260,000 research papers in the social
sciences and humanities available from the open access repository
of the Social Science Research Network
 Google Scholar: reference and citation index
 Pocket (Read It Later): enables to save pages from websites, to
read them later, free of the advertising and other junk on the
original page
 Apps to learn languages: Mango, 50languages..
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Apps from database vendors








Gale: AccessMyLibrary
Encyclopedia Britannica
Ebsco Host
Elsevier
Oxford University Press
DK
WorldBook
Wiley
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LIBGUIDES
 University of Hawaii – Mobile Medical Apps - (discipline specific apps &
multidisciplinary)
http://jabsom.hawaii.libguides.com/medicalapps
 MIT Apps for Academics: http://libguides.mit.edu/apps
 Mobile Applications for Law Students and Lawyers from UCLA School of
Law - http://libguides.law.ucla.edu/mobilelegalapps
 A guide to mobile research tools – University of Arkansas
http://uark.libguides.com/content.php?pid=284164&sid=2339441
 Mobile Apps for Research and Study – Rutgers (Joseph Deodato)
http://libguides.rutgers.edu/apps
 Mobile Apps for Research & Study from Metro New York
http://libguides.metro.org/content.php?pid=304911
 Boise State U.– lists apps separately for Android and iOS (!)
http://guides.boisestate.edu/mobile_symposium
 Berkeley College – Mobile research
Where to find info about apps?
 Lifehacker – best apps for all your gear (media, communication,
productivity, utilities)
 Macworld App Guide
 AppAdvice – iPhone, iPad app news and reviews
 APPitic – directory of apps for education
 Macstories: “a weblog about iOS & OS X news, app reviews, and
stories.”
 Appolicious
 Thomson Reuters News Pro
 PC World App Guide
 Life of Android
 App Storm
 InfoWorld
 Techradar
Apps reviews /promotion –
App a-week








Name of the app
Which device(s) it runs on
Brief description of purpose
Features and functionality
Pros/cons
Audience
Price (from free to $50 or more) – some apps are free but
you pay for the content – Kindle, Britannica – monthly fee
to access content, free “lite version vs. full version,”
How it compares to other similar apps
Final Thoughts
 Keeping up: news apps such as Flipboard, Feedly, Zite
 The 100 Best iPad Apps from PCMag & the Best Android/iPhone
Apps from Gizmodo
 Mobile Nation Podcast or AppAdvice Daily
 Apps for discovering apps: DiscoverApps (iOS), AppSHopper
(iOS), BestApps & AppBrain (Android)
 Why an app when there is a good web presence ?
 Use of apps in classrooms
 Privacy concern (information gathered about your location and
more) – agreements (permissions)
Work Cited
“’App’ voted 2010 word of the year.” American Dialect Society, Jan. 8, 2011. Web. Dec. 15. 2012. http://www.americandialect.org/app-voted2010-word-of-the-year-by-the-american-dialect-society-updated
Brenner Joanna, “Pew Internet: Mobile.” Pew Internet, 4 Dec. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.
http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/February/Pew-Internet-Mobile.aspx
Kerr, Dara. “Android beats iOS 5-to-1 in Q3 smartphone market share.” CNET, 1 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57544131-94/android-beats-ios-5-to-1-in-q3-smartphone-market-share/
Mizejewski, Michele, “Mobile apps: what you need to know.” An ACRL e-Learning Online Course, April 23-May 11, 2012. Web.
New Media Consortium. NMC Horizon Report, 2012 Higher Education Edition. NMC, 2012. PDF. http://www.fdi.vt.edu/online-resources/2012Horizon-Report.pdf
Perez, Sarah. “In U.S. Mobile Market, Samsung, Android Top The Charts; Apps Overtake Web Browsing.” comScore, 2 Jul. 2012. Web. 8 Dec.
2012. http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/02/comscore-in-u-s-mobile-market-samsung-android-top-the-charts-apps-overtake-webbrowsing/
Raine, Lee. “Smartphone Ownership Update: September 2012” Pew Internet, 11 Sep. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Smartphone-Update-Sept-2012.aspx
“Most popular Android market categories.” AppBrain. 2 Jan. 2013. Web. 2 Jan. 2013.
Shilov, Anton. “Amount of Activated Google Android Devices Surpasses Apple iOS Products by 100 Million Units.” Xbit Laboratories. 9 Sep. 2012.
Web. 8 Dec. 2012.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/display/20120912235558_Amount_of_Activated_Google_Android_Devices_Surpasses_Apple_iOS
_Products.html
Zickuhr, Kathryn, et al. “Younger Americans’ Reading and Library Habits.” Pew Internet. 23 Oct. 2012. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.
http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/10/23/younger-americans-reading-and-library-habits/
EBSCOhost Mobile
• Compatible with Android 2.3.3 and Apple iOS 4
and iOS 5
• No download required for app, but it is
available for free through the iTunes App Store
and Android Market if desired
• For those chosing not to download the app, the
use of a Smart phone or tablet will prompt
EBSCOHost to automatically redirect to the
mobile version, but it does not offer all of the
features of the downloaded app and it is not
possible to be authenticated for full-text access
• iPads are not redirected to the mobile and the
site will be shown in desktop version
• Once the app is downloaded, users can receive
an “access key” through e-mail that will allow
access to all databases subscribed to by their
affiliated institutions
• Users who do not enable an access key may log
in as guests but will only have full-text access
to Greenfile
• One-time authentication process
provides permanent automatic
log-in to the user’s affiliated
institution whenever app is
launched
• Home screen in downloaded app
offers customization for users
including a list of their recent
searches, saved searches, and
saved articles
• Buttons at the bottom of screen
offer additional features
•
Hitting the “Settings” button at the
bottom of the screen, allows users the
capability to select which EBSCO
databases they want to search
•
•
Default is all databases selected
To search only certain databases within
the list, either unselect databases that are
not of interest or click “None” to clear and
start over and then make selections
Below the available database list, search
options are provided which include
limiting to only full-text content,
limiting to only peer-reviewed journals,
and the option to enable or disable
autocomplete, search by publication
name, and search by publication date
• Once a user has performed a search,
he or she has the option of sorting by
relevance or by date
•
•
•
Thumbnails at the top of the screen
shown after an article is selected allow
users several options
•
Article can be read in PDF format (as
opposed to the default of html full text
you are given)
Can be e-mailed to user in either PDF or
html format
Can also be saved within the app itself
and retrieved by clicking on “Saved
Articles” on the downloaded app’s home
screen
•Reading the PDF on the Smart phone
screen can be awkward
•“Save to” feature at the top of the
screen is buggy and doesn’t work
properly
EBSCOhost Mobile Final
Analysis
What’s Hot
What’s Not
• Clean interface
• Fairly straightforward set-up process
• Allows access to all full-text available
through user’s member institution
• Works on a variety of platforms
• Downloaded app allows for
customization (saved searches,
saved articles, most recent searches)
• No advanced search mode
• “Save to” feature inside PDF
documents is buggy and does not
seem to work properly
• Viewing PDFs on a Smart phone can
be a bit awkward
ScienceDirect Mobile
• Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod
Touch, and iPad
• Free download through the iTunes App
Store or Android Market
• Users can log in as “guest”, but will not
have access to full-text content
• Authentication process entails going to
ScienceDirect database on campus and
filling out a user registration form.
ScienceDirect will then e-mail a link which
will activate the authentication once
clicked on through e-mail checked with
mobile device.
• One-time authentication process
provides permanent automatic login to the user’s affiliated institution
whenever app is launched
• Home screen allows the option to
run a search or retrieve articles
saved from previous sessions
• User can also personalize this screen
to show the latest stories on
previously research topics
• Once the search button is clicked,
users are taken to a search field to
type in their term(s)
• If the users have run past searches,
those will appear on this screen as
well
Results screen gives user the option of
sorting by date or relevance
Once an article has been
selected from the results screen,
the user has the option to read
the full-text, abstract, outline,
figures/tables, and references.
• Users are given the option to save or
e-mail an article by clicking on the
options button in the upper righthand corner of the article itself
• Articles can be also be saved within
Science Direct and accessed at a
later time
ScienceDirect Mobile Final
Analysis
What’s Hot
What’s Not
• Clean interface
• Allows access to all full-text available
through user’s member institution
• Works on a variety of platforms
• Users can personalize home screen
to show recent articles pertaining to
most current search topic
• Alerts can be set that will notify user
when new articles are added to the
database that are related to their
current search topic
• Cannot delete saved articles or saved
searches
• No advanced search mode
• No way to limit search results to fulltext only
• Link for authentication process
within the database itself is not clear
SpringerLink Mobile
• Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch,
and iPad
• Free download from iTunes App Store
• Offers a collection of chapters from
ebooks as well as journal articles
• Once the app has been downloaded, it
will authenticate automatically if the
user is in the affiliated institution’s
library and if the device being used has
a wireless connection established
through the library’s wireless network
• This authentication will enable the user
to have access to their affiliated
institution’s full-text content
subscription
• Home screen offers the option to do
an advanced search as well as a basic
search
• Users can also access their saved
searches from the home screen if
they have previously searched for
terms using this app
• Advanced search offers options to
search by keyword, publication type,
open access journals only, subject,
title, author, or publication date
• The options to browse subject terms
and publication titles are also
offered
• Icons are provided on the results
screen that allow the user to know
whether an item is a book chapter or
a journal article
• The results screen shows nothing to
indicate whether or not the item is
offered in full-text format and there
is nothing in the advanced search
field that allows the user to limit to
full-text only
• Once an item has been selected, a
user can view the abstract for the
book chapter or article
• The document can be saved within
the app from the “Save” button
• The document can be shared
through e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter
• The full-text (if available) can be
accessed by hitting the “Full Text”
button in the upper right-hand
corner of the screen
User can search within the document
when viewing it in full-text format
Citation is made available at the end of
each full-text document that can be
copied by the user simply touching the
citation itself and selecting the copy
option that pops up
SpringerLink Mobile Final Analysis
What’s Hot
•Clean interface
•Allows access to all full-text available
through user’s member institution
•Content can be shared by e-mail, Facebook,
or Twitter
•Citation provided within each book chapter
and article record that the user is able to
copy
What’s Not
•There is no app available for Android users
•No full-text only limiter and no way to know
if content is available in full-text within the
results screen
•Searches only retrieve book chapters
containing terms entered as opposed to
entire books
•Option to register and set up log-in given by
vendor is not sufficiently explained on the
vendor’s site
•Users who are not able to register for a login have are confined to only using the app
within their institutional libraries in order to
view full-text documents
Other Available Mobile Apps…
• AccessMyLibrary College Edition (offers content available through Gale
Cengage Learning)
• Alexander Street Press
• DynaMed
• ebrary
• For a list of even more available mobile database apps, please see Joseph
Deodato’s “Mobile Databases” page at
http://libguides.rutgers.edu/mobile
References
McKiernan, G. (2011). The Mobile Lucky 7. Searcher, 19(6), 16-53.
Robert Morris University Library Services. (2011). Databases with mobile
editions and mobile apps. Retrieved from
http://sentry.rmu.edu/web/cms/schools/library/services/Pages/databasesmobile handheld.aspx
Special Thanks!
Cynthia Coulter
Lawrence Louie
Mobile Web Sites
Romel Espinel Web Services Librarian
Stevens Institute of Technology
twitter: @cudjoe70
#valenj2013mobileapps
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Mobile web sites are NOT
reduced size web sites.
60
Mobile web sites ARE defined as interfaces that
are created for mobile screens.
61
These web sites provide a mobile experience.
Touching and no clicking
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So Are New Jersey Libraries Keeping up?
In March of 2012, only 3
out 27 Academic Libraries
in NJ had mobile ready
websites
UMDNJ
Bergen CC *
Felician College
Stevens Institute
St. Peters *
The College
of NJ
Now: 8 out 27
Libraries have mobile
ready sites
Monmouth U. *
Rowan
63
Why?
Taking a Closer Look:
Stevens Institute of Technology
Library Web Stats:
• From Google Analytics we’re able to see what kind of
Devices our community uses during the Fall 2012:
• Based on Screen Resolution: 51.13% 768x1024 (tablet &
desktop); 26.95% 320x480 (mobile)
• Mobile Preference: 81.03% iOS; 18.01% Android
65
Why?
• Most of your users have a mobile smartphone
and search the internet using the devices.
• Instantly Available.
• Compatible Across Devices.
• Updated Instantly
• Because it’s on the open web it can reach a
larger audience than a mobile app.
• And . . . .
$
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• Mobile Library Web Sites can be built in house or by third
party developers (Boopsie).
• Once the mobile site is built it just needs to be placed in the
web site code so it can be detected by browsers.
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