In a meeting held early last week, OUSA announced they are “looking at the possibility” of developing applications for iOS, Android and Windows smartphones at an estimated upper-end cost of $30,000.
The app would likely include features such as “bumping” smartphones to exchange timetables, OUSA-based push notifications, digital copies of Critic, exam and lecture timetabling, and University maps.
OUSA hopes that in the not-too-distant future, “things like diaries could become as useless as the Yellow Pages,” the project manager told Critic.
“We’re seeing if we can make an app of value to students,” he said. The ball will likely get rolling “more towards the middle of the year … because we may as well make a good app if we do one.”
OUSA is also hoping to develop a responsive website which auto-fits to different screens.
The University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA) already have an app. The creatively-named “UCSA App” allows students to view their timetable on- or off-line, read the local student magazine Canta, and “show it off, gain loads of friends, live happily ever after.” Critic hopes OUSA, at the very least, has a slightly more creative marketing department.
The UCSA App has also shown the risk of these ventures not quite working. One app user took to Facebook to say “hey, an app, nifty. Love the UI design and colour scheme. Assets are pretty low-res and nasty looking on a 720p screen, though, and it doesn’t respond to the Android back button correctly, but good effort for an initial release.”
If the upper-end cost of the OUSA app is reached, Critic advises students to take a year off, learn how to code, and develop a weekly app for a year before retiring.
Far from being set in stone, OUSA is “keen to hear from students” about the idea. Feel free to contact matt.tucker@ousa.org.nz if you have any feedback.
OUSA To Spend App-roximately $30k
