Gibberin, a spoken message application for iOS, is an effective alternative to texting. Using Gibberin as a voice communicator with no transcription to text allows recipients to listen instead of read. My research project compares the effectiveness of texting and spoken message in terms of speed and quality.  Through interviews and usability testing, spoken message seemed to be the more effective communication medium, but is it the preferred method of communication remains to be seen.  We have seen voice-to-text change the way users communicate. By taking the next step in changing how we communicate, the value of simplicity and efficiency can be modeled by Gibberin.

Permazine, the Holdout Digital Zine Library Project, was born out of a collective desire to not only capture and archive valuable cultural information while maintaining the integrity of the zine medium, but also due to a significant need for increased accessibility to cultural and political information. Accessible on the web, its use is promoted through the center’s very popular free-use computers. A notable feature of this library built on the Drupal CMS platform is that its content is constructed not only by the Holdout Bookstore Collective and its volunteers, but also by a greater community of organizations and individuals who have something to contribute - its content is a reflection of community-wide interests. Paramount to the Holdout Digital Zine Library Project’s success is that it reflects an understanding the impact that the digital divide and information inequality have on the library’s significance, accessibility and use.

Permazine, the Holdout Digital Zine Library Project, was born out of a collective desire to not only capture and archive valuable cultural information while maintaining the integrity of the zine medium, but also due to a significant need for increased accessibility to cultural and political information. Accessible on the web, its use is promoted through the center’s very popular free-use computers. A notable feature of this library built on the Drupal CMS platform is that its content is constructed not only by the Holdout Bookstore Collective and its volunteers, but also by a greater community of organizations and individuals who have something to contribute - its content is a reflection of community-wide interests. Paramount to the Holdout Digital Zine Library Project’s success is that it reflects an understanding the impact that the digital divide and information inequality have on the library’s significance, accessibility and use.

The Global Project Catalog application is an internal application for POSSIBLE. This application is intended to help new business sales team members track previous project work on a global scale for reference in new business pitch work and case studies. Also, it helps internal teams identify and contact fellow employees globally that have worked on projects similar to their own for knowledge sharing or assistance. Currently, we have implemented the Global Project Catalog web version as a knowledge management system. It enables the team to save project information, and provides user-interface to people for project viewing, searching, and sharing. With the Global Project Catalog, worldwide employees of POSSIBLE have the ability to access the project resource, do case studies and encourage knowledge sharing.

Games are the future of work. The movement that leads the way is gamification. Gamification is the use of game design techniques, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts. This helps to promote user engagement and thereby increase productivity in the workplace. Our project implements an adventure maze game application (ProFunCess) on the Android platform using the strategy provided by our partner team. ProFunCess will enable Costco Information Systems staff to learn the skills required for different roles by solving a maze, thereby enhancing the learning process by making it fun and interactive. ProFunCess collects information about the game progress which will be beneficial to managers to track the learning progress of employees. The design of ProFunCess allows extension of the game to additional roles, levels, change of characters thus making the application extensible.

In the past decade, the construction industry has been transformed by the use of on-site technology for maximizing efficiency, communication, and data storage.  But one aspect of every project remains under served: the close out, or what the industry calls the “punch” process.   This is the process of identifying every aspect of a project, down to the smallest detail, that needs attention or repair before the building is turned over to the clients. Historically, creating a punch-list is a labor intensive, paper-based process that involves one or more individuals inspecting the new construction, making notes about incomplete or damaged components and then assigning a resource to attend to it. To alleviate this burdensome activity we have created a mobile application that allows construction workers to create, update, sort, view, archive and complete punch-list items on a tablet pc or android phone. Punch-n-Done offers prequalified lists of building components with easy point and click features to help the end user efficiently capture and organize information to distribute to the appropriate resource for completion.

Animal shelters are in need of a technological upgrade to better connect people with animals in need of homes. As the internet becomes the central hub for information exchange, nonprofit shelters now have a necessity to display available animals online. Rescue is a web and mobile application that allows users to browse adoptable animals, provides a system for shelters to create catalogues of their animals and share media with their communities to increase visibility. Based on usability testing, users were able to locate specific information faster than similar applications. Rescue strives to provide a usable and delightful platform for shelters to expose their animals in need to a larger audience.

Have you ever suffered from a bad sleep schedule that you want to get away from? Don’t you know that using your mobile phone to tracks your sleep schedule is super easy? Sleep Fixer is our Windows Phone answer to this problem. It appears as an alarm clock app, tracks users’ sleep schedule, and visualizes the collected data. The app tracks users’ everyday sleep time, wakeup time, and wakeup mood. Then it uses the data to create multiple charts including the average time in bed, the average time of going to bad, the variance of bed time, etc., and generate a Sleep Score. The app provides a simple data structure and vibrant visualization, which enables the user to get a clear picture of how well he/she sleeps. Furthermore, by comparing the sleep scores generated from different time periods, users can interpret whether their sleep quality is improving.

Costco Information System (IS) department manages workflow processes like Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and Solution Delivery Method (SDM), to stay ahead of its competition. These processes are very critical to Costco management, as they help to better understand needs of their customers and employees. However, these new workflow processes are extremely complicated and difficult to follow without proper training. In this project, we developed a Gamification strategy for a mobile game application that would help Costco IS employees learn these new processes. It would help enhance their productivity through better process recognition, higher incentives and knowledge certifications. With our strategy, Costco IS employees would easily understand roles and responsibilities within and outside their groups as laid out in these workflow tools. Our Gamification strategy would make their learning fun, engaging and hassle free experience.