SUTDents - I'll never miss out on campus life again

SUTDents - I'll never miss out on campus life again.

Let me recount my story of how this began.
Well, I downloaded this ebook on android app programming cause, well, I've been wanting to program an app for a long time.
So I was scrolling through the preface of the book before I went for lunch and it said something like "never miss out on an idea that struck your head when you are out....with (this book) it is now possible to realise that idea".
I looked through the contents and the book was categorised into different sections on how to utilise the different components in your phone.
With that, I left for lunch.
My friends had already went ahead while I stayed back to marvel at my newly downloaded ebook.
Hence, I was alone.
Never underestimate the power of being alone, cause it is when I am able to contemplate and have a discourse with the voice inside my head without having to entertain another physical being that is possibly yankering beside me.
Time alone is crucial to conceive ideas and it's when inspiration happens.
Okay, so I was thinking about what should I create when I have mustered the technical skills to create an App.
It should be something impactful, one that has the ability to "show off" what I have learned.
Cause without a meaningful product the skills are just tools that are as good as nothing.
I thought of what Amanda had suggested to me before, she wants a calander app that is able to sync with her computer.
I thought breifly about the mechanics behind such an app, it will be a little complicated as it would require programming on two different platforms.
Such Apps might also require a server which I am unwilling to commit.
Then there are also many other alternatives of such an App out in the App Store and one that is specially tailored to her needs is kind of lame and not worth the effort as my debut project.

Next, I thought of implementing the games I created on processing into a App.
Well, they will be novel initally and maybe some of my friends might play it just to support me or just to check it out.
But once the novelty wears off, the game is pretty repetitive and boring (that's why games have to be constantly updated to include new features).
So maybe I will implement my games (and I guess it will be pretty simple) but it isn't impactful enough to be my debut project!

Then, I began to think along the lines of something impactful.
I want an App that many (especially those around me) will subscribe to, it should be outreaching and it should be popular.
And somehow, I thought of an SUTD campus App.
I want an App that connects everyone (staff and students) in the school together on one platform.
The App should synonymous to your identity as part of the SUTD community.
Look at how facebook was created, it started out as just a social media platform within Havard before it escalated to something this big.
We are SUTD, why can't we have a student created social media platform of our own?

The tagline for the App is "I'll never miss out on campus life again".
Hence, the intention of the App is to notify and enable the user to partake in everything that is happening in school!
Right now, the publications for events and whatever in sutd are all over the place.
The SUTD facebook group is just messy and not everyone is in there, there are all kinds of content and some people are just annoying.
There are also many other facebook groups for different class and batch and fifth-rows and what not with information all over the place.
Then there is this events publication email which is just plain nonsense, followed by incessant emails about the multitude of talks and seminars organised by the different pillars in SUTD.
Lastly, we also have (the most annoying of all) emails pertaining to fifth row stuff that comes every now and then in all knids of formats.

Instead of all these, I envisage to house all these information under one App called the SUTDents.
Staff and students of SUTD can posts stuff on SUTDents and each of these post comes with a tag.
The posts will be categorised under different categories in the app based on their tags.
Users can choose to received notifications on their phone depending on the category.
For example, if I subscribe to "food" and someone posts a DSBJ post on a buffet outside LT1.
Immediately, I will receive a notification and I will know to have my free lunch today.
Alternatively, if I am feeling bored today I can also go to the App and check out the various events(talks, seminars, workshops or fifth-row activity) that are happening at sutd today.
Perhaps, it can also show who are attending the event and you might just want to go if your friend is there too.
Such an App will allow every individual in the SUTD communtiy to make more efficient use of time while they are in campus.
It will also allow the event organisers to have a larger audience (thanks to those who decided to attend at the last minute).
The App also seeks to better integrate everyone into the SUTD community and allow people to be more involved.
There will also be a lost and found category where your friend can choose to notify you and tag the item to you should he finds your stuff there.

I see the creation of SUTDents to be somewhat like a urop or an idc project. Creating an App is not just about programming(the technical skill), it requires design too.
I plan to form a small team(including a faculty mentor who probably has expertise in this user experience field) to work on this project for a projected duration of 1 school term.
It will comprise of 2 stages, the design phase followed by the execution phase.
This is a adaption of the product design process I had undergone here in my internship during ALP which I find to be invaluable useful and relevant.
The design phase has multiple sub stages such as, initial brainstorming and conceptualisation, investigation to identify user needs and wants before further conceptualisation, followed by engagement with key partners such as the student council and school management to hear their views and concerns.
At the end of the design phase we should have a finalised storyboard for the App that is ready for implementation.

In the execution phase, we will break into even smaller groups to work on the different aspects of the App such as the User Interface, the mechanics and the coding part.
The Beta version of SUTDents will be only released to "key players" such as the more prominent students and staff to collect feedback.
Following that, it will then be released to everyone after it is deemed to be ready.

I envision SUTDents to be an App started by students of SUTD.
However, the admin and control rights should be eventually given to the school since I will graduate and besides I will want to move on to other projects too.
Nonetheless, the person in control of the App should constantly reinvent it to make sure it adapts to current trends and needs or else the App will die.
Even facebook constantly reinvents itself to survive, look at how friendster died.

Possible future plans include integrating it to become part of SUTD formally.
That is, everyone will log in with their school id and password.
Perhaps, SUTDents can also have a location based function where it suggests events happening nearby you based on which wifi router you are connected to.

Credits(or some noble stuff I came up with as I thought of this):

SUTDents is my way of showing gratitude and giving back to SUTD for the immensive invaluable knowledge and experiences it has given me in the past 1 year. SUTD opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and empowered me with the capabilities to turn them into reality.

With technology and design, we change the world.
                                               
Design is everywhere, design is in ISTD.

Scott signs off.