Background
Life at Bucknell’s campus is vibrant and full of opportunities for students to be active. Additionally, visitors to campus often need to know about parking and events that are happening. There is an obvious need for an all around campus assistant that visitors, students, and faculty can use to stay up to date with what is happening on campus.
Executive Summary
A tool like this could take the form of an app and a web page. Both would have the same functionality, and having both would allow for visitors to campus to find resources they need without having to find an app they might not know about. The app should be able to provide the user with relevant campus events, available parking for visitors and students, and help facilitate community involvement in events by advertising them.
Viability Analysis
A key piece of this project will be keeping the app up to date with relevant events. Ways to keep the app up to date would be to set up a script to scrape bucknell websites and automatically create new events based on what is posted on bucknell websites (like the main page, different athletic pages, weis center main page, etc). A different option would include creating a simple way to create a new event on the app and let, either through a whitelist or just by anybody, people post events. Other problems could be letting users use the app without service. Cell service at Bucknell and surrounding areas is not always the best, and this could prove problematic.
Risks and Rewards
The main risk in this app is that is doesn’t have much room to grow. A Bucknell campus assistant is an app that can only be used at Bucknell. On the other hand, the app could be developed in a way that leaves it more general. This could lead to a whole suite of apps that can become campus assistants for many schools. In addition, the app could clear up annual commotion that happens with annual events (like the high school swimming tournament that is hosted).
Closing
Bucknell is a campus that is always buzzing. Whether it is busy with an athletic event or the campus is hosting some national event, there is always something going on. Students and visitors alike are often interested in these events and other things that go on. At times the influxes of people can cause unexpected commotion on campus that leads to parking and other problems. An app that solves these issues would not only help Bucknell students, but could even lead to a whole new design for campus assistant apps.
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