May 10 & 11 5pm-9pm
Spring Show 2005
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at Waverly Place
4th Floor
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New York, NY 10003
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| Cellphedia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Author(s): | Limor Garcia | |
| Instructor: | Wilson, Kathleen | |
| Class: | Final Project Seminar | |
| URL: | http://cellphedia.com | |
| Keywords: | encyclopedia, knowledge, cellphone, social, cell, database, reference, sms, text message, cellphedia, MySQL, PHP | |
| Cellphedia is a cell phone application that promotes the sharing of knowledge. It allows to send and receive encyclopedia-type inquiries between specific, pre-defined groups of users, through Text messaging. | ||
| Searching the Internet on the go is not always available, and if it is, it’s pricy and takes a while through the discomfort of the tiny screen of a cell phone. I’m creating a way for people to conveniently find the answers to their questions and to share their knowledge by communicating with other people who they don’t know. This tool I am creating is for the benefit of the mobile community, and I’m calling it Cellphedia. Cellphedia will be the new way to get encyclopedia type information on the run. After creating a profile, a user will be able to get all the information they need – from “how old is the queen of England?” to “how many miles is the Brooklyn Bridge?” – while they’re walking in the street. Such form of communication for such purpose is my exploration of the effect of mobile technology on social interactions; furthermore, I am curious about the usage of cell phones to a purpose that until now had required different means. In the long run, I am expecting such interaction with the purpose of getting and spreading knowledge to form specific interest groups, and taking this type of communication to the next level. | ||
| Personal Statement: | I remember having many reference books at a very young age since my father was a book salesperson. Many times during common conversations at family dinner, my dad used to send me to check a definition, which I acquired about. The idea of searching for definitions became so embedded in our lives, that my sisters and I formed games, which often included terms and phrases from the encyclopedia books.
Growing up I have always followed and tried to be up to date with the methods of searching for information and quick reference. I always had the latest digital reference guide gadgets and struggled to keep up with the rapid change of info searching method. My main attempt was to make searching as easy and as transparent as possible. While pursuing higher education I realized how vital general knowledge really is. And even more vital is conveying it in the right place at the right time. There is an immense amount of information to contain as we learn history, politics or any other discipline. I want to open the door to the possibility of sharing and collaborating with those pieces of information, and by that create a more balanced knowledge distribution amongst everyone. | |
| Background: | In the bigger picture, my thesis idea can actually live within and merge 2 different worlds. One is the realm of multiple different existing methods of definition searching and reference look-up, like dictionaries, Encyclopedias, etc. The other is the world of mobile devices users.
There are several methods of finding terms and definitions; books, websites, electronic devices. People select the method that best fit their life style. A person who has a library may prefer to turn to books for reference; on the other hand, one who lives in a large city and has a small apartment, may prefer the electronic device as it is compact and portable. As technology advances, and people adjust in order to keep up, it seems like the gap between people’s needs, decreases. The number of people who use technology increases. It’s like a domino effect, if one uses email to communicate; his friend will use that same method if he needs to reach him, and most likely will adopt that method himself. My project comes in at the point of fusion between the ubiquity of the advancing technology and the need for reference search. It will fit and adjust to the rapid and competitive lifestyle that has been spreading out as technology become more omnipresent then ever before. It will provide the ability to not only get a piece of information rapidly and almost everywhere, but also constantly communicate with others and form a new type of social network. | |
| Audience: | The useres of Cellphedia are women or men in their teens to late 40s. They are either curious or run a busy lifestyle. They probably reside in a large city, where competition is in the air, and they need their information quickly as they run to a meeting, or late for school. They all have cellphones and are either using the SMS (Short Message Service) on a regular basis or they are open minded towards starting to use this service and take advantage of what Cellphedia has to offer.
Cellphedia is not a stand-alone application, it cannot exist without it\'s users. It will take shape and grow according to the people who use it. Specific focuses groups will form as required but users. Furthermore, A user will be able to receive an answer to his query initially from another user within seconds or minutes. Later on, users will be able to get answers to their questions from the database containing previous answers of a similar subject. | |
| Technical System Description: | The tool I am planning to create will be used mainly with cell phones, and at times through a website. It will be an application comprised of back-end coding that will parse text messages, as well as database tables to contain all the terms and definitions created on the fly.
The way in which I plan to prove my concept is through the yet unknown progression and growth of the tool. The progression will be determined by the usage of the tool, where the more information entered, the more aggregated it’ll need to be, and the more specific groups will be formed. | |
| Project References, Research and Literature: | 1. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. A free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit. 2. Rheingold, Howard. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Massachusets: Basic Books, 2002. 3. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. \"Wikimedia\" 4. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. \"Wikipedia\" 5. Dodgeball. Connect With Your Friends. 6. Rheingold, Howard. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Introduction: How to Recognize the Future When It Lands on You. Massachusets: Basic Books, 2002. 7. Lots of technical online forums for PHP, MySQL, Perl, and Unix. | |
| Conclusions: | ...Will come after launching the application. | |