Completed Projects
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Title: SoundMeter Author: Patrick Allen
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This is an application that allows users to use their iOS
device to calibrate a set of speakers. Every speaker has
a frequency response curve: a line that describes how
intense sound is at a particular frequency. For example:
if a speaker has a +6dB frequency response at 6000Hz and
a 0dB response at 64Hz, sounds at 6000Hz would be 6dB
louder than 64Hz. The holy grail of speakers are those
with a flat frequency response. This application emits
10 different frequencies and measures their intensity.
With these measurements, the application displays
information about how to correct an equalizer to make the
speakers "flat."
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Title: Local Sound Author: John Bacon
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Listen to your world with Local Sound - the app that lets
you listen to and record what's happening around you!
Listen to what people are talking about in your area, vote
on it, and even record yourself to add to the fun! The
bigger the icon, the more popular the sound! Leave a tip,
say what's on your mind, or a funny reminder at a favorite
place - what you say is only limited by your imagination!
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Title: Infinite Skier Author: Dario Baldoni
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Infinite skier is a game where you must avoid obstacles
while skiing downhill to increase your score. Crash into
an obstacle and the game is over. Collect power-ups along
the way to increase your score.
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Title: The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College Ipad App Author: Andrew Blute
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This app gives an easy and user friendly way for the
CRR's audience to easily access and read PDFs of Issue
Briefs. The Issue Briefs is the CRR's most popular
publication series that offers concise and timely
analyses of retirement issues for a lay audience. The
goal of the app is to broaden accessibility of this
series to other users and also to make it easier for
followers to view new publications.
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Title: TBI Helper Author: Stephen Buckley
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After suffering certain types of Traumatic Brain Injury,
patients can be left unable to comprehend non-literal
language, such as metaphors and implicit comparisons. This
app helps to train people through association games,
teaching them what attributes link ideas, and helping to
reteach lost habits.
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Title: Spoonful. Author: Hanyin Cheng
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Spoonful. is an iPad app that replaces traditional paper
menus at restaurants and operates as a point of services
that is always just a finger touch away. Users can easily
browse/select their options, electronically submit their
orders, and pay their bills all through the app. If
you're going out to eat, Spoonful is at your service!
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Title: Wormhole Author: Ehsan Dadgar
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This app brings back one of the oldest video game concepts
to the iOS platform. The basic objective of this
Asteroids-like game is to destroy the asteroids and UFO's,
and to obtain as high a score as possible. However, users
can also play multiplayer mode over Bluetooth; each player
has his/her own dimension, and each dimension is separated
by a wormhole. Send across weapons/enemies through these
wormholes, and the player that lives the longest is the
winner!
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Title: Poke Sonar Ruler Author: Vivian Diep
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Measures distance from a large object to iphone by
emitting a poke of a sound (also known as a chirp) at the
large object. This app works for rough estimates of
distances in quiet rooms. Ideal for apartment/home
hunters.
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Title: Check In Author: Julie Kaufman
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Check In is an experience sampling application designed
for researchers interested in real-time data
collection. It can be used by researchers across many
fields, including the social sciences, marketing, and
medicine. With the application, researchers are able to
create new surveys on the iPad and then distribute the
devices to the research participants, who are able to fill
out the survey. The results are then conveniently
formatted in a spreadsheet for analysis by the researcher.
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Title: Dr. Dictate Author: Matthew Kehlmann
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Doctors have to record all of their patient data. This app
uses speech recognition to allow doctors to store patient
records on the go. Dr. Dictate eliminates the need to use
a 3rd party service for transcribing and reduces
proofreading time.
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Title: BCinging Author: Borui Wang and Jinho(Jow) Kim
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This Application imitates the functionalities of a karaoke
scoring machine, which first plays a song of the user's
choosing(currently there is only one song available in the
song library), prompts the user to sing along with or
without the original vocal track, and scores the user's
performance based on how closely their voice matches the
original vocal track.
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Title: TunePad Pro Author: Michael Lapointe
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TunePad Pro is a notepad app for iPhone designed with
the musician in mind. It provides an intuitive way to
write a song section-by-section with places for both
chords and lyrics. When a song is fully written, the
musician can then easily set the screen to autoscroll and
record a rough recording of what the song sounds like for
future reference, all in one place. Future additions will
include iCloud and iPad support so all saved songs can be
accessed anywhere.
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Title: Lunch With Joe Author: Joe Mahon
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"Lunch With Joe" streamlines the process of connecting
your schedule to the people around you. Give a date, time,
and place, and share it with an individual or a group, and
simply wait for someone else to pick it up on their own
calendar. Or, browse your community's schedules, and join
someone at a time that works mutually for you both! With
loads of possible extensions into your organized social
life, Lunch With Joe helps you find time in your real,
non-virtual life for the people around you, moving
relationships back into the real world.
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Title: Jebbit Author: Chase McAleese
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The Jebbit mobile app takes the most important features of
Jebbit.com and puts them in a native app on your
iPhone. Users can learn about cool websites and earn cash
for doing so. Simply answer questions about a website and
for each correct answer, you earn cash!
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Title: MyReceipts Author: Bobby Nguy
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This app helps users to document their receipts and keep track of their spending.
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Title: Haram Author: Theron Patrick
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An iPhone version of the card game Taboo. Two teams
compete against each other in rounds. During each round,
one individual serves as a reader and uses cards presented
on the iPhone screen. They can say whatever they want to
get the rest of the team to guess the card's target word,
except for the 5 "haram" words on the card, which are
forbidden. Each correct card is worth 1 point, but if a
reader says a haram word, they must pass that card and
receive no points. Each round lasts 1 minute, and
whichever team has the most points after an even amount of
rounds wins the game.
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Title: Monkey Move Author: Brian Sachetta
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Monkey Move is a fun puzzle game that challenges you to
connect like-colored items in quest of removing all
pieces from the current level. The game features all
original graphic design and uses your iOS device's
accelerometer to move the character across the
screen. There are over 20 levels for you to play and the
game gets increasingly more difficult as you progress.
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Title: RegisterMe BC Author: Aiven Song
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RegisterMe BC is an app that allows Boston College
students to register for their courses on their
iPhone. Boston College students can find their courses by
searching by course name, department, professor, or course
number. Students will see the course description and any
additional course info (prerequisites, corequisites, etc.)
all in the app! After signing up for courses, students can
view their weekly schedule and make any changes
necessary. Lastly, students can post a picture of their
schedule to Facebook with the push of a button!
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Title: MusicMatrix Author: Rory Taca
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MusicMatrix is an interactive musical instrument app that
allows users to create simple melody loops on the iPad.
Users pick the desired notes from the button grid
(depending on the row) to be played at the desired time
(depending on the column). When play is pressed, the app
will loop through this grid, playing the corresponding
notes. Users are able to actively control the music being
played while play is on.
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Title: Terry Runs Around Author: Jonathan Taylor
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Terry Runs Around is a fighting game exhibition based on
the SNK Neo Geo game "Garou: Mark of the Wolves." The
app takes directional and button inputs from the user
that make Terry move about and do specific
moves. Because Terry does not interact with any other
character and has no goal, the application is not a game
but can still be fun as an exhibition.
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Project Ideas
Some ideas for projects are listed below. In some cases there are faculty
members at BC who are interested in co-advising you on the project. In one
case, there is a outside party looking for help with a project.
A Biomedical Inventory System
Scientists often work with biochemical samples that are stored in vials
as shown below. The vials are tracked using labels that are registered in
the scientist's lab book. When not in use, the vials are stored in boxes,
usually in specialized refrigerators at very low temperatures.
This project would involve writing an app that manages an inventory of
the biomedical samples. A user of the app would be able to create a
virtual box that corresponds to a real box in the refrigeration
system. The user indicates a position and that brings up a screen to
input information like the name on the top, name on the side, contents,
notebook page etc. When the data is saved to a database a tube top is
shown in that position.
The program should be able to handle multiple boxes and with different
geometries 8x8 and 9x9 and 10x10 are the most common.
Another mode would allow the user to search the database to find the
location of a particular sample.
A student working on this project would be co-advised by
Professor
Evan Kantrowitz, Chemistry.
Environmental Moment Analysis
This app would be used to contact students and collect "real time"
data including but not necessarily limited to, attitudes, behavior,
and emotional states. Collecting data in real time avoids the problem
of recall bias which plagues retrospective surveys. We may wish to use
these data to conduct value-added analyses (e.g. a given set of students
is 20% happier 3 years post-graduation than a matched sample of students
from similar schools).
In its simplest form, the app would contact a specified group of
students (e.g. class of 2011) at the same time and ask each of them
the same multiple choice question (e.g. What word best describes your
current mood -- Happy, Sad, Worried ...). The data collected would be
linked by a unique identifier (e.g. student ID number) and merged with
the larger student database (e.g. grades, demographic info, test scores).
Other features of the app should include:
- Strict safeguards for the confidentiality of the data.
- The ability to ask the students more complicated questions (e.g. with
written/text response).
- Administrator access for selecting/adding questions, constructing
groups (e.g. 4th and 5th graders) and scheduling contacts (e.g. randomized)
A student working on this project would be co-supervised by
Dr. Dan Kindlon.
An Experience Sampling App
Experience sampling methods (ESMs) allow social science researchers to
collect rich data on the daily lives and experiences of
individuals. Also known as "beeper" studies, ESMs involve using a
device such as a pager, watch, or palm pilot to signal respondents at
random intervals over the course of their day. Each time they are
signaled, respondents answer a short series of questions about their
current behaviors, thoughts, or feelings. ESMs offer several
advantages over other methods of data collection such as retrospective
surveys or daily reports via telephone or diaries. First, ESMs
require respondents to remember the events of just a few minutes
rather than an entire day, which minimizes distortions due to
inaccurate recall. Second, ESMs randomly select the time intervals to
be measured, making it more likely that data will accurately represent
daily life rather than being biased toward especially memorable events
such as conflict. Finally, there are some experiences that are best
captured "in the moment," such as the experience of "flow," or
perceptions before, during, or after particular events naturally occur
(e.g., eating or exercise).
To my knowledge, a functioning experience sampling app for the
iPhone/iPad does not exist (see http://web.mit.edu/caesproject/ for an
application for palm pilots, and
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mobile-experience-sampling/id375547220?mt=8
for a currently non-functioning iPhone/iPad app), however such an
application could be valuable for use in studies on a wide range of
phenomena. A barrier to conducting these types of studies is that they
can be expensive and intrusive on participants' lives. Because it will
operate via participants' own phones, this app could: 1) help cut back
on project costs by reducing the need to purchase palm pilots or other
technology for the participants to use during the study period, and 2)
be perceived as less intrusive to participants who are used to being
interrupted by and interacting with their phones on a daily basis.
Another advantage of such an application is it may make it possible to
conduct experience sampling studies with older adult populations or
with those who have certain types of disabilities. Previous studies
that have used ESMs with older adults have tended not to employ
technological devices to gather data and have instead relied on
paper-pencils methods, with the justification that older adults may
find the ESM technology difficult to use (e.g., Collins, Sarkisian, &
Winner, 2011). The main recurring problems with the use of mobile
devices within an elderly population have been "insufficiently sized
displays and too small buttons, often confusingly labeled with
multiple functions" (Stobel, 2009, p. 1). The iPad, however, overcomes
these barriers. Its large, lighted display and ability to magnify text
allows users to get up close and make out letters; the large
touchscreen buttons are easy to navigate for those with fine motor
skill impairments; and its light weight, portability, and simplicity
of use have also been identified as benefits among older adult users
(Center for Information & Technology, 2011, p. 9).
In terms of functionality, the app would need to be able to signal
participants at random times within a pre-specified range of
hours. Participants would then need to respond to a brief survey about
what they are doing and how they are feeling at that given time. We
would need to give participants the option to delay the survey for up
to ten minutes if they can't get to it right away. Data for each
participant would also need to be stored locally somehow in a database
until the researchers can retrieve the device and download the data.
A student working on this project would be co-advised by
Professor
Christina Matz-Costa of the Graduate School of Social Work.
Two Different Conversational Training APPs
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), such as a severe blow to the head
sustained in a football game or an explosion experienced while serving
in the military, can have devastating effects on a person's cognitive
abilities (language, attention, memory). There is wide variation in
severity of initial impairment, specific symptoms, and also in how
well people with TBI recover. Some will have difficulty concentrating
and remembering. Others may have trouble talking with their friends
and colleagues. Even a year or more after their injury, they may also
have difficulty understanding language as used in natural
conversations. For example, if you use a simple metaphor such as "My
job is a prison", this wording might be confusing for a person, who
might think you are a prison guard or even a convicted felon instead
of realizing that you are really complaining about your lack of
freedom and opportunity in a boring job. Or, a person with a brain
injury might miss the sarcasm in the utterance: "It's really OK that
you are speaking so loudly while I'm trying to watch the movie." One
active area of research examines how we might treat individuals with
TBI to facilitate their recovery by helping them re-gain their ability
to understand natural language including metaphor, sarcasm, and
related utterance types.
A student working on either of these projects would be co-advised by
Hiram Brownell, Psychology.
I. Metaphor
The purpose of this APP is supporting a treatment protocol that has
been used successfully with persons with brain injury. One goal is to
have a portable APP that a person can use to practice the treatment
tasks whenever and wherever it is convenient. A second goal is to
provide feedback in an effective and fun manner that keeps the person
with brain injury engaged.
The protocol makes use of simple graphic displays, called "Thinking
Maps", such as shown below. Similar displays have been used in a
number of ways with children
as well as with adults. The application will need to be able to
present parts of the diagram (a single circle with spokes) or the
entire diagram, be able to accept input such as a user's typing a word
in a circle, and be able to signal when a user has responded correctly
or incorrectly.
II: Theory of Mind: truth, mistakes, lies and irony
The purpose of this APP is supporting a treatment protocol that has
been used successfully with individuals with traumatic brain injury.
One goal is to have a portable APP that a person can use to practice
treatment tasks whenever and wherever it is convenient. A second goal
is to provide feedback in an effective and fun manner that keeps the
person engaged.
The protocol makes use of simple graphic displays that can be used to
manipulate what two characters observe and, therefore, what they
"know". The basic display is a cut-away house, as shown below.
The application will need to be able to present objects in different
rooms, along with one or both characters so that sometimes both
characters will be able to see something (a cat) and sometimes they
will not. The application will need to display a sequence of scenes
so that characters can change locations (i.e., rooms) and an object
(intact cat) can change so that, for instance, only one character will
know that the cat has lost its ears. One character can then lie to the
other character or to tell the truth; the character who left the room
before the cat changed may utter a mistake, etc.
The application should be flexible. One capability is for a user to
select an interpretation from a multiple choice array: the speaker is
Telling the truth, Lying to be nice, Mistaken, Trying to be sarcastic
or ironic.
Another capability is for a user to construct scenarios by him- or
herself in order that a speaker can say something ironic or to lie to
a listener effectively (that is, without getting caught). The user
would need to be able to move figures around the house, to have an
object change state, etc. The events don't need to happen in a house
but can take place in a coffee shop, movie theatre, grocery store,
etc. What is critical is that the two characters may have different
beliefs about what is true. The application will need to provide
feedback in an effective and fun manner. One advanced possibility is
that, like many videogames, the application would support different
levels of skill.
Recitation Grading
This app would be used by instructors to call on and grade students
reciting in class, e.g. for translation drills or exercises, bringing
up names from a preloaded class list according to whatever schema the
instructor chooses (random, alpha, patterned alpha, etc) and letting
him or her assign a grade and possibly annotating in a comment field.
The app would allow the instructor to pre-note known absentees and
unprepareds so they don't get called on and weigh them in some way so
that they do get called on soon again. It would maintain records of
recitations in a grade database and a running average for each
student. And the records could then be downloaded to a spreadsheet or
other grading program.
A student working on this app would be co-advised by
Professor Michael Connolly,
Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages.
Drum Machine
Turn the iPhone face down, tap (gently!) on it with drum sticks. Use
the z-accelleration to play the sound of various drums. Maybe tap on
the side to change type of drum.
Harmonizer
This app would allow the user to sing into the microphone, have the
iPhone shift the pitch up by a fifth, so you can sing harmony with yourself.
Clicker
Make the iPhone or iPad do the same thing as those clickers used in some
classes.
Sonar Distance Measurement
Emit a shaped pulse, time the delay to measure distance to a wall.
Octave Shifter
Like the harmonizer, but different purpose: Shift
audio from the microphone up or down one or more octaves, to make
audio that's too high or too low to hear easily more audible.
Dubliners Bookshelf
- Description: The app will present a digitized library of
selected texts from James Joyce's short stories, Dubliners, with video
commentary and brief annotation for scholarly use.
- Rationale: The fictional stories of James Joyce are
realistic; the books, newspapers, journals etc. mentioned in them were
real published texts of interest to scholars. Scholars today have no
easy access to these texts. We propose to produce as realistic an
experience as possible to the academic end-user in universities around
the world through iPad. The project has further development potential.
- Content:
- Texts: approx. 35 contemporary (1900-1910) texts including novels,
newspapers, journals, operas, music sheets, and comics. 4 modern-day
notes (annotations)
- Images: approx. 10 composite images
- Video: 1 introductory video and up to three scholarly commentaries
- Particular requirements:
- An intuitive UI with clear functionality
- Page-flip ability. (This facility has just been released by Apple,
I understand)
- An in-app feedback form is an option to be considered
- Support: The student producing this app will be co-advised
by Professor Nugent with the support of a committee within the O'Neill
Library, which is responsible for the digitization of the texts. (If
an ATIG grant is forthcoming, we can also count on the support of
IDeS.) We have access to advisers who will help with logo and icon
design. I also have a number of very helpful URF undergraduates
working on the other projects who will assist with data
production. PhD student Andrew Kuhn is responsible for sourcing and
researching the texts.
- Context This app will take its place alongside a number of
technological developments that we are working on at present. Through
IDeS, I have already produced the downloadable website Walking
Ulysses; in Fall I will teach an advanced seminar in the English Dept
which will produce, using iBooks Author, and in collaboration with
advisers from Apple, a textbook guide to Dubliners (using Epub)
written by BC students for sale on iBooks. In June 2012, I will launch
an iPhone app guide to Joyce's Ulysses.
- Model: We are looking at a number of iPad apps produced for
the British Library as models for this app. Historical Collection in
particular, but also Royal Manuscripts, screenshots below, is what
we’d have in mind. But we envisage a substantially simpler app,
without, for example, subscription capacity. Please check it out in
the App store to get an idea of how it works. (You can download a free
version on your iPad or iPhone).
- Timeline: Much advance work has been done and the central
texts already purchased. A small group has been working on this for
some months examining intellectual property rights, digitization and
confirming the project's feasibility. We would aim for release by
mid-June, 2012. (If the likely date of completion is later, we may be
able to facilitate that.) We aim for a prototype (mock-up) to be
presented at the first Joyce Conference here at BC on April 21.
- Potential for further Development: Designing The Dubliners
Bookshelf would be the phase 1 of a larger project. We have in mind
further digitizations of an original character.
- Additional Information: It will be helpful if the developer
has the ability to establish a website infrastructure to assist with
the distribution of the product.
While this should be a relatively simple app to produce, it would be a
prestige project for the student involved: such a product would
constitute a valuable intervention into the scholarly community and I
imagine it being used in universities around the world; early
soundings confirm that it would be widely welcomed.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/british-library-19th-century/id438196905?mt=8.
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