The Ohio State community is now able to share Buckeye-pride photos fast and conveniently with the new “O-H-I-O!” iPhone application.
The app was created by University Communications and three recent OSU graduates, Philip Vallera, Matt O’Brien and Philip Evers.
Because many of the O-H-I-O photos are taken while traveling, the ability to upload directly from a mobile device seemed a perfect fit for those situations instead of having to wait to find a computer, said Jim Burgoon, senior Web designer for University Communications New Media.
During the summer, University Communications developed the concept of the app. It was presented to students in senior lecturer Tom Bihari’s Autumn Quarter Computer Science Engineering 758 course — a class that puts engineering students on high-tech industry and university projects. Vallera, O’Brien and Evers, all graduating seniors, agreed to work on the project and were guided by Burgoon and Bihari throughout the quarter.
“During the 10 weeks, we first had to get over the learning curve associated with the system on which the app was to be developed, since none of us had worked on any iPhone or Apple development before,” Evers said.
After weeks of designing and coding the app, OSU had to sign a legal agreement with Apple. When the quarter ended, Evers and Burgoon continued to work on the app to get it ready for deployment.
Once Apple accepted it, the app launched on March 22.
The free app allows users to share O-H-I-O photos stored in an iPhoto library or taken with an iPhone camera, tag photos with GPS location and view nearly 5,000 photos the app has collected so far.
“It feels really great, especially being an alumnus, that I can look back and see something that I left for OSU and something that people will be able to use,” said Vallera, who now works for Abercrombie and Fitch’s eCommerce team.
The hope for the app is to broaden OSU spirit and allow students, alumni and fans to show their Buckeye spirit wherever they are, whenever they want, Vallera said.
“This app is meaningful to OSU because it demonstrates the global network this university has with the entire world,” said Sean Meers, a third-year in biology.
Not only do the creators hope this app is successful, they hope students will recognize that people of any age can work together to build something positive for the OSU community.
“Actual students went out and did this, it wasn’t just a bunch of professionals,” Vallera said.
Currently, this app is only for the iPhone, but if it is successful, University Communications would consider building a similar app for a Droid or BlackBerry, Burgoon said.
The app can be downloaded from osu.edu/O-H-I-O or from the iTunes App Store.
