With all the deliverables due and projects to be completed, I have been reduced to a state of perpetual hysteria. Just, kidding, but it certainly feels that way. With the symposium approaching quickly and with James injured due to a bicycle accident, Arash, Ray, and I have been developing, editing, and redesigning in a nonstop cycle. I’ll update you on the week.
Monday July 16
Today I worked on the camera application a little more, making some fine adjustments and ensuring it worked on my phone. It will not work on the computer simulator because the computer does not have recognizable front and rear cameras as the iPhone does. Arash also approached me about redesigning the poster and he had some good ideas for it. Instead of boxes he suggested we go with a column format, as he had worked on a poster prior to this REU and had some success in competition with the poster he created. He also pointed out that I had some extraneous phone icons and that I should trim the number of those down. Finally, he said to implement paragraphs that were short instead of bullet points. It looks more professional, and I have to agree with him. We still have to start filming the video and get the poster finalized, as well as finish application development, deploy it for testing, analyze results, complete peer reviews and finish the paper. No one said it was going to be easy!
Tuesday July 17
After much bug resolution trial and error, we were able to successfully integrate my portion of the application into the overall app. There was blood and tears shed, but ultimately we were successful. At one point I thought I had lost the entire application and I would have to start over, but it was recovered (found in the trash) and I kept on moving. Arash and I finally deduced that we had forgotten to import the AVFoundation Library into the main application, which was why the camera section was continuously crashing every time it was opened. After that was integrated, the team decided that we will be pushing the application out Thursday and would like to receive feedback Friday during my presentation. That means that all of tomorrow will be dedicated to improving the camera application and accessing the photos that it takes. I anticipate it not being to arduous, but I have been wrong before. We will see how it goes and I will provide updates tomorrow.
Wednesday July 18
Today I completed another vital feature of the camera application. After a photo has been taken, it can now save it to the camera roll. This is perfect for storing photos for one’s own use, but now Arash and I are going to work on allowing the pictures that have been taken to be viewed by the user in a feed on the application. The app itself looks wonderful and I cannot wait to deploy it. We had an eventful call with James toward the end of the day and we relayed a lot of information to him. Ray and I were a bit hesitant to continue working on the project in the future given the number of hours we would have to put in on top of school time. We informed him of our progress and of our plans to deploy the application Friday. He said a more effective way to obtain results would be to run a usability study and conduct miniature interviews with each person testing the application. We would need to come up with questions and goals in advance, but that would be a better way to incorporate feedback from our fellow REUs. I will check with Dr. Siek to see if we need an IRB for the study. We plan to have the application finished by Friday and run the study Monday. Next week is shaping up to be pretty demanding.
Thursday July 19
Today we completed the IRB, and boy it was a lot of work. Arash was great at facilitating a speedy completion and James assisted us remotely. Ray and I came up with research questions to be asked on Monday. We also identified research goal themes. Tomorrow is my presentation for the Friday morning meetings, so I have been preparing for that as well. I plan to inform the program of the application’s development and inform the REUs that we will be recruiting them for a usability study to test out our application. We planned more for our video as a team and did some poster design. It has been difficult without James here, but with constant communication and lots of teamwork, we are able to function well as a group. The application looks great and Ray is working on constructing the custom backend using MYSQL. I’ll inform you of my presentation tomorrow.
Friday July 20
Whew, the end of the week is here, and I am exhausted to say the least. I had my presentation this morning, and it went well. I detailed all the features of the mobile application and discussed the current developments that were underway. I informed the REUs of our plans for a usability study and received great feedback on the application. We received suggestions for milestones and common milestones to be tracked by the application. We should avoid “normal” milestones with a timeframe as to not worry some parents. The microinterations aspect was iterated upon as well. I was content with how I relayed information the group. The rest of the day was spent going over the research questions for the study, iterating on the poster and the paper, and making some slight tweaks to the application. At the end of the the program it is imperative that I store all of my data and my code in the IU box so that future researchers are able to work on it. At the end of the day the who ProHealth staff and REUs did an activity for self reflection. It was rather eye opening and I might even say fun. That’s all for this week, see you next week for the final week!