RITH shortlisted for a 2011 Times Higher Education Award

The University of Huddersfield UniApp that we developed has been shortlisted for a 2011 Times Higher Education award for Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year!

We’re really pleased because its our first awards nomination. That in itself was a nice little accolade, but being shortlisted in the final is the icing on the cake

So we’re looking forward to going down to London for the event, along with the happy bunch at the University of Huddersfield who were involved in the project. The event itself is on the 24th of November at Grosvenor House and seeing all the other projects that make their way onto the stage, and possibly even UniApp should be interesting! Fingers crossed.

How we developed a useful cross platform app. 

As far as the app goes, it’s been downloaded a healthy number of times on both iOS and Android devices (though much less on Android), in fact it’s a very significant number (a double digit percentage of total student population of Huddersfield University) and it spiked again with the intake of students this year.

It’s easy for us to say we designed and developed it and take all the credit, but really it’s a good case of the University seeking then listening to user feedback, then approaching us for a proposal. The University was involved in every process and carefully weighed the options and choices presented to them in wireframe and prototype form, to optimise the usefulness and reach of each facet of it. At no point did we indulge our own ideas of what it should be without carefully evaluating the point of that feature or implement something without evaluating its use over time.

Features like:

• Searching the staff directory
• Live computer availability in the Library
• Photos of buildings to ease familiarisation with the surroundings
• Renewing library items via a simple interface
• Searching the library catalogue

Are all useful features to a potential student or member of staff, and that’s what makes a good utility app!

The project is also a very good case for totally customising something for your end users, and not going for the cookie cutter solution. Ironically those who do end up with generic solutions usually end up paying extortionate license fees which is a trend we hope to reverse one bit of software at a time. Nothing beats handcrafted software that you iterate on.

Petite url: http://rith.co.uk/blog/ghebh