Jim Tranquada

Occidental College made it easier to access campus information and services with this week's launch of Oxy Mobile, a Boopsie-powered mobile application compatible with all web-enabled phones that allows users to find and contact faculty and staff, access the library catalog, or navigate the campus.

 

High-speed downloadable clients are available for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, J2ME, and Symbian S60.

"While the purpose of Oxy Mobile is to make a wide range of information and services available to anyone with a web-enabled phone, we think users will find some of the features addictive," said Marsha Schnirring, director of Occidental's Center for Digital Learning & Research, which spearheaded the development of the new app.

"The Boopsie-powered search function, for example, is incredibly quick and convenient," Schnirring said. "All you have to do is type in the first couple of letters and you'll see the search go into action while you type. One way we'll be able to measure the success of Oxy Mobile is to watch for people conducting searches while walking across campus. I trust we don't have to remind people it isn't safe to do it while driving!"

Using Oxy mobile, users can find faculty and staff listings, access the library catalog for searches or to renew items, contact the IT Helpdesk, and follow Occidental's Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube feeds. "We'll be adding even more content over time," Schnirring said.

iPhone users can download the Oxy Mobile from the App Store, and Android users from the Android Market. Users of any web-enabled mobile device can simply open a browser on their device and go to m.oxy.edu, where they will be given the option to download the appropriate version of Oxy Mobile.

To see the Oxy Mobile preview video, click here.