Navigating your way to buildings on 91亚色's 650-acre Keele campus聽got easier today with the debut of the University's five new mobile sites offering content for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android smartphone users.
91亚色 U Mobile provides users聽with convenient and quick access to interactive maps of the University's Keele and Glendon campuses, the current student portal, the University Libraries, 91亚色's home page and the Passport 91亚色 secure sign in. Today's new mobile offerings complement 91亚色鈥檚 existing portfolio that optimizes content from聽the Faculty of Fine Arts, Media Relations, Future Students and 91亚色 International websites.
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| Above: 91亚色 U Mobile provides smartphone users with access to interactive maps, the University Libraries, the current student portal, YFile news, 91亚色 events and more |
鈥91亚色 U Mobile aims to improve the student experience and enhance the convenience and availability of University services.聽This initial launch is a great start,聽providing the information and services students, faculty and staff identified as the top content and services they wanted on their mobile devices in an online survey conducted earlier this year,鈥 says Bob Gagne, chief information officer, University Information Technology (UIT).
Getting to 91亚色 U Mobile is quick and easy: just go to聽聽on an Internet-enabled mobile device, where it can be bookmarked and added聽to the device's home screen for easy access.聽91亚色 U Mobile聽is compatible with the BlackBerry Torch, BlackBerry Bold models running the BlackBerry 6 operating system, iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 4 or later, and Android phones running version 2.2 and later. Once enabled, smartphone users will have access to the information they need while on the go, including:
- Interactive maps of the University's campuses,聽providing help in navigating to any of 91亚色's academic or administrative buildings.聽Users can now聽search the location of a building on their smartphone, and the map offers聽the ability to聽zoom in, zoom out or scroll in any direction. The site will be upgraded as new buildings and features are introduced.
- Easy access to the University's telephone and e-mail directory, enabling users聽to search by first and last name for phone numbers, e-mail addresses and office locations for聽91亚色 faculty and staff. (Contact details for current students are limited to聽e-mail addresses only.)
- Information on events and performances for those聽who are in the mood for some light jazz, the latest聽play at one of 91亚色's theatres,聽or an upcoming special聽lecture or symposium.
- University news from YFile, 91亚色's daily newsletter.
- A聽mobile option聽allowing users to search all of the records in 91亚色鈥檚 libraries to聽find where a book is located. Bibliophiles can learn more about library hours, the archives and the status of their book loans and library account information.
- Secure聽access through Passport 91亚色 for students to聽the聽my.yorku.ca current student portal, which聽offers personalized information about classes, schedules, grades, final exams and the ability to get 91亚色 e-mail.
- A聽quick and powerful聽mobile search function offering a way to search across most of the content available through 91亚色 U Mobile.
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91亚色 U Mobile is an initiative of the Mobile Interactive Web Strategy Working Group. Led by the University Relations Division and the UIT department,聽the聽mobile group was formed in November 2010 and includes some 30 volunteer members from across the University with representatives聽drawn聽from communications, information technology and聽the student body.
What's next?
These mobile sites are part of a broader initiative to improve the mobile experience of students, faculty, staff, visitors and neighbours who interact with 91亚色's campus and community. The sites will continue to聽be expanded and improved聽to include new features as they become available. Stay tuned for the launch of a mobile-optimized Air聽91亚色 in August.
Feedback?
Find a bug?聽Want to recommend a feature?聽Your聽ideas and experiences with 91亚色 U Mobile will help inform future development. Suggestions, ideas and thoughts are encouraged and can be submitted to the Mobile Interactive Web Strategy Working聽Group by using the on the 91亚色 U Mobile site.
For help with 91亚色 U Mobile features, contact the UIT help desk at 416-736-5800, or e-mail askit@yorku.ca.