This document summarizes a mobile news app project created through collaboration between journalism and computer science students. The project led to the creation of an app called AzteCast for the campus which launched in 2012 and had over 2,000 downloads. It provided news and events for students. The app was later adopted by the university's student life department but ceased operations in 2014 due to budget issues. The project resulted in research publications, new collaborations between academic departments, and jobs for students in mobile development. It provides tips for starting a similar project, including identifying platforms, hosting, and recruiting students in advance; and incorporating community outreach, strategic assignments, guest speakers, and innovative tools into the class.

1. BUILDING A BRIDGE GRANT PROJECT
2012 AEJMC Bridge Grant Recipient
Amy Schmitz Weiss, Ph.D.
Associate Professor | School of Journalism and Media Studies
San Diego State University
AEJMC Conference 2015

2. KEY POINTS
What we did
Project outcomes
How to get started
Class components
Concluding thoughts

3. WHAT WE DID
• Collaboration between journalism and
computer science students during Spring 2012
semester that led to the creation of a mobile
news app for the campus
• Website launched in Spring 2012
• Mobile news app, AzteCast launched in Apple
Store July 2012 (1,788 iOS downloads)
• Android platform Summer 2013 (294 Android
downloads)
• University’s Student Life and Leadership
department adoption of app in fall 2012; daily
management of news events on campus by SLL
staff
• School newspaper planned to adopt app but ran
into budget issues; app seized operation in 2014

4. PROJECT
OUTCOMES
• Research article published in 2013 in JMCQ on mobile
apps and geo-location news consumption among young
adults
• Led to new collaborations between our School of
Journalism and Media Studies and College of Sciences
• Students who took the course ended up getting jobs in
the mobile industry

5. WHERETO START?
Have an idea that brings your students, the campus and community together –
establishes learning outcomes for class/project, dedicated students/stakeholders in the
project
Brainstorm with students, colleagues/depts across campus, local media and industry
about the idea – months in advance
Identify the platform for the build – custom, open-source, etc.

6. WHERETO START?
Identify the host provider for project (university, Bluehost,Amazon EC2, etc.)
Identify students a semester before to generate interest in the class/project
Collaborate – work with other departments and local media to build the class/project
Develop syllabus/infrastructure a semester before or earlier – include flexibility
for changes during the semester, alternatives to certain assignments or class sessions,
etc.

7. CLASS COMPONENTS

8. COMMUNITY
OUTREACH -
METHODS
Beginning of semester:
Mobile Survey administered campus-wide
During semester:
Focus groups (3 student sessions, 1
community session)
Provides valuable feedback for the creation of your
project and steps during of where to go next and
when to pivot

9. STRATEGIC
ASSIGNMENTS
Create forms of assessment that scaffold the
learning experience, low-stakes and are
frequent throughout semester:
• Weekly blog posts
• Competitive analysis
• Usability analysis of platform
• Focus group reports
• Team reports for different parts
of the build
• Sustainability report

10. GUEST SPEAKERS
Outside experts help to scaffold learning and
bring in valuable expertise/insight from
various backgrounds
Brant Houston
Jed Sundwall
Lorie Hearn
Nat Manning
Brian Boyer

11. INNOVATIVE
TOOLS/
TECHNIQUES
iPad Tablets –Video Meetings
Mobile Phone Testing
Brainstorming Sessions
IDEO Cards
Mind mapping
Wireframes

12. BLOGS

13. CONCLUDINGTHOUGHTS
Account for more time than you need – be flexible and have alternative plans
Be ready for failure. Experiment – test and try, test and try.
Recognize your technical resources vs. technical hiccups – have alternative plans
Keep it simple
Bring the community into the project – key stakeholders to its success
Once it launches – project is not over. Seek partners, collaborators to keep it
going.
If project ends, learn what worked and what didn’t and highlight successes of what it
did for the time the project was in progress

14. THANKYOU! QUESTIONS?
ASCHMITZ@MAIL.SDSU.EDU
@DIGITALAMYSW