City-Club-App

City Club App (Summer 2014) Siddharth (Sid) Masih

BACKGROUND: Mobile App for The City Club of San Diego By Siddharth (Sid) Masih The City Club of San Diego is dedicated to the dialogue of democracy. That core belief was inherent in The City Club’s creation in 1975 and remains the organization’s fundamental principle. The City Club has presented more than 1,000 programs (including speakers such as Gov. Michael Dukakis, Senator Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Navy Admiral William French, and San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne). In addition, due to a long-standing commitment, The City Club invites high school and college students in the area to be its guests for all programs, in the belief that young people benefit by witnessing civic engagement. This commitment is especially evident in the partnership between The City Club and La Jolla Country Day School, where numerous events are held with student and parent participation.

KEY REQUIREMENTS: In spring of 2014, the President of The City Club, Mr. George Mitrovich, commissioned the San Diego City Club Mobile Application Project through La Jolla Country Day School. The objective of the app was to make information about The City Club accessible via mobile devices (iPhone, iPad). Specifically, the app needed to provide the following functionality:

1. Update users about new events
2. Display information about speakers and The City Club
3. Allow users to see videos of past events
4. Allow users to sign up for events

PROJECT TEAM: The project was assigned to Sid Masih and Cameron Khoroushi with the following roles:

• Siddharth (Sid) Masih – Head Programmer and Layout Design
• Cameron Khoroushi – User Interface/Graphic Design

TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM: Objective-C, XML, Xcode’s iOS Development Environment, Google Blogger, Google Docs

DESIGN:

• The app was designed using a syndicated information platform. A single administrator can update information and settings in one interface.
• This goal was accomplished using Google Blogger, which uses RSS feeds to not push but have each app “read” information from Google Blogger’s servers.
• Similarly, a notifications blog allows the administrator to send notifications to all the users which the app interprets in a similar way. The app also pushes the text from this blog to the iOS notification center.
• Events and videos are entered as blog entries which then appear as selectable tiles within the app. Videos, hosted by YouTube, play within a window in the app.
• Signups are hosted by Google Forms. RELEASE:
• App was approved by Apple in October 2014
• Available on Apple App Store under “City Club SD”. It can also be found by using search term “San Diego City Club” in App Store