The thing that makes it possible for you to “check in at a destination is the geolocational capabilities of your mobile device. This means that your GPS enabled phone or other mobile device can know where you are and can show you things that are nearby. How many people are using location based services? A Pew Internet & American Life Report that came out in November 2010 found that 4 percent of all online users are using these services. As Lee Rainietalked about this morning in his keynote, this number may really be as high as 17-18 percent. The greatest number of adults who use location based services are between the ages of 18-29..http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Location-based-services.aspxKey findings include:7% of adults who go online with their mobile phone use a location-based service.8% of online adults ages 18-29 use location-based services, significantly more than online adults in any other age group.10% of online Hispanics use these services – significantly more than online whites (3%) or online blacks (5%).6% of online men use a location-based service such as Foursquare or Gowalla, compared with 3% of online women.
When looking at location-based services, Facebook is the gorilla in the room with over 500 million users (although not all these are checking in with Facebook Places).
When you take Facebook out of the mix, it’s easier to see the distribution of users across the most highly used location-based services. What’s more difficult to compare is “registered users” vs. “active users.” Foursquare has the greatest penetration at this time. But this may this may change quickly… Instant gratification, camaraderie, just because, to let friends know where they are, to find their classmates to study with, to meet up with folks, to be seen, for rewards, discounts and freebies, to learn about what others have done before them so that they know what to do, or not to do (via tips), and because we learn from games. Because popular sites as Twitter & Facebook now give users the ability to share one’s location, there is a blurring of the lines between the so-called status-updating services and location-based services. The Pew report we referenced says that this blurring makes it “increasingly difficult for survey respondents to always pinpoint exactly what sort of software they are using—especially on their mobile devices.” { By September 2010, 24% of online adults had used status updating services. } What these apps are doing is adding a layer of information over the GPS data that their phones are sending to an application.
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Instead what we have is this….
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This is from February 14th – Total of checkins was only at 700. In one month, there were 100 more checkins. Is FourSquare the app for us? Not necessarily – because it does not have deep engagement. You cannot tag the images around you, like TagWhat and Layar can. You cannot ask questions like SCVNGR can.
In the last 30 days the library has had 112 checkins. There is, on average, 3.73 checkins per day. 83% of our users are between the ages of 18-25. Our FourSquare use has increased 103%. In the past 90 days our usage has increase over 400%. That means in three months we saw four times more interaction.
The individual who is the mayor of the library is also the mayor of other buildings on campus. This is a clear indication that we need to claim our venues and manage them so that we can increase the level of interactivity, and prevent users from creating venues that have incorrect information, or create multiple venues.
The individual who is the mayor of the library is also the mayor of other buildings on campus. This is a clear indication that we need to claim our venues and manage them so that we can increase the level of interactivity, and prevent users from creating venues that have incorrect information, or create multiple venues.
MargaretThere are three types of things you can build on SCVNGR for users to do. Challenges are quick fun to do at places. Rewards are things users can unlock by doing challenges at places. Treks connect places and challenges into themed paths. To build these things on SCVNGR, you need a builder account. So SCVNGR is part game for our students and part gaming platform where we can actually build challenges for users to help them learn about the library.
MargaretWhen users open their SCVNGR app at a location, they will see what kinds of things there are do to there. Users can simply check in as you do on Foursquare, do a social check in with another person by bumping phones together , make comments about a location, and take photos to share. If someone has built challenges or set up a trek, those will show up as things to do, as well. If a user gains enough points playing SCVNGR, they will earn the ability to create challenges of their own.
MargaretTo summarize… SCVNGR is great for new and international students because they own the devices they need to access the trek, they can learn and share tips as a group and they can have fun doing it.
AmyU106 class to create a trek for them last semester, and then as a final assignment, I had them build a trek for this semester.
Students like it because it’s easy to use, and works with any platform. It’s free for them to use. It’s fun, and they compete for the right answers, and accruing the most points. They like to share tips.
AmyThe questions I wanted to ask would direct students around the library to get familiar with the library in a non-traditional way. We have a paper scavenger hunt that students would take every semester, but I wanted to create something that used tools that they were already using. The students really enjoyed using the SCVNGR hunt I created via text, and every student was excited to be able to use it.
AmyThen, I offered students two options for a final assignment in Fall, one option being to redesign the SCVNGR hunt, which they overwhelmingly chose. Students had to think about the library like an instructor, or like I would, and chose quiz questions based on what they thought students needed to know the most. The most successful quiz was to determine their hardest class for the semester, let’s say it is Military Science, and then introduce themselves to the liaison for that subject. Students created this trek as part of their final assignment for class.