Stephanie's Senior Project Preliminary Proposal- Christian Moral App

Stephanie's Senior Project Preliminary Proposal- Christian Moral App


1. Project theme, concept and subject area



The topic and theme I plan to focus on for my senior project is Christianity for youth. The project’s concept is to help Christians be aware of their responsibilities to know what is right and wrong based on Christian moral belief. Most applications in the app store on iTunes focus on different aspects such as the environment (e.g. Go Green, Cool Facts). Some types of Christian apps even have devotions (Sprugeon, 2009), I think devotions are to help those to reflect but not necessarily remind, this is why having moral values is very important, so for this project I hope to alert those "baby Christians" and perhaps even those who have been Christians for a long time. I hope through the app, youth Christians will be able to use this not only as a reference tool but also a tool which reminds them of their beliefs and responsibilities.

If non Christians were to come across this app, I hope they would learn about Christian value. However, since they are not the targetted audience, the content would not be focused towards them.





2. Objectives and Rationale



As a Christian I find it difficult to be clear on Christian moral values because of the free access of knowledge and information on the internet, it is hard to know what is expected as a Christian especially when there are so many cults out there spreading false information which conflicts with the moral values stated in the Holy Bible.

As I speak with different Christian friends I realized that some of them are quite confused as to what they believe in. As I speak with my fellowship councellors, mentors and church pastoral staff, I realize that even sometimes I am unclear with certain seemingly “grey” areas (regarding issues that seem to be no right or wrong) as well. As a Christian and a leader of different fellowships I hope to make sure that those who call themselves Christians are indeed Christians. And those, like me who might be confused at times when daily life issues arise such as questions similar to: should Christians support homosexuality? can Christians gamble? Can Christians invest? Etc can youth Christians be able to answer these questions without giving it a thought? And may they debate with non-christians as to why they answered as they did?



Since the iPhone and iPod touch are both popular gadgets, I want to make use of them and create a media artifact which will help me bring my passion to others but at the same time enable me to observe how people communicate through iPhone and iPod touch. As my other major is International Studies, I hope to see how fast information can be passed through Applications.



Through this project, it will help me realize the importance of how a communication piece must be built in order for it to function well. As I would get feedback from peers, colleagues, professors, I would learn and this would help me when I graduate and work in a media company, know how to create or edit things so that they may be more appealing to others especially my target groups.





3. Output (i.e. product, artifact, service…)



The product for this project will be an application (for iPhone and iPod touch). The application will have information bank which users collect information each time they open the application, they will be able to store this information in a bank (and be able to go back to it when they



the deliverables for this project are:



-ten commandments based on the New International Version and The Message (version) of the Holy Bible

- message summaries from pastorial figures (e.g. pastors and reverands).

-information bank to store collected information



For further developments:



This product will hopefully expand to having a music section where users can download Christian singsperation songs(because they are not available on the iTunes music store), games to test their moral values and understanding of the content. The future product also hopes to expand to the mobile industry using Java as its platform for creating this application. In future for this product, users will be able to access an instant messaging system where they can interact with different pastorial figures (e.g. pastors and reverands) as well as other youths from across the world so that they may share their thoughts and questions with others.





4. Audience(s)



The main group who will be targetted are Christians. Since this app will be in English, it would be able to spread worldwide avoiding most language barriers.



The youth group targeted for this application ranges between the ages of 18-26. There are several reasons for this: first, this is the age range in which youth are in university, they are looking for knowledge, and this app hopes to give them some knowledge of their belief; second, although the price of an iPod touch or iPhone has dropped, it can be categorized as an expensive luxury item, for a high school student, not all may be able to afford this item, but as an university student (through part time and being categorized as a young adult) it is easier for them (compared to high school students) to buy an iPod touch or iPhone; third, as university and college students are more engaged in the latest technologies (because of Universities and colleges advancements in fundings, students are able to learn and be able to research the benefits of using certain technologies.)



5. Background research



I was unable to find something similar to the artifact (the app), but I have found some similar things which are taken in parts, for this reason, I have decided to take several different directions in order to finish the puzzle for this project.



The directions I took are as follows:



Religion and technology

Based on Kong L’s Religion and technology: refiguring place, space, identity and community



I was able to learn about how religion and technology are linked together. From a geographical standpoint (from her paper), she discusses how technology played a role in religion during 1830-1930s. Although the dates are quite early, the concept is still similar. She analyzes how Methodists (which is a form of Christian Protestant cult) used technology to help religion move forward. From her paper, I was able to grasp a few concepts, religion be updated with technology in order to spread to others, it is wise for religions to make use of what technology has to give so that a religion may able to be continued and passed on to the next generation.



Youth Christianity and Community

Roehlkepartain, Eugene C. and Scales, Peter C. 1995. Youth Development in Congregations: An Exploration of the Potential and Barriers



In this book, they discuss how youth should communicate in a Christian community. The authors discuss what the best ways are for youths in Christian communities to have a healthy spiritual development and growth. They have discussed a few methods, one of which is to keep up with latest trends and be engaged in what youth are and input Christian ideologies into that sort of trend in order for youths to be engaged with religion.

Since this book was written in 1995, the internet, ICTs, and computer access was not popular, but the idea could still be used which is to make use of the latest trends (which is iPod touch and iPhones) so that youths may learn through something they will likely use.



Mobile and Applications

Dempsey’s Always On: Libraries in a world of permanent connectivity

Castells M., Fernández–Ardévol M., Jack Linchuan Qiu JL, and Araba Sey A., Mobile communication and society: a global perspective.

Dempsey’s paper and Castell’s paper had similar concepts, through both papers, I learned more about mobile and applications, in their papers, they both talk about mobile communications and its benefits. Castells mentions that Mobile communications is widely adopted quicker than other technologies. Demsey carries on saying that mobile communications represents distributions and the growth of number of users are expanding greatly.

Mobile communications help ease learning, social activities and helps “control” youth behavior by providing support, satisfaction through social interaction, group formation, the ease to gaining information and most importantly youths may express themselves easily. (Dempsey, 2009). But there are also problems if this system is not used efficiently, it really depends on how the developers create their applications and how they make use of resources to get youths to be able to gain rather than diminish their learning.



Mobile communications intensifies activities by adding new challenges for youth, they can bring those “games” and learning tools wherever they go, because of the popularity of these handheld devices (in my case: iPod Touch and iPhones) youth can use these efficiently and this helps them learn efficiently.



“There are two ways in which mobile communications impact services: first, services may be made mobile- ready, as with special mobile interfaces for library services, alerting services …. Second, mobilization continues to restructure services, organizations and attentions which enhances networking.” (Dempsey, 2009)

These two papers helped me learned the importance of controlling my content when I am creating them and realize that iPod touch and iPhones have smaller screens, in order to enhance the learning experience, I must find ways to make their app experience memorable in order for the users to come back and use the app over and over.



App store findings



In this direction, I tried to look for some apps which might be similar to the one I am proposing for this project, I was able to find what I was looking for but I found a few apps which are similar or might have features which resemble those of my app.



I found that there were not a lot of apps for Christians or for religions in general.



For these Apps. Spurgeon’s Daily Help app, which is created for Catholics it has daily devotions, so if a user were to open it once every day, they will be able to read a short story and be able to reflect on a theme of that day. This app has received low ratings (2 stars out of 5) because its functions were too simple, a “devotion of the day” is revealed when you turn on the app, but that is all.



Webworks and Applications: Go green app was similar to the Daily Help app (had a rating of 3 stars out of 5), users of this app were can collect “green tips” this allows users to go back to a tip if it were useful, and users were rewarded with different “status’ for example if you collected 1-2 tips, than you are a “green newbie, if you collect 10 tips you will be promoted to “green apostle” and so forth, this is a great way to encourage users to go back so they could be promoted more often.

Bible Verses Free had received good ratings (4 stars out of 5), this app has a great feature, which not only allows users to save bible verses but also lets users “favourite” their favourite bible verses allowing them to go back and refer to the bible verses any time they want.



Regarding the content, I have already found a few "mature" Christians (who are familar with the bible and the faith), pastors and reverands (those who have already been trained with Christian knowledge and may represent the faith) from different denominations (Baptist, Alliance, etc). The above persons mentioned will be able to guide me and help write the content to make sure it allies well with the faith and beliefs of Christianity.



6. Approach, method and treatment



The medium I plan to use for this project is an app through the iPod and iPhone’s app store because it is most current and can be accessed easily. The app will be easy to reach out to different youths (which fit in the age range). Since there are many users it will be easier for others to test out this app and to give me feedback immediately. iPhones and iPods are also extremely handly and convenient (as it can be carried around in most places) this would be useful if it were taken as a "reference tool" and "reminding device".



I will make simple drawings to enhance the visual aspects of this app.



I plan to look for pastoral staffs from different churches of different cults (e.g. Baptist, Alliance, Community, etc) for their advice and professional suggestions regarding their views on moral values. After these interviews, I will do simple write ups of these moral values, these will be the content for the app.



The theories behind this concept could be found under the background research section of this document.





7. Project Management strategies















These are the project management steps I plan to take to execute my project.



Step 1: Planning, Definition

You may refer to section 1,2 and 4 for this.



Step 2: creating the WBS

WBS is an abbreviation for Work Breakdown Structure. My breakdown structure for this project may be found in the deliverables in section 3.



Step 3: Verification

Professor Chan will do this part; this part is to verify whether this project is executable. The pastors and reverends I will be interviewing will also review the final content to ensure it is correct.



Step 4: Control

For control, I plan to use the Integrated Change Control Process (ICCP). This control will address things which may affect the overall project scope. (This may be found in section 8)



Tasks & Milestones

I plan to use a Gantt chart to track my progress and to keep myself on track. Here is a list of tasks which are important to create this app (prototype- the prototype will be done in Flash)





1. Writing up grey area moral value questions

2. Interviewing pastors and reverends

3. summarize their interviewed pieces

4. Creating graphics and animation

5. research on flash animations which are appropriate and similar to those for apps.

6. Creating a flash based prototype of the actual app.





Timeline:

1. This would take approximately 6 hours to complete (3 hours for research and 3 hours for the write up)



2. This task would take approximately 10 days to complete



3. This task would take approximately 2 days to complete



4. This would take approximately 1 week to complete



5. This taske will take approximately 3 weeks to complete.



6. This task will take approximately 1 month to complete.



There will also be a user testing of target audience for feedback and suggestions.





Milestone dates:

February 3rd- Presentation and peer critique

February 5th- first set of moral values questions have been written

February 6-15th- gathering answers and asking pastorial figures for advice

February 16-27th- design of app

February 28th- Progress report due



March 1- Ten Commandments "modernized"

March 24- Progress report due (2nd)

March 28- Prototype of APP

March 30- Presentation of final project



April 1-7th- User testing for prototype for bugs or other problems

April 10th- deliverable and final report due



8. Possible obstacles

The difficulties I would likely encounter is the technical aspect. I have no experience in creating an app, and I have only adequate knowledge for creating flash pieces. I have to keep in mind that I am doing a piece for a smaller screen, so I must research usability issues regarding smaller screen pieces.

Some pastors might not be available for interviewing so to overcome this limitation I plan to make backups just in case a primary interviewee might not be available.

There might be a conflict regarding the content when users are reading the content because people might have different views on these moral issues.In order to resolve this, there will be pastors of different congregations who will be interviewed for each question to ensure a unity and similar direction.





9. Expected outcome(s)

The project will not be a “finished” product because there are limited resources as to how to create an app, so I will use flash to create a prototype and mock of what the actual product will look like.

The expected outcomes is that youth Christians will be able to learn about Christian moral values or if they already know, they will have a deeper understanding of why they have answered what they did and use this app as a reminder.





10. Bibliography (in APA style)



Castells M., Fernández–Ardévol M., Jack Linchuan Qiu JL, and Araba Sey A., (2007). Mobile communication and society: a global perspective. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.



Dempsey, L. (2009).Always On: Libraries in a world of permanent connectivity. Retrieved from

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2291/2070.



Kong, L. (2001). Religion and technology: refiguring place, space, identity and community. The Royal Geographical Society, 33(4), 01-10.



Roehlkepartain, Eugene C. and Scales, Peter C. 1995. Youth Development in Congregations: An

Exploration of the Potential and Barriers. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute.



Santiago, L. (2009). Bible Verses (free) (Version 1.01) [application]. Available from the Apple iTunes App store.



Smith, Christian and Melinda Denton. 2005. Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives

of American Teenagers. NY: Oxford University Press.



Smith, Christian 2003. “Religious Participation and Parental Moral Expectations and Supervision

of American Youth.” Review of Religious Research 44: 414-424.



Spurgeon, C. (2009). 43rd Element, LLC: Daily Help Devotional. (version 1.2.4) [application]. Available from the Apple iTunes App store.



Unknown developer, (2008). Webworks and Applications: Go Green (Version 1.01) [application]. Available from the Apple iTunes App store.



Unknown developer, (2009). Webworks and Applications: 9500+ Cool Facts (Version 1.0) [application]. Available from the Apple iTunes App store.





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