Mobile Information Jackie King, digital and emarketing manager at IOP Publishing
an iPad and dual-mode Android app for the digital version of Physics World magazine. Not only are our apps additional channels through which readers can discover our
The mobile market is still in formation and it is very tempting to look at every new device as a requirement for a new interface to our content
content, but they also allow users to engage with that content in more direct and personal ways. We welcome this viral element of content sharing; it’s at the very heart of social
media. We believe that our apps are helping researchers to advance their work and help in the dissemination of scientific research. Over the next year we plan to strengthen
our mobile presence by delivering a web version of IOPscience optimised for mobile browsers. We will soon be launching a mobile-friendly view of the full text of journal articles as enhanced HTML. One of the challenges is matching
the pace of our development with the pace of development in the consumer market. The mobile market is still in formation and it is very tempting to look at every new device as a requirement for a new interface to our content. We
need to be sure that any development we do meets our customers’ real needs. It is already clear from the number of iPads
in the research community that the demand is there and it will continue to grow. Information needs to be streamed flexibly onto any devices that users find useful for their research. With the launch of web OS like Chrome and Jolicloud, laptops are becoming mobile devices. That functionality, ease of access and interoperability will be an expectation from our communities. Desktops are also being influenced by mobile operating systems. We see the mobile device currently as a leader in a movement that will reach across workflows and devices.
FEATURE
Michael Habib, product manager, Scopus
One of the biggest challenges is serving the different platforms. How things like maths equations are displayed and how seamless this is depends on the device
We decided to develop mobile apps because we saw increased usage of our content from mobile devices and in surveys users told us that they would use apps if they were available. An app is different from a mobile version of the website because it is embedded in the device and, for now, Scopus is focusing on apps. We launched a Scopus iPhone app at
the end of last year for existing subscribers. We also released SciVerse applications for desktops to allow users to download e-reader apps. Since then we have been expanding to other platforms and have released apps for Android and Blackberry devices. We have also started to create paid apps
for ScienceDirect and Scopus. These are for individuals rather than institutional subscribers. Elsevier is also launching paid versions of Scopus and ScienceDirect for Android. In addition, there is a ScienceDirect app for the iPad. This is very similar to
www.researchinformation.info
the iPhone app but has been specifically optimised for the larger screen. All the content is in the apps but there is
less functionality than on the desktop. One of the first things we needed to think about in developing the apps was which functionality to offer on mobile devices. Mobile access is different from desktop access and keeping up to date with new content is particularly valuable for users. One of the biggest challenges is serving
the different platforms. How things like maths equations are displayed and how seamless this is depends on the device. Each platform also handles alerting slightly differently. We are working with a third- party vendor, Service2Media. This company has an innovative platform that allows us to develop the app just once and then simply tweak it for the different platforms. This approach should also help us to scale to different platforms in the future.
Standards for mobile apps to work together
will also make a lot of difference in the future. Currently, managing access across different platforms is a challenge. Many of the standards are designed for desktops. The primary way to authenticate users from institutional subscribers is to go to Scopus or ScienceDirect and set up an account. For the paid version (for individual subscribers), users pay for a subscription and then get the app. In both cases the log in information is stored in the app so you don’t need to log in again. With the Scopus app at the moment our
main goal is to get it out on the range of different mobile platforms. Once this is done we will work on improving the functionality. We would like to have better integration with the desktop version. For example, at the moment alerts for searches done using the mobile apps don’t show up on a user’s desktop. I think we’re going to start to see more task-specific apps that will take advantage of mobile. For example, we could see apps to help people manage information at conferences. This is already happening in other sectors. At many high-tech conferences, for example, users can get apps that are pre-loaded with the conference programmes. This is not happening in the scholarly publishing industry yet.
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