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November 29, 2011
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Issue 55, Volume 77
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Proposed app could use student input Computer science department has developed similar programs to SGA’s smartphone project Taylor McGilvray
THE DAILY COUGAR The unveiling of Student Government Association’s plan to spend $59,125 of student fees to an outside company to develop a smartphone app for the University has left some computer science students wondering why. The question stems from the fact that one of the app’s features used to sell the idea to the Student Fees Advisory Committee was its ability to help students find their way around campus, giving them directions to and from
different buildings. Why is this an issue? Because that app already exists. UH Navigate is an app that was developed by five computer science students as an assignment for their Ubiquitous Computing course in December of 2010. It was the continuation of a project created by four other students, UH Guide, created in March of 2010. UH Guide earned those four students a Student Service Award under a resolution introduced by current SGA Speaker of the Senate Reyes Ramirez. “I’m sure they could find people (in the department) who are willing to do it (develop the app)... without spending $60,000,” said Mohammed Alshair, team leader of the group that developed UH Navigate. SGA Director of Finances Turner Harris said SGA did not want to use students to develop
the app because a third party developer would have more time to devote to creating it. “It’s a speed issue and a turn around issue,” he said. “If you go with a third party developer... they’re not just coders; they’re designers. It’s not something that can be matched.” Harris said SGA would like to use computer science students in the future, however. “Just because we developed the app with a third party doesn’t mean we can’t use them later on,” he said. Alshair said the main problem his group came across with UH Navigator was they couldn’t get support from the University. The app was supposed to be published when in was created in December, but never was because the teaching assistant didn’t get around to it even though the department has a
subscription, costing $100 per year, to publish as many apps as they want. With the help of SGA, however, Alshair said the app could be updated and maintained by students. This way the students developing the app could spend more time developing it instead of trying to work their way through campus bureaucracy. They could then include the proposed features the new app would have, without spending $59,125 or using an outside company. He said if student fees are being used, they should be spent on the University. “If that’s the case, they could give it (the $59,125) to the department or the students,” he said. “But for a lot of students the project and experience itself would be enough motivation.” APP continues on page 3
CAMPUS
Hispanic heritage festivities to feature free food, music The UH Activities and Funding Board is sponsoring a variety of festivities in advent of Hispanic Heritage Month today at the school’s University Center. To kick start today’s celebration, the university will have its first tamale eating contest as well as its first grito contest. The program will also feature an array of traditional Latin American music, and food. The event is free of charge and will be held from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. For more information, contact AFB at: damachad@central.uh.edu. —Estíbaliz García
Sliding doors protected by a Cougar Card security swipe have replaced the old entrance doors at Moody Towers. | Julian Jimenez/The Daily Cougar
FACULTY
RESIDENCE LIFE
UH professor wins award for Best Book in Urban History The Urban History Association has announced that UH associate history professor Monica Perales will be awarded the Kenneth Jackson Award for Best Book in Urban History. Perales’ book, “Smeltertown: Making and Remembering a Southwest Border Community,” centers on the history of Mexican and Mexican Americans working community in the American Smelting and Refining Company in Perales’ hometown of El Paso, Texas. The award, which is considered, the most prestigious of its kind, will be awarded at the organization’s biennial conference set for October 2012 in New York. —Estíbaliz García
Moody Towers receives upgrades for security Julian Jimenez
THE DAILY COUGAR
Baking internationally
A
ssociation Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales held a bake sale Monday in front of Phillip Gunthrie Hoffman to raise funds for their organization. | Catherine Lara/The Daily Cougar
Opinion among residents at Moody Towers is split concerning the construction of new security measures aimed at stopping unauthorized access into the building. Anna Weismann, the project manager for the upgrades, said the recently completed construction consists of sealed entrances and new doorways. Previously, Moody Towers had five entrances — two for each tower
and one leading into the commons. Since the upgrade, two of the tower entry points have been converted into emergency exits, two have been turned into storefronts and the main entrance is now protected by a card swipe reader. “The full upgrade won’t be done until the end of the winter break — that will give us time to load everybody’s Cougar Card into the system,” Weismann said. “We anticipated having this done earlier, but based on the UPGRADE continues on page 3