Two weeks in: the WorldCat Mobile pilot momentum grows
We're two weeks into the WorldCat Mobile pilot and you've already uncovered a lot of future functionality and would-be-nice-to-have features--in addition to helping identify specific troubles with certain models of phones. Thanks to the 1,315 people who have already downloaded the app to their mobile phone, there were 39,474 queries made to WorldCat.org through the app. in January.
Extrapolating from the usage statistics, most people seem to be starting their searches at the "home" screen (1,209 users made 26,450 queries). But then 452 people started at the "change location" section (452 users made 4,218 queries)--which just goes to show that lots of people are either reading my hints or more likely, you're using the app on the go, for travel. Finally, the down economy may be prompting people to find more libraries, more often, because the 263 people who used it created 5,355 queries.
All in all, it's a fantastic start for the WorldCat Mobile pilot, and if you haven't tried it yet, go on and give it a go. If you have tried it and received an error message, brace yourself and would you be willing to try again? Our partner organization with the pilot has been making fixes and putting in patches almost 'round the clock. If you try it again and still have problems, please send us feedback so we can get it fixed.
On February 7, 2009 at 8:15 AM Edwin said:
Hello,
Will there be a pilot in Europe too. I'm really looking forward to that...
On February 13, 2009 at 4:28 PM Alice Sneary
said:
Hi Edwin. We are looking forward to having the WorldCat Mobile pilot expand to Europe, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere, too. But, as the saying goes, we have to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run. So we're trying to work out most of the kinks before we replicate it to a wider geographic area. Good news, though, for iPhone users: the experimental iPhone Web app does work for UK and Australian postcodes, at least. It may work other places, too, depending.
We're investigating the technology aspects of a European roll-out and will keep you informed on our progress.