Freshmen are often identified by the campus maps they carry during the first weeks of school. Currently an essential tool for those new to the University, campus maps may soon become a thing of the past.
With the introduction of the WolfWalk program, unveiled last month by Digital Library Initiatives, students will have the opportunity to track their location on campus and learn more about the history of buildings they see every day.
The program, which took about six months to develop, uses the location-sensing abilities of smart phones to display students’ positions on a digital campus map. As students walk through the campus, they can view historical information of over 50 major sites of interest in the University through geotagged place marks.
Students can also browse for a known site by name. The program was created primarily to give students and alumni greater access to the University Archives, said David Hiscoe, the director of communication strategies for NCSU Libraries.
“We collected everything about the University since the late 19th century, when it was founded,” said Hiscoe. According to Hiscoe, the Archives have “everything from the earliest photos of Holladay Hall, to Agromecks through the years, to the accounting records of the University.”
“It seemed a shame to have all that stuff and not have more popular ways to get it out,” said Hiscoe.
Hiscoe said another reason for WolfWalk’s development was exploring how NCSU Libraries can interact with students through mobile devices.
“Libraries have totally changed in the past 25 years, since computers came out. They changed again when students started having laptops,” said Hiscoe. “We have a sense that there’s a third wave where they are going to change massively as more and more students have more and more powerful mobile devices.”
Hiscoe said the new Hunt Library on Centennial Campus would be outfitted with a multitude of ways for students to interface with the library staff and each other through their mobile devices.
WolfWalk has already been integrated into the NCSU Libraries Mobile application, which allows students to do everything from locate open study rooms to view a live webcam of the line at the library coffee shop.
In fact, Hiscoe said WolfWalk is only a small part of a larger effort to connect students to NCSU Libraries through mobile devices. Other universities have created similar programs to help people navigate through their campuses, but Hiscoe noted a distinction.
“What’s different about WolfWalk is that it’s particularly historically oriented,” said Hiscoe. “It’s the only one that uses mobile technology to explore the history of the campus.”
Another benefit of the WolfWalk program is that it allows visitors to the University to take a personalized tour of the campus 24 hours a day. That’s a big advantage over traditional campus tours, which typically take place only during business hours and don’t offer the historical depth found in WolfWalk. There’s even a plan to create a specialized version of the application for prospective students.
So what do students think of WolfWalk?
“I really like the pictures through time. That’s really cool,” said Holly Peschken, a freshman in nutrition science. However, Peschken said her mobile device limited the program’s abilities.
“I don’t have the GPS on mine because I have an iPod Touch, not an iPhone, which makes it kind of difficult,” she said.
“I think it’s a pretty neat idea,” said Andrew Poole, a freshman in First Year College. “I like the fact that it uses Google Maps. Google Maps is pretty accurate.”
The WolfWalk program is currently supported by the Apple iPhone, iPod, and Android-based smart phones. A free iPhone application version of the program should go live in the Apple app store this summer.
Smart phone users can access a mobile web version of the program by going to www.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfwalk. Anyone can learn more about WolfWalk and preview the program on their computers by visiting the site.
