I made an iPhone App and so can you !!!
For one of my last projects with Sigi Torinus as part of my BFA degree I made an iphone App.
I was able to speed up a usually lengthy process by skipping over the coding portion of creating the app. This was made possible by using Buzztouch, a web-based content management software (CMS) out of Montery California that helps build iPhone and Android apps. Buzztouch provides tools that allow people to create mobile apps and provides a back-end database to support those apps over the long-term. They do both of these things for free, for anyone. The source-code that app owners download for each of their applications is released under an open-source license.
Buzztouch is awesome. From their website:
We encourage anyone to build an app, download the source-code, compile it using Xcode (iOS), then distribute it through the App Store. The more times this happens, the better. We hope to see hundreds of thousands (millions?) of mobile applications that are powered by buzztouch. We are well on our way.
Not knowing how to use code to personalize my app limited the properties of the app I made, but I was still able to personalize the content 100%. I couldn’t use properties such as shake, for example, but I could select a number of ways to customize my app, including the ability to add videos, pictures, PDF files, mapped locations, and URLs to it.
The app I made is called Battlemarks, and it explores narratives around injuries. Something along the lines of a Choose your Own Adventure, the main interface has lead-in phrases that are completed when the user selects one and views the content, which ranges from Youtube videos, to google image searches, to mapped locations, all with text to tie the story together.
Battlemarks users are led to question personal stories of how injuries are obtained and rationalized by examining themes of false fronts, narratives, abuse, folklore, feminism and place.
After I was done making my app on Buzztouch, I had to register as an Apple Developer. I purchased the iOS Developer Program (it’s only $100 and good for a whole year; think of all the apps you could make?!) and, using xcode (available to download for free on apple.ca once you register) and lots of how-to step by step resources on both the Buzztouch Forums and Apple’s Developer Website, complied a trial version of the app, then a version for release.
Battlemarks is currently installed on my iPhone, and I could put it on up to 99 other iPhones for testing purposes. I am now at the stage of distributing my app for free in the iTunes Store, so stay tuned for the release!!
The process of making an app for iPhone requires a lot of dedicated time and patience, but it’s totally worth it! Like the creators of buzztouch said, we need different people making different apps!
Can you think of any other themed apps that could be created? How about windsor-specific apps? Maybe one that tells you how many people will be on the next bus you take, or an app that allows you to snap photos of street art, automatically uploading it to a large mapped database available for viewing? One that will tell you how many americans are in the bar based on a audio sampling of accents?
![We met last night and started our list of 100 Ways to Save the City for our projection on Saturday night as part of FAM Fest. We’re also spent some time putting together a rough schedule for 2009 Micro-Residencies, which will likely start in November. If you’ve thought about applying, but haven’t yet, now would [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/IMG_5311-sm-150x150.jpg "Planning Our Projection for FAM Fest")
![Our magnetic planters have finally been finished and installed (temporarily) along the alley that runs behind our headquarters. Consider yourself cordially invited to take a planter or two and move them to some other space in the city in need of a micro-garden. Cristina’s finally back from Italy, it was awesome to catch up and [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_9407-150x150.jpg "Magnetic Planters Finished!")
![As part of FAM Fest 09, we did a projection performance on the roof of Metro Cleaners accessed from Empire Lounge in downtown Windsor. For about an hour and a half, we presented our 100 Ways to Save the City and then asked for ideas from the folks on the ground, at Phog, and on the Twitterverse. After the [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_1761-150x150.jpg "100 Ways to Save the City Projection")
![I’m starting a new project in creating a series of iPhone applications for Surviving Windsor. Some of these applications will be absurd, some useful, but all will be focused primarily on the specific conditions and realities found here in South Detroit. This suite of applications takes the city as its conceptual backing, generating a set of small [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/IMG_3934-150x150.jpg "iPhone app development (on paper)")
![Monday night marked the last Broken City Lab meeting of the year!!! We’ll be taking a brief break over the holidays and then gearing up for a series of events starting at the end of January. For anyone who has been wondering how to get involved or if we’d ever hold open office hours again, [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_72891-150x150.jpg "Last Meeting for 2009!")
![Around the maps, we’re beginning to imagine two cities collapsing into one. As part of How to Forget the Border Completely, we’re doing and planning all sorts of things — border portals, border etiquette classes, new maps, new tourism guides, interviews, stories, and imaginary architecture. Michelle and our dear friend, Lee Rodney, spoke about HFBC [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_8729-150x150.jpg "BCL Report: Feb 18, 2011 (Maps & Portals)")
![Last Wednesday, Justin, Michelle, Josh and I flew from Detroit, MI to Atlanta, GA and drove another two hours to Chattanooga, TN for the City Share conference put on by our friends from Create Here! Veronique picked us up from the the airport in Atlanta. We grabbed a bit of food and then headed straight [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/IMG_3050-150x150.jpg "Our Arrival to Chattanooga, TN and Day One of the City Share Conference!")
![Though we’re still very much in the middle of thinking about, beginning to write about, and generally talk about all of the amazing things that we learned as part of Save the City, these billboards are the last part of the project to be launched. These two statements are among the many, many, many that [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/KnewItWasntAlone-520-150x150.jpg "…and then the city…")
![We’re on to priming the letters now, in anticipation of the bright red coat we’ll be giving them in the coming weeks. Things are moving ahead at a good pace, and hopefully will continue to, as we’d love to not be working with these finished letters in snow. While we do get together every week, [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/IMG_4165-150x150.jpg "Primer: Another Friday Night’s Worth of Collectively Making Things Happen")
![When the Letter Library was up earlier this month at CIVIC SPACE, each participant had the option to borrow a disposable camera from us, photograph their letters, and bring the cameras back. Well, after developing nearly all the cameras (still a few more to come) here is the nearly complete archive of all the photos [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/00360010-150x150.jpg "The (Nearly Complete) Letter Library Archive")
![I’ll be heading up to London, Ontario on Thursday, April 14 to speak on a panel with some incredible people as part of the Canadian Museum Association’s Annual Conference, appropriately titled, Evolve or Die!. I’m pumped to get to reconnect with Andrew Hunter and Andrew Lochhead, and to finally meet Yael Filipovic. Not familiar with these [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-13-at-9.24-150x150.jpg "Evolve or Die: CMA Conference")
![I took a leisurely bike ride around the neighbourhood yesterday afternoon. It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to explore, to spend time paying attention to things. I basically wanted an update on the neighbourhood that Danielle and I had lived in a couple years ago. The eastern edge of Sandwich is quieter than ever. [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IMG_2416-150x150.jpg "Getting Reacquainted with the Neighbourhood")
![On Thursday, January 21st at the Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts in Toronto, we’ll be doing a projection performance that examines the language and ideas surrounding public space, intervention, urban surfaces, and city infrastructures. As part of Propeller’s Public Realm exhibition, we will curate a text-based list of ideas, statements, and questions, that address the [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/propellerinvite-150x150.jpg "Public Realm at Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts")
![We’re participating in an upcoming exhibition entitled, Public Realm, at Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts in Toronto. For the exhibition we’re going to be doing some outdoor projection around the gallery, and we want to have your input! We want to know what you think about the public realm, and about public and private space, and [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6746-2-150x150.jpg "Public Realm Questionnaire")
![Friday night was especially fun. With next week being our first research report for How to Forget the Border Completely, we basically spent the evening casually going over some preliminary research, planning out some new directions, and getting more acquainted with the collection of border books next door. Michelle brought a tourism Detroit magazine she [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_8505-150x150.jpg "Quality Time with Books & Imaginary Spaces")
![We met earlier this week for the last time before the new year. We had a really busy year, but there’s even more ahead in 2011. We spent the evening trying to plan for a number of upcoming projects, including our recently funded How to Forget the Border Completely, and a project for CAFKA, and [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/IMG_5091-150x150.jpg "Our Last Meeting Before the Holidays")
Wow! This is really interesting. Putting the ability to make apps at a non-developers level is going to open so many doors. Some good, some bad im sure. But the plus side is more variety in what we will see and more suited apps to our personal needs. I would love to download this on my Iphone (once i obtain one!) as i myself get tons of “battlescars.” Great stuff Michelle!
Carley, thanks! for your imput. As non-developers start to get the resources to create, it’s important to think about how Apps don’t necessarily need to be useful or provide information, they can be works of art as well!
RT @BrokenCityLab: I made an iPhone App and so can you !!! http://bit.ly/hVji7U by Michelle #app #apple #battlemarks
Can I mess around with it again on your phone?
So great to see some of your work up here Michelle, and I especially love that last screenshot, “I skated and fell.”
Also, thanks for reminding me to get moving on finishing this project, long overdue, but very inspiring to see you get this off the ground so quickly! Is there a way to gauge how far along the iTunes process your app is?
It’s not far along at this point, just needs a day or so of re-visiting.
Hey, I thought you may enjoy this new academic development in sustainability and social practice!
http://www.mica.edu/Programs_of_Study/Undergraduate_Programs/Studio_Concentrations/Sustainability_and_Social_Practice_.html
Thom, Love it. Wish they had an MFA, but super interesting to see this type of study at an undergraduate level. I can’t help but thinking that Justin would make a great addition to the faculty who teach in this area.