The Mormon Channel iPhone application is the first software release from the LDSTech community. Not only does it stream the Mormon Channel on the iPhone, it also plays recordings of general conference talks, Church magazine articles, and scriptures. The application was given a four-star rating in iTunes and has been downloaded more than 55,000 times in more than 53 countries.
Views of the Mormon Channel iPhone application while streaming the Mormon Channel, browsing magazine content, and listening to magazine articles
The Mormon Channel Project will create version 2.0 of the iPhone application and also create applications to stream the Mormon Channel on Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, Android, and BlackBerry devices.
I work on the .NET Stack Team with Bryan Hinton and Jim Byer.
Question
What does the .NET Stack Team do?
Answer
There are two main goals of the .NET Stack Team. The first is to provide general support to all teams at the Church working on projects with components that use the Microsoft .NET Framework. This support can range from answering technology questions to identifying and resolving specific problems that project teams encounter.
The second goal, which facilitates the first, is to maintain and continue to develop the .NET Stack Library and Services, which are a set of tools to help Church developers quickly accomplish common tasks so that teams can focus on the unique and project-specific design issues they face instead of re-writing the code blocks that occur across most ICS projects. The .NET Stack includes tools for ASP.NET web pages, WPF projects, WCF services, authentication through LDS Account, application logging, and much more. We have even developed Visual Studio New Project templates to enable developers to create Stack-enabled projects with just a few clicks.
Several BYU Information Technology students, under the direction of Associate Professor Derek Hansen, recently wrote test scripts for software used for mission finances and administration.
“They roll out a new version of the software regularly,” Hansen explained. “Each new version needs to be checked for code-breaks. Students helped by writing test scripts to simulate using the software to make sure everything works properly.”
Four students worked for almost two years writing scripts which run as part of the automated testing process. The problems, if they show up, can then be debugged. Several such problems were identified by the students.
“It was a great experience for the students, who were able to develop new skills and interact with professionals in a real world work experience. It was like a short internship, but with an important emphasis on service,” Hansen said.
This IMOS software is integrated with many of the systems mission presidents use to manage their responsibilities. The test scripts the BYU students wrote act like a virtual user of IMOS and test the new builds against potential problems.
BYU has other possibilities for collaboration with LDSTech, according to Hansen. “BYU students from across campus are excellent at prototyping novel technological solutions, conducting user experience design research, and performing web and social media analytics” he said. For example, BYU students have been working to help design the onboarding experience for new users of the web-based indexing tool that will be rolled out this year.
“Successful collaborations with LDSTech and BYU share a few characteristics. They are projects that can be conducted relatively independent of the day-to-day operations of LDSTech employees, they can be scoped to fit into the academic schedule, they provide students with opportunities to develop new skills, and they leverage students’ existing skills and interests. The partnership with IMOS has been an excellent example. We also look forward to promoting the LDSTech Conference Gospel Game Apps Contest this Fall”(for details go to http://tech.lds.org/wiki/Contest2014), “as it is an ideal example of where we can leverage the creativity and talent of BYU students.” says Hansen.
For more information on volunteering for LDSTech projects, or to find out about the 2014 LDSTech Conference (Oct. 16 & 17 at the UofU Institute of Religion Building in Salt Lake City, Utah) go to our website: tech.LDS.org /conference for more details.
Registration for October LDSTech Conference is Now Open!
By GC Duerden
The LDSTech Conference registration site is now open for the conference this October 16-17. If you will be joining us in person, you are invited to sign up at tech.lds.org/conf. If you are unable to attend, you can watch streaming videos of many sessions online after the event.
Note: You can change your personal profile or unregister at any time after you register.
You will receive a confirmation email to the address associated with your LDS Account. The Schedule view of the conference page will automatically open on your screen.
The conference will host many exciting opportunities. One new addition to the 2014 conference is a Gospel Game App Contest, with winners of Primary, Youth, and Adult categories being announced at the LDSTech Conference in October. Learn more about how to Create Something Worthy by going to the 2014 Gospel Game & App Contest page. There are already more than 120 people signed up for the contest, but more are needed and encouraged to sign up. There are also several information on pages for this contest, such as:
a forum where interested individuals can ask their own questions as well as garner information about graphic designers or developers to work with (//tech.lds.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=153#)
the required disclaimer is also up on the rules page now (//tech.lds.org/blog/609 in the rules section).
Internet Mission Office System (iMOS) is a Web application designed to help mission office staff manage mission information and perform other tasks. iMOS shares data with other applications that contain missionary information, so less manual data entry is required. For example, shortly after missionary calls are recorded in Missionary Management System (MMS) at Church headquarters, the missionaries' information appears in iMOS for the missions to which they are assigned. All missions with an Internet connection will be able to use iMOS, which will replace the current Mission Office System (MOS) during 2008.
Internet Mission Office System (iMOS) is a Web application designed to help mission office staff manage mission information and perform other tasks. iMOS shares data with other applications that contain missionary information, so less manual data entry is required. For example, shortly after missionary calls are recorded in Missionary Management System (MMS) at Church headquarters, the missionaries' information appears in iMOS for the missions to which they are assigned. All missions with an Internet connection will be able to use iMOS, which will replace the current Mission Office System (MOS) during 2008.