Temple University's summertime app-developing program for underserved and minority students, the
Urban Maps and Apps Studios, has been active for three seasons now.
The university-wide initiative kicked off in 2012 as part of the school's
bitS (
Building Information Technology Skills) program, which aims to "engage high school students to examine the communities where they live," according to its website, and to teach those students technology skills that can be applied to problems in their own neighborhoods.
Inside the Urban Apps and Maps Studios, students spend six weeks studying digital design and software
application development. The ultimate goal? Design apps that will help tackle community challenges.
One team of 11 students involved in the 2014 summer program has created such an application. Known as
Gotcha, the mobile crime-watch app allows users to anonymously post the details of petty neighborhood crimes such as shoplifting, without involving authorities.
Thanks to funding from the
Knight Foundation, which will bring a portion of the Gotcha team back during the upcoming academic year to continue its work, the app may eventually become available in the iTunes and Google Play stores.
"There's a big gap of content that's related to -- and designed by -- the very youth that [Urban Apps and Maps] engages," says Temple's Michele Masucci. "And so part of what we're trying to do is to take one of the largest blocks of digital content consumers and turn them into digital content producers."
"[Apps & Maps] is something the kids really love," she adds. "It's a technology they can carry with them into their futures, whether they decide to go to school, or to take more of an entrepreneurial turn. We're trying to address the interest and need that the students have."
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Michele Masucci, Temple University