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PRESS RELEASE: Oohlala Mobile Launches North America’s First Campus Augmented Reality Game

Note: The original text has been slightly altered.

On January 23rd, Oohlala Mobile announced the transformation of University of Toronto’s St. George campus into a virtual playground. By downloading the app, Oohlala, students become contestants in a digital treasure hunt, utilizing the GPS on their smartphones to locate and acquire the treasure. The hunt involves three simple steps:
Step 1: Locate the treasure chest using the app.
Step 2: Obtain the treasure chest.
Step 3: Prevent others stealing it from you!
Other students using the app are able to snatch the chest if they are within 50m of the prize holder. Students must use their wits, determination and speed while trying to hold on to the prize over a 5-day period! The person holding the chest on Thursday, February 6th at 5pm is the winner of a high-end Macbook Air, while the person who has held on to the chest the longest without its capture gets a semester’s worth of text books for free.
Check out the game here: www.CampusApp.com

Virtual Capture the Flag is OOHLALA Mobile’s latest initiative to enhance campus life via the OOHLALA mobile app. The app also allows students across Canadian universities and colleges, along with their student unions, to connect with one another, form study groups, trade books, get notified of campus events, and access exclusive student deals from local and national retailers. Student unions (such as the UTSU, which has adopted Oohlala as its official app) and clubs are able to view metrics to gauge student engagement and success of events, allowing them to deliver a more tailored and engaging student experience. “Oohlala Mobile is all about energizing the student experience and fostering a more close knit feel on campus. We help students navigate their campus life and have a good time while doing so,” said Danial Jameel, CEO and founder of Oohlala Mobile. “An interactive and action packed approach, Virtual Capture the Flag represents our commitment to finding unique ways for students to explore their campus and meet new people without relying on clichéd forms of marketing such as campus flyers on crowded bulletin boards and Facebook posts. Mediums that are effective in theory but have become saturated to the point that a lot of useful information is lost in the noise.” Danielle Sandhu, President of UTSU, remarked, “Traditional forms of mass communication are often drowned out in a sea of information and are often ineffective when it comes to reaching many target groups. Today’s students suffer from stimulus overflow and short attention spans. We need to keep things dynamic. When people know they are in for an interesting experience – in this case, being a part of not only a live adventure but an inaugural use of a new technology – not only does it create awareness of their university activities, but it strengthens their affinity to it.” Concepts like these are challenging the paradigms of media and interaction. Live gaming apps are just but one of the innovative ideas Oohlala has planned for engaging the North American student populace. Students want and deserve to get the most out of their time in college and that is our mission.

Oohlala Mobile’s motto is to “Energize the Student Experience”. Since its launch in September 2011, the company, composed of students and recent grads, has been selected by tech/startup accelerator FounderFuel, adopted by the Canadian federation of students, and numerous student unions including those at University of Toronto, Ryerson, McGill. The company has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including top honors at the Rotman ADventure business competition, Kinnear Business competition, NBTC 2011 entrepreneur competition, Queen’s Entrepreneur competition, Bank of Montreal’s Apex business competition, and the Quebec entrepreneur competition.

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Ripping the Fabric

 

Source: Letters from Iran (Unfortunately the video I watched that fueled this post seems to have been removed from the Al Jazeera website)

In Iran, the planned and controlled oppression of the young voice is drowning the brightest minds of a country daily.

Iran’s sons and daughters know no freedom.  But freedom knows them.

The fabric of restraint tied around the throats of a nation is slowly ripping and that indomitable force known as the human spirit, is like a dull knife becoming sharper over time; cutting and cutting through the binds of modern slavery to a new era of Arab freedom.

Our lives involve a much less violent form of oppression and control. Gone are the days of unveiled open slavery inflicted on us by others.  We now suffer collectively as western nations from forms of self-inflicted restraint.  Wars are now waged internally; man against himself.

We have become our own greatest enemies.

In the 20th century, the ocean of freedom washed over our western nations and swept away plights of racism, sexism and other basic human rights.  Upon the water’s receding, we entered a new era of freedom of expression, liberation and innovation.  Freedom reigned, whilst in the background the once powerful human spirit, which brought on our evolution to free selves, began quietening and regressing ,as we deservedly began enjoying the fruits of our toils, the spoils of our innovation.

Consequently, less thought oriented we have become.  The poison of laze runs through many of us and a new self-imposed slavery binds us to our halls of freedom where we once triumphantly marched.  Self-progression is halting, but thankfully we are noticing.

Hear today the voices again crying out:

“Repression, we are living lives of repression……”

“Our governments hold us back……”

“We don’t receive what we deserve……”

“Our dreams never realized; our struggles never cease…….”

Do you feel this very fabric tightening around your own throat?  Does difficulty plague your everyday living?

Is your answer, Yes?  If it is, I challenge you to rip the fabric.

You were born into a free world.  You were given the opportunity of a level playing field.  What will you do with these gifts and advantages?  It is time that we return to our grass roots nature, as the power to change; to obtain; to excel, exists within us all.  Pursue what you deserve!  Why are you playing small?  Why are you settling?  Make today the final day tht you live driven by acceptance.  Instead, drive your life forward with your influence.

The same powerful human spirit that broke chains and rewrote history in the 20th century exists inside of all of us.  Believe in yourself and your rights to success and to the true life you were born to live. Like the youth of Iran, step forward in defiance of all forms of oppression; internal and external.  Do not allow self-pity to slow your progress.

You were born into freedom and with more power than you know.

Rip the fabric holding YOUR OWN development back.

Surge forward and prosper.

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Image Revival?

Now, I know it’s a little odd to be discussing other universities on a U of T blog, but the recent controversy at the University of Western Ontario has evoked some concerns and questions for me about the U of T image. For those of you who have yet to hear of the changes happening to our notorious rivals, here is an update. This week, University of Western Ontario students were informed by their president, Amit Chakma, that UWO is no more.  Instead, the university has officially changed its name to ‘Western University’. Additionally, the university has released their new ‘visual identity’, changing their symbol from the well-known purple building to a newly designed (darker purple) crest.  The school representatives claim that the name change and the new visual identity was decided upon based on student, faculty, and alumni interviews about the Western image.  It’s assumed that the changes are meant to revive the Western image and create a more marketable institution internationally.

The change has been controversial among the student body at the former UWO. Questions about the necessity of the change, the effectiveness, and financial waste have been points of concern for Western students.  It’s estimated that the new transformation has cost over  $200,000 – money better spent elsewhere, perhaps?

Regardless of the student reaction or the motives behind the change, the benefits of the evolution have to be considered.  Will this have a positive influence on the school?  Will this make Western more marketable/recognizable? Was the school really in need of these drastic changes?  Should other Canadian universities follow suit?

These changes to our friends to the west have forced me to consider whether or not an ‘image change’ is necessary for my beloved school.  I’ve had to consider what the international impression of U of T is.  What do we stand for?  Are we relevant internationally? Do we have school pride?

I think it’s very obvious that academics come first at U of T, but does this mean that we fall short in other aspects of university life?  We are internationally known for our innovative research and world-class faculty, our incredible location, and our intricate mosaic of a student body, but I can’t help but recognize that our school is inherently lacking a feeling of community.  It could be that our Toronto pride overwhelms our school spirit, or our incredibly large student body, or even the divide between colleges that makes U of T notoriously cold.  Nothing makes this more obvious than the lack of attendance at Varsity sports events like football, basketball, and soccer games. Its overwhelmingly evident – especially to a former cheerleader – that school spirit is sufficiently lacking here on campus.  But is this an image problem? Can this be solved by a ‘revival’ of our visual identity? These questions are all ones that go unanswered.  Perhaps it’s up to us students to evoke school pride and initiate a foundation of community before academics. Or maybe a refurbishing of the University of Toronto image is necessary to jumpstart a more well-rounded institution.

For more info on the changes at Western University, visit http://communications.uwo.ca/brandnew/.

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Caroline, or Change at Obsidian Theatre and Acting Up Stage Company

It is a rare occasion when an established literary playwright, such as Tony Kushner, lends his talents to a musical. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Angels in America fame teamed up with composer Jeanine Tesori to write Caroline, or Change in 2004: a hauntingly beautiful Broadway musical about a black maid, Caroline, working for a white Jewish family in “the only basement in Louisiana”. The show enjoyed little commercial success in its first run but has since received productions in London, New York’s Off-Broadway scene and now, finally, Toronto.

Continue reading “Caroline, or Change at Obsidian Theatre and Acting Up Stage Company”

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SOPA

I don’t usually like writing serious stuff, but this needs some serious attention.

You’re on the Internet right now, so you’ve probably already heard of SOPA and PIPA. That is, the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act. And you probably know that many major Internet companies/groups have been opposing this bill. Wiki blacked out for a day to draw awareness, along with Reddit and other information-sharing sites. Google, Facebook, and Mozilla are opposed too, just to name a few.

Google’s protest of SOPA

In short: This bill, if passed by the US congress, will give big companies an advantage in suing non-US companies for copyright infringement. It will most notably not allow sites to have links to pirated material or to other sites that break copyright laws. In a way, it will censor a lot of the Internet. Considering that the Internet has become THE place to share files and information and, considering today’s global community, well… not the greatest idea from the US congress.

Basically, any site that links to pirated information is a target for this new bill, regardless of whether or not the site was responsible for the pirating in the first place. This is censoring the Internet of almost anything that is copyrighted. And it almost sounds legit until you consider that many people use the Internet as a way to share files that they legitimately own. YouTube videos can be taken down… hell, YouTube itself can be taken down. Going to share a link on Facebook? It better not link to a site that links to a pirating site. Even Google will have to watch out for what it shows in its results. Does this not go completely against the idea of the Internet?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought that the Internet would be humankind’s way to connect with other people. It’s a global community – a place for us to share our ideas, interests, and, yes our music, videos, and other copyrighted things. I mean, I’ve shared the Harry Potters movies in real life, so why am I not allowed to do so on the Internet? If they ban sharing of copyrighted materials on sites, then are they going to stop us from EMAILING files to each other too? What’s next? No more USBs because, clearly, we can copy and paste files and share with those as well!

As a student, I feel like this could have major effects on our lives. I mentioned the Wiki blackout – what if it got permanently banned for linking to copyrighted information? Sure, we can’t cite Wiki, but that’s always the first place I look when I start doing research because it’s a wonderful background information resource. And YouTube – there are a lot of good, educational videos that I would really like to stay there.

Just to be on the safe side, this looks like a good investment

It’s unfortunate that, as Canadians, we can’t exactly call up a congress member and protest the bill… well, we could, but I doubt it would sway them much. But you should know that SOPA will have the ability to shut down Canadian-run sites, even if no Canadian laws were broken. Piracy certainly is a major issue, but there’s always the issue of when a law would do justice and when it would go completely against what’s fair.

The worst part is, SOPA seems unnecessary. The bill’s actually on hold now due to the Internet blackout a few days ago but, regardless of that, Megaupload’s founder was still arrested and Megaupload remains down. This is exactly the form of legal action that SOPA seeks to bring… but the US authorities managed to do this based on current copyright laws. The action was drastic, of course. Megaupload has been a big help to many of us, and few avid internet users are happy to see it go, but the point is that piracy has been thwarted without the need to censor 90% of the Internet.

But, really, growing up in the Information Age, I think we’ve all learned to appreciate the wonders of the Internet in all its file-sharing glory. And, in all honestly, I don’t think that SOPA, even if passed, would be able to stop the millions of people who use the Internet from finding a way to continue to share. It’s called the World Wide Web for a reason, and severing the threads that link things together will tear the whole thing apart.

Sites threatened by SOPA: http://www.thisblogrules.com/2012/01/top-13-endangered-websites-if-sopa-passes.html

How it could affect Canadians: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/What+SOPA+means+Canada/6019152/story.html

Google’s Anti-SOPA Petition information: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/google-anti-sopa-petition.html

Jan. 23, 2012: UPDATE! IT’S BEEN STOPPED!

I wish I had something more to say now, but I think I got my ranting done with. Opinions and thoughts in Comments, please!