TAMSHub

The TAMSHub website UI. Notice that you cannot see people's Facebook profile images due to a Facebook URL timeout.

TAMSHub was a TAMS-specific social media developed primarily in the summer of 2020. The primary interface was a website, and an app was well into creation by the time the project was abandoned. The dual app-website was submitted for the year's Congressional App Challenge, and won the award for Texas' 26th Congressional District.

The app allowed for the creation of 'club accounts' and 'user accounts'; clubs could post non-volunteering events ("activities") and volunteering events, and users could sign up for these and be notified of when the events would start. The app's home page (shown in the nearby image) displayed recent registrations and interest on the part of TAMS students in various activities.

It was received with great applause among the TAMS community, but usage died off over a period of about two months after the release. Many wonder as to the reasons for the project's abandonment. Primary considerations include an arguably unintuitive event creation interface and design schema, an unclear distinction as to when to use TAMSHub versus Facebook, and a lack of rapid iteration on the initial release due to the time commitments of the developers. As of February 2021, the TAMSHub website can still be seen at https://hub.mcconnellhall.org/, but the Facebook profile image resources have become outdated.

Developers:

• Jerry Liu
• John Li
• Nathaniel Brown
• Zach Tang
• Michael Zhao

Interfaces:

• Website (completed)
• Mobile App (abandoned)
• Landing Page (abandoned)

Statements from Developers:

• Nathaniel: "You know, I think this was a really cool app, and we really pulled off a unique design interface due to Jerry's UI/UX visions and our hard work in the beginning. Things like this need constant support and maintenance, and by the time we got through half of the mobile app, I think we were all tired and needed to focus on college apps. In the end, it's a social media site, and those are never super exciting to work on in the long run—plus, as more clubs started to request features, we all knew it was more of a time commitment than we could handle at the time...however, I think it serves as a great model for the technological innovation that can happen at TAMS, and hopefully will in the future."

External links

• TAMSHub Promotional YouTube video. Archived.
• TAMSHub CAC Submission YouTube video. Archived.