The New Media Innovation Lab at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication debuted a digital application that will highlight events occurring near Downtown campus.
Officials encouraged students during Welcome Week orientation on the Downtown campus to download and utilize the newly created Urban Devil app throughout the school year as a way to become more connected to the Phoenix community.
Urban Devil also highlights special deals that local businesses have to offer.
Students are able to log onto the app through their ASURITE ID and save their information. This allows the app to make recommendations for future places to visit based on users’ history.
Students can also share the places they visit through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Alumnus Rudy Rivas, the project manager of the design team, said Urban Devil was created to draw attention to the advantage attending a campus in the center of the nation’s sixth largest city.
“You can’t compare the Phoenix campus to the Tempe campus,” Rivas said. “We are just trying to show all of the things that you can do Downtown.”
New Media Innovation Lab Director Retha Hill said the developers conducted extensive research for the app by communicating with both on and off-campus residents and their parents.
Hill said many students were unaware of everything downtown Phoenix has to offer.
“People seem to think that there is an invisible wall between the campus and the rest of downtown,” Hill said. “We want to break that down and show them there is more.”
Criminal justice senior Ceirra Hoctor said she often doesn’t hear about events going on in Phoenix.
“(The app) would bring a lot more people down here to campus,” Hoctor said.
Rivas said the app can only make the Downtown campus stronger.
“(The app) is creating a better communication line,” Rivas said. “It shows students that you can hang out and have fun downtown.”
The app is free and is available for download from the Mac App Store for iPhones and iPads and Google Play Stores for Android phones. The app’s web version can be found at urbandevil.asu.edu.
Reach the reporter at cldas@asu.edu
