Last week my oldest daughter turned 21. I can’t believe it! So it got me to thinking about my childhood versus hers. She will never know the joy of leaving the house unlocked, just knowing it will be ok; phones that were actually attached to walls; cameras that took pictures, and just pictures; paper maps, and the challenge of refolding them; TVs without remotes; and the idea of a self-driving car being pure science fiction. Technology: it is a wondrous thing!
And eRA Commons is also embracing new technology by making eRA Commons mobile friendly. While still in development, we are exploring the best way to provide you with easy access to critical grant information from any smart phone or tablet.
There are two approaches to provide this functionality to you:
- Develop dedicated applications (apps) designed to work with eRA Commons
- A flexible web-based tool
And like all things, each approach has its pros and cons. Based on the analysis by the development group and management, the team has chosen to use the flexible web based tools approach. The advantages to this approach are numerous, but here are two of the key ones:
- The developers create one application for web browsers vs. a minimum of 2 separate apps for specific operating systems (Apple and Android).
- No need to worry about licensing and other distribution issues of having to go through 3rd party application “stores.”
The current mobile prototype interface provides Principal Investigators with the ability to track an application submission. They can view the status of the application, score and percentile information, Scientific Review Group (SRG) data. Additionally they can review the grant image and view their summary statements. There are already discussions and plans for expanding the mobility functionality to Signing Officials to access reports, manage accounts, etc. Pretty exciting stuff!
If you are a Principal Investigator and would like to help us fine tune the features, I invite you to contact Scarlett Gibb, Customer Relationship Manager for eRA Commons. She will provide you with the necessary information to help test and provide feedback on this new interface.
And as I think of my daughter and my childhood, I realize my Dad never had a TV without a remote control. I was the remote control… “Joe, put on Bowling for Dollars!” “Joe, change the channel to Walter Cronkite.” “Joe, turn the volume up.”