Your smartphone can do just about anything. From ordering carryout to indentifying the name of that random song playing on the radio – the world is at our fingertips.

Technology has pushed its digital nose into nearly every facet of our lives and next year, DePaul’s Office of Student Involvement will take it one step further. The online tool OrgSync was introduced last year as a way for campus recreation groups to organize and communicate with their club members.

At the annual “FUND-amentals” conference held by the Office of Student Involvement, the newest technology was announced, the DePaul mobile app.

Less than a decade ago, playing with your phone in a meeting would have been frowned upon. Yet last week, in a room packed with student leaders and team captains, Martise Cook, Program Coordinator for Student Organizations, encouraged everyone to take out their phones. While some students still registered their clubs via laptop, the vast majority were tinkering away on their iPhone or Android smartphones.

Thanks to 3G, the mobile application features the ability to register for events, hold elections, or complete a feedback survey without having access to Wi-Fi. Furthermore, the ability to keep a roster and full calendar of events in your pocket will completely change the level of connectedness DePaul students can experience.

This may also bring a change to the way that fans experience club sports. By ‘adding’ organizations to your OrgSync profile, you are able to receive automatic updates on your phone for any organization you join.

Jennifer Latshaw, the incoming VP of programming for the DePaul Activities Board thinks the mobile app will increase the functionality of OrgSync and increase interest in campus recreation.

“People can access the calendar on their phones to check for events,” said Latshaw. “They would probably use it more often than having to sign into a website to check for updates.”

DePaul senior, Nick Blumenberg, co-founder of the club baseball team said that he would use the app all the time if he weren’t graduating this year.

“The app would make life easier for all of the organizations I was involved in,” said Blumenberg. “I wish they would have created it sooner.”

Not all DePaul students are as excited about the new application. Junior journalism major, Natalia Hernandez, said she won’t use OrgSync either way.

“I’ve only used OrgSync like twice since they created it,” said Hernandez, who said the app wouldn’t change her usage. “Then again, maybe it’s because I don’t have a very smart phone.”

Useful or not, the app does exist and can be downloaded by simply visiting orgsync.com on your mobile device.
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