How an app works

Some apps are more complicated than others, some are designed really simply and other has lots of coding, the complexity of an app depends on the purpose of the app and the features that the app uses.

One feature that my application would use would be an in app purchase feature, this would allow the user to purchase extra content from the app itself with out having to use an external source.

In App Purchase collects only payment. It doesn't download the e-book, add the game level, or hand over the virtual property. You need to provide the additional functionality, including unlocking built-in features or downloading content from your servers.

You put the In App Purchase store directly in your app by using the Store Kit framework. The Store Kit framework connects to the App Store on your app's behalf to securely process the user's payments.

 

You use iTunes Connect to set up your products the same way you set up new apps. In App Purchase supports four types of products:

• Content: You can offer game levels, virtual property, and characters; digital books and magazines; photos and artwork — in short, any content that can be delivered within your app.
  
  
• Functionality: You can unlock or expand features you've already delivered in your app, such as a game that offers multiple smaller games for purchase.
  
  
• Services: You can charge users for a one-time service, such as voice transcription — each time the service is used, In App Purchase processes it as a separate purchase.
  
  
• Subscriptions: You can provide access to content or services on a subscription basis, such as a finance magazine or an online game portal. You're responsible for tracking subscription expirations and renewal billing — the App Store doesn't send out renewal notices for you.

Another function that will be used in my app will be a random generated facts that will feature in all of the non video based pages. In order to achieve this a database will need to be created and code for a random number generator will need to be added. An example of the code (made in C language)  that this would use is shown below,

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

/* prints a random number in the range 0 to 99 */
int main(void)
{
randomize();
printf("Random number in the 0-99 range: %d\n", random (100));
return 0;
}

This code will generate a random number between 0 and 99. this is an example of how the code will work for my own application.

Research - alcohol awareness

In order to design my application I will need to research into what alcohol can do to a person, research will be needed to understand the law surrounding alcohol, what alcohol can do to the human body, what alcohol awareness campaigns are out there and also what situations someone under the influence of alcohol can get into.

My application will contain 4 different scenarios, one that follows a male under the age of 18, one that follows a male who is 18 or over, one that follows a female under the age of 18 and the final one following a female who is 18 or over. The scenario that will be played will depend on the information that the user inputs.

Information can be found on the drink aware website;

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

This information will be used to create relevant scenarios for the four categories of people, This information will be given to the user at the end of the application depending on how they have navigated there way through the application. Most of the information will be used in fact database which will be used to randomly generate facts on the decision pages.

The Law on under-aged drinking.

What the law says

Alcohol consumption in the UK is governed by strict laws.
It is against the law:

• To sell alcohol to someone under 18 anywhere.
• For an adult to buy or attempt to buy alcohol on behalf of someone under 18.
• For someone under 18 to buy alcohol, attempt to buy alcohol or to be sold alcohol.
• For someone under 18 to drink alcohol in licensed premises, except where the child is 16 or 17 years old and accompanied by an adult. In this case it is legal for them to drink, but not buy, beer, wine and cider with a table meal.
• For an adult to buy alcohol for someone under 18 for consumption on licensed premises, except as above.

It is not illegal

• For someone over 18 to buy a child over 16 beer, wine or cider if they are eating a table meal together in licensed premises.
• For a child aged 5 to 16 to drink alcohol at home or on other private premises.

Consequences of breaking the law

• If the police suspect someone under 18 has alcohol in a public place, they have the power to confiscate it. If young people get caught with alcohol three times they could face a social contract, a fine or arrest. Getting a criminal record could affect future job prospects and make it more difficult to travel to countries like the USA.
• The police can also confiscate alcohol from someone, no matter what their age, if they believe it has been, or will be drunk by someone under 18 in a public place.

How much is too much for under 18s to drink?

The UK chief medical officers recommend an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest and best option.

There’s lots of debate about whether it’s OK to let children have a small amount of alcohol to try - some people call this the continental approach. But there’s no scientific evidence to prove this gives children a responsible attitude to drinking in later life.

Research shows the earlier a child starts drinking, the higher their chances of developing alcohol abuse or dependence in their teenage years and as an adult. Children who drink before age 15 are most vulnerable to alcohol misuse later in life.    

So, parents play a crucial role in delaying a child's first drink.
It may be tempting to offer your child a sip of alcohol on special occasions so they don’t feel left out. This could send mixed messages about whether they are or aren’t allowed to drink.  
Of course, children are naturally curious, so they’ll probably ask you questions if they see you drinking and may ask you to try some.  Rather than offering them a sip, use this as a chance to talk to them openly and honestly about the facts.  

You might think that allowing your child to try alcohol will demystify any uncertainties they may have. Instead, as with issues like smoking and drugs, it’s better to let them know they can ask you anything, at any time, about alcohol.  If you don’t know the answer, be honest and suggest you find out together.

If you’ve already given your child a drink, it’s best to be honest and explain that if they carry on drinking it could harm them so they aren’t allowed to continue.  Reassure them that if they stop, any effects drinking has already on their body are likely to be reversible, but if you’re worried it’s best to talk to your GP.

Drink driving

In 2010, nearly 10,000 reported road casualties happened when a driver was over the legal alcohol limit. As a result, 250 people were killed in drink driving accidents.

These figures are too high but accidents involving drink driving have decreased hugely over the last 30 years. Deaths and serious injuries related to drink driving have fallen by more than three-quarters since 1980. 

What's the law on drink driving?

In the UK, the alcohol limit for drivers is 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath or 107 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of urine. In most other European countries, the limit is less, usually 50 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of blood.

How much can I drink and stay under the limit?

There is no fool-proof way of drinking and staying under the limit. The amount of alcohol you would need to drink to be considered over the driving limit varies from person to person. It depends on: (4)

• your weight
• your gender (men tend to process alcohol faster than women) 
• your metabolism
• your current stress levels
• whether you've eaten recently 
• age (younger people tend to process alcohol more slowly

Even small amounts of alcohol can affect your ability to drive so the only safe advice is to avoid any alcohol if you are driving.  

How alcohol affects driving

Many of the functions that we depend on to drive safely are affected when we drink alcohol: 

• the brain takes longer to receive messages from the eye
• processing information becomes more difficult
• instructions to the body's muscles are delayed resulting in slower reaction times.

You can also experience blurred and double vision, which affects your ability to see things clearly while you are driving. And you’re more likely to take potentially dangerous risks because you can act on urges you normally repress. 

What’s the punishment if I get caught drink driving?

Anyone caught over the legal alcohol limit when driving will be banned from driving for at least 12 months, and fined up to £5,000. You can also be sent to prison for up to six months. Imprisonment, the period of disqualification and size of fine depend on the seriousness of the offence (6).
If you’re caught drink driving more than once in a 10 year period, you’ll be banned for at least three years.

Health issues

Alcohol and your skin

Alcohol dehydrates your body generally, including the skin – your body's largest organ. This happens every time you drink. Drinking too much is also thought to deprive the skin of vital vitamins and nutrients. Over time, drinking heavily can have other, more permanent, detrimental effects on your skin. Rosacea, a skin disorder that starts with a tendency to blush and flush easily and can eventually lead to facial disfigurement, is linked to alcohol.

Beat the bloat

Alcohol can also cause your face to look bloated and puffy. You might find it bloats your stomach too. And then there's the cellulite; many believe the toxins in alcohol contribute to its build up.
How can you beat your beer belly?

Spots and smells

Sorry, there's more. Hungover people don't smell too good either; the liver processes most of the alcohol you drink, but some of it leaves the body straight through your breath, sweat and urine.
If you didn't manage to take your make-up off, you'll be more prone to spots too. Never mind your glassy, bloodshot eyes.

Why not cut down on alcohol and help preserve those good looks?

More information and facts that will be used in the database can be found on the drink aware website, this website is designed to make people more aware about alcohol, therefore it is the perfect website and scheme to base the application on.

Metadata

Metadata is 'data about data', it is the information that we use online to archive and locate a resource. Metadata uses uses the information about a resource making it possible to catalog the information online and also making a user able to locate that resource with little difficulty.

This PDF is really useful in helping to understand Metadata -  http://www.niso.org/publications/press/UnderstandingMetadata.pdf

What Is Metadata?

Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Metadata is often called data about data or information about information. The term metadata is used differently in different communities. Some use it to refer to machine understandable information, while others use it only for records that describe electronic resources. In the library environment, metadata is commonly used for any formal scheme of resource description, applying to any type of object, digital or non-digital. Traditional library cataloging is a form of metadata; MARC 21 and the rule sets used with it, such as AACR2, are metadata standards. Other metadata schemes have been developed to describe various types of textual and non-textual objects including published books, electronic documents, archival finding aids,  art objects, educational and training materials, and scientific data sets.

There are three main types of metadata these are;

• Descriptive metadata - this describes a resource for discovery and identification. It can include elements such as title, abstract, author and keywords.
• Structural metatdata - this indicates how compound objects are put together, for example, how pages are ordered to form chapters.
• Administrative metadata - this provides information to help manage a resource, such as when and how it was create, file type and other technical information.

To show how Metadata can be, used we cataloged some books by writing the metadata of the books on post it notes. This is showing a basic interpretation of how descriptive metadata could work. For these books we wanted to find the metadata for these elements;

• Title
• Author 
• Publisher
• Number of pages
• Genre
• date published

These are very simple elements but all books have this information which mean that cataloging and organizing the books becomes very simple. (ignore the fact they have ISBN numbers).

The images below show the metadata, in some of the pictures the metadata cannot be seen as the post it notes are very small but I assure you that all book have been processed and all of the information about the elements above have been noted down.

Books with there metadata

In the below picture you can just make out the information on the book the wicked heart. from the image you can see that the;

Title - The wicked heart
Author - Christopher Pike
Publisher - Hodders children's books
No. pages - 244
Genre - Horror
Date - 1993

The book, the wicked heart.

Two more books with metadata information

three books with metadata

The information that has been gathered could then be used to organize the book into categories. Just from these six categories there are many ways in which the books could be cataloged for example, the could be organized according to date published or into alphabetical order of the title.

If these were online documents then this metadata would be used to help find them in search engines such as Google, the user could simply enter the title and all of the relevant information with these keywords in there metadata will be shown to the user.

Task 6 - pitch