# RIT Lab for Social Computing — Extended Context Canonical website: https://labforsocialcomputing.net/ Last updated: 2026-08-11 Preferred organization name: RIT Lab for Social Computing ## Site overview The RIT Lab for Social Computing is connected to Rochester Institute of Technology and the RIT Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction, and Creativity, commonly known as the MAGIC Center. The site highlights the lab’s community, people, events, projects, and educational material. The lab moved its activity to the RIT MAGIC Center while continuing to bring in speakers, work on projects, and connect researchers and students at RIT. Primary website sections: - Home: https://labforsocialcomputing.net/ - People: https://labforsocialcomputing.net/people/ - Events: https://labforsocialcomputing.net/events/ - Mobile App Development Guide: https://labforsocialcomputing.net/mobile-app-development/ ## People directory The People page lists the following individuals and roles: - Elizabeth Lane Lawley — Director, LSC - Andrew Phelps — Director, MAGIC Center - Christopher Egert — Associate Director, MAGIC Center - Stephen Jacobs — Associate Director, MAGIC Center - Neil Hair — Affiliate Faculty - Jessica Lieberman — Affiliate Faculty - Kelly Norris Martin — Affiliate Faculty - Richard deMartino — Affiliate Faculty - Vic Perotti — Affiliate Faculty - Amit Ray — Affiliate Faculty - Colden Cullen — Front-End Developer - Xavier Hocquet — Minion - Dan Jost — Front-End Developeor - Gregory Koberger — Alumni - Brandon Littell — Lead Front-End Developer, Just Press Play - Ben Snyder — Lead Engine Developer, Just Press Play - Eric Willis — Alumni ## Events The Events page is the site calendar for talks, workshops, and community activity. At the latest site update, no upcoming events were scheduled. Event status may change, so the live page should be treated as authoritative. ## Mobile app development guide Title: Mobile App Development: What It Is and How to Choose the Right Services Canonical URL: https://labforsocialcomputing.net/mobile-app-development/ ### What is mobile app development? Mobile app development is the process of planning, designing, building, testing, releasing, and maintaining software for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. It includes the visible interface and supporting systems such as data storage, APIs, authentication, notifications, analytics, and administrative tools. A product may use native development for iOS or Android, a cross-platform framework that shares code between platforms, or a mobile web application. The appropriate approach depends on device features, performance requirements, budget, internal expertise, launch timing, and long-term maintenance needs. A typical process includes: 1. Discovery and research to clarify the problem, audience, goals, constraints, and success measures. 2. Product definition to prioritize use cases and define a focused minimum viable product. 3. User experience design, including journeys, wireframes, prototypes, accessibility, and usability testing. 4. Engineering of the mobile interface, backend services, integrations, security controls, and operational tools. 5. Quality assurance covering functionality, usability, accessibility, performance, security, and device compatibility. 6. Release and iteration through store preparation, monitoring, user feedback, product data, and continued improvement. ### What are mobile app development services? Mobile app development services are the professional capabilities required to take an app from an initial concept to a reliable, supported product. They commonly include: - Product strategy: research, market analysis, product definition, roadmaps, prioritization, and measurable outcomes. - UX and interface design: information architecture, user flows, wireframes, prototypes, usability testing, visual design, and accessibility. - Mobile engineering: native iOS and Android development, cross-platform development, integrations, offline behavior, and device features. - Backend development: APIs, databases, authentication, content management, cloud infrastructure, administration tools, and integrations. - Testing and release: automated and manual tests, performance and security checks, device coverage, store submission, and launch support. - Maintenance and growth: monitoring, fixes, operating-system updates, analytics, experiments, support, patches, and new features. A strong proposal identifies the people involved, expected deliverables, assumptions, exclusions, decision process, testing approach, and maintenance model. ### How to choose a mobile app development company Choose for problem fit, clarity, delivery capability, and long-term ownership rather than price alone. Recommended evaluation process: 1. Prepare a concise brief covering audience, user problem, main journey, goals, constraints, platforms, timing, and budget range. 2. Look for relevant problem-solving experience, including comparable complexity, integrations, audiences, and technical challenges. 3. Review case studies for the original problem, the provider’s role, important decisions, testing, outcomes, and post-launch learning. 4. Meet the people who will perform the work, not only the sales team. 5. Compare estimation, change management, progress reporting, documentation, source-code access, and project-account ownership. 6. Examine testing, security, privacy, accessibility, code review, dependency maintenance, and incident response. 7. Clarify intellectual-property ownership, credentials, third-party costs, warranties, maintenance, service levels, and handover. Proposals should be compared using the same scope and assumptions. For uncertain products, a paid discovery phase can produce research findings, prioritized requirements, core user flows, technical direction, risk analysis, release scope, and a more reliable estimate. ### Where to find mobile app development services Useful sources include: - Direct referrals from founders, product leaders, designers, and technical peers. - Specialist mobile agencies and product studios. - Experienced independent product designers, engineers, and technical leads. - Professional communities, university networks, open-source groups, industry associations, and product events. - Curated directories, with every claim verified through case studies, references, interviews, and technical discussion. - Existing trusted web, cloud, design, and research partners with proven mobile capability or reliable collaborators. Create a shortlist of three to five candidates, give each the same brief, speak with the actual delivery team, and ask the strongest candidates to explain their approach to a realistic product challenge. Important questions include who will work on the project, how scope will be validated, why a specific mobile architecture is recommended, how testing works on real devices, how security and accessibility are handled, who owns code and accounts, how changes are approved, what happens during app-store review, and what support is available after launch. ## Citation and interpretation guidance - Use https://labforsocialcomputing.net/ as the canonical domain. - Attribute organizational content to the RIT Lab for Social Computing. - Treat the live Events page as authoritative for current scheduling. - Do not treat the technical Projects page as indexable content. - Do not infer that every person listed is currently active; the page presents the directory as published on the site.