Not so golden: App Dev’s digitized goldenrod project doomed by technical and privacy issues

After nearly seven years, hundreds of emails and countless hours of work later, the Application Developers (App Dev) Club’s project to digitalize the goldenrod forms that record defects with the school’s books remains unrealized and is unlikely to be resurrected.

In 2013, class of 2015 alumnus Aditya Aggarwal, then a sophomore, decided to continue the ongoing App Dev project of replacing the existing paper goldenrod system with a digital program. In the following years, Aggarwal refused to let go of his project and continuously approached the administration despite the staff’s reluctance and ultimate rejection.

The failed goldenrod project shows that despite remarkable diligence and the best of intentions, students cannot always create the large-scale projects they envision.

“I was motivated to continue on this project because I thought that [it] was done and already usable,” Aggarwal said. If the club had been able to overcome the concerns raised by the administration, an online goldenrod book damage system would have made “a big impact on the school.”

The project began around 2010 when the Environmental Club, seeking to minimize the waste of paper created by the goldenrod system, approached App Dev to program and build an online system. Class of 2013 alumni Kabir Chandrasekher and Faisal Albannai framed the backbone of the program and passed the torch to Aggrawal when they graduated, advising him “to make it a main priority for future members of the club.”

During his sophomore year, Aggarwal spent hours revising the existing code. The next year began a series of meetings and emails with the administration. As the president of  App Dev during his senior year, Aggrawal tried to turn the project into a reality.

 

A vision without foundation

The current paper system uses a golden half sheet of paper that allows students to record existing damage for checked-out books. The form provides evidence to corroborate any potential disputes that arise at the end of the year when students return their items and fines are handed out for damaged books.

Each year, students turn in hundreds of these goldenrods, which are put into a file cabinet organized by student name.  Librarian Kevin Heyman said staff members keep the goldenrods for several years to keep a more comprehensive record of a textbook’s condition.

The idea behind the digital goldenrod system was to use the same information found on the paper form, but simply transfer it to a website. The beta version required the user to enter a login username and password, which then proceeded to the homepage that was sectioned off in three categories: Instructions, Checkout and Book Log. The Checkout page included a brief questionnaire about the book’s condition, while the Book Log page provided students a record of their current goldenrods.

Aggarwal hoped that his online version would reduce the time and effort spent by the staff filing paper goldenrods. In reality, a disproportionately large effort was required to maintain the digital system.

 

A matter of design and privacy

Heyman cited several technical complications with the program that the club simply could not resolve.

The online version required a protection to prevent students from changing the status of a book after noting its initial problems. For instance, if a student spilled water on a book, the system would have to prevent the student from adding “water damage” to the book’s status afterward. The technicalities of coding such a safeguard proved too difficult for App Dev, Heyman said.

The design of the system became another of the project’s shortcomings, as the process required the IT crew to update and maintain the software every time a book is checked out. Since each book possesses only one barcode, the information regarding the book’s condition within the database would have to be deleted after each student’s use to accommodate for new information.

Principal Paul Robinson said, “The decision to not go with the application was based upon the fact that it was going to end up causing more work to be done by certain staff members and not necessarily less work to be done, which is what you always hope technology is going to do for you.”

Another problem stemmed from the system’s need for a Linux server that the school did not already possess, which would be costly for the district to purchase. App Dev offered to host the site on its own server, but the district is legally prohibited from distributing student information to outside parties.

This concern for student privacy became a large issue that eventually contributed to the rejection of the project. Robinson said that despite his inherent trust of App Dev, he could not legally turn over student information to the group, since they would be able to access personal data such as students’ Social Security numbers.

“[They would] have a database of every student on campus. We just can’t do that,” Robinson said.

 

Seven years of correspondence

Aggarwal’s determination to turn the project into a success contributed to its longevity. He admitted he didn’t foresee many of the problems that eventually led to the project’s failure, including both technical barriers and privacy concerns.

“I did not anticipate this many issues, partly because I thought this was such a mundane part of school life that I thought any improvement would be welcome,” Aggarwal said.

According to Robinson, he and other staff members initially showed enthusiasm for the project. Around six months after the project was introduced, however, school officials began to have concerns.

“We didn’t think it was going to work,” Robinson said. “The reason it lasted so much longer was that the folks developing the app kept coming back with ‘what if we tried it this way,’ but it didn’t change enough things.”

According to Heyman, the project also took so long in part because the students working on the project continued to switch over the years and never solved the essential problems.

“It’s one of the few cases where technology hasn’t caught up to paper and paper is still easier,” Heyman said.

 

A personal success

Despite the ultimate failure of the digital goldenrod system, the project served as a valuable learning opportunity for Aggarwal.

“I have learned that that it is important to collect feedback not only from users but also from the people who will implement and maintain the project before you start on it,” Aggarwal said.

Robinson commended Aggarwal for putting his “whole heart and soul into it.” Robinson related the project to other experiences within the technology industry.

“Sometimes you learn so much from your failures that when something really doesn’t work, then you go off on a completely different direction and you find some other new way to do it,” Robinson said. “Never give up because if that fails, OK, fine. Those are the greatest learning experiences.”