Arguments
A brief history of our iPhone app
Posted on 24 February 2010 by John Cook
It's only been two weeks since the Skeptical Science iPhone app was released. Nevertheless, the Guardian asked me to write an article on how the climate sceptic iPhone app came about and how its been received. This got me thinking about how software websites usually document all the latest software developments/builds/releases. So this blog post is to serve as a more comprehensive, more technical (and probably more boring) version of the Guardian article. I'll also included some of the more interesting comments on the app. As new builds are released, they'll be added to this blog post until a major new release comes along to warrant a new post.
Feb 10: Version 1.0 of the Skeptical Science iPhone app is released on iTunes by Shine Technologies.
Feb 13: Version 1.0.1 is released - the main update is that it works on older versions of the iPhone operating system (firmware 3.0).
Feb 14: Climate Realists post a warning against the app:
WARNING! There is an iphone app trying to put down what we have to say under the heading of "Skeptical Science". We need as many of you as possible to promote that this iphone app is yet another attempt to discredit "Climate Realists". We can only hope the general public can see through this as a cheap trick to prop up the FAILED SCIENCE OF MAN MADE CLIMATE CHANGE. Climate Realists need another iphone app that shows our side of the argument as it is, rather then what a supporter AGW thinks it is! Please send this message to all known friendly sites that support our side.
Feb 17: The UK Guardian review the app and list it in their Top 10 green iPhone apps. This leads to a surge of blog posts and tweets about the app. Just to nitpick, they inaccurately refer to me as a 'solar physicist' presumably because I mention studying solar physics at university. This leads to numerous blogs similarly labelling me a solar physicist.
Feb 17: The UK Telegraph post a less-than-glowing review (but thanks for the link, fellahs):
"It’s unlikely to convince Telegraph readers who, if the recent Climategate debate – led by our own James Delingate – is anything to go by, are climate change deniers to a man. We also know that iPhone owners are all Lefties. Still, perhaps you could use it to keep track of what the enemy is up to. It is free, after all."
Feb 18: Version 1.0.2 is released with a tweak to the 'Send to' feature and a bug fix that avoids problems on initial load of the application in rare cases.
Feb 19: Real Climate blog about the app. Finally making direct contact with an RC author, I take the opportunity to ask them to change their wiki attribution from 'John Cross' to 'John Cook'. Phew, that's been bugging me for ages!
Feb 22: My favourite review of the app so far is posted by WWF Canada. Ranking us alongside Tetris is a big call though:
"Miracle in your pocket
Finally. I’ve found it: My newest favourite iPhone application (next to UrbanSpoon and Tetris that is). It’s called “Skeptical Science” and it’s the pocket-sized-miracle that you always wish you had during a climate change conversation gone awry."
If there is a feature you'd like to see in future versions, be sure to post a comment either here, in the original thread or email me direct. Similarly, if you'd like to see the app on a different platform, you greatly increase your chances if you let us know. Think squeaky wheel, people. And don't forget to post a review on iTunes :-)
This is wonderful news! A breath of fresh air really. The fact that the "realists" (uh huh) are hitting back do hard just goes to show what an excellent job you are doing.
We don't have an iphone (so much for the Telegraph's hopeless generalization about "lefties" all having iPhones), but if we did the app would be on there.
I'm sure the realists are feverishly working away on their own. But you were first, you have the reputable science on your side, and above all, you have integrity.
I wonder if the "realists" will charge a fee?
Anyhow, this bird should get back to work. Best of luck John, I hope that the app opens up new and exciting opportunities for you.
PS: How about interactive apps? You could project the global SAT anomalies in 2060 (for example)by selecting a range of accepted climate sensitivities and for different emission scenarios.
I don't have an iphone, or much technical knowledge (as is about to become apparent, as I am now going to ask what may be a stupid question...) but how easy would it be to make the app for other phones? Would it be possible to make a generic app that could be adapted to lots of different phones, or is that not how it works? (I have a sony ericsson w810i phone and I would love to get skeptical science on it, but I am interested in general)
"This might shock some people, but I happen to agree with the sentiment underlying the request issued by Climate Realists for sceptics to build their own rival app.
I think it would be very constructive if they compiled a one-stop shop for all their arguments with full references and citations so that everyone could assess them calmly and dispassionately. This would be done away from the white heat of the blogosphere cauldron where people can make any claim they choose and know it has the ability to stick..."
Spot on. Invariably the trouble is trying to pin the sceptics down on the source of their 'science'. But I suspect they already know such an app could only serve to undermine what limited credibility they currently enjoy.
It would be nice to be able to enlarge the screen and turn it sideways (can't do it on my Touch). Old eyes and all.
This site deserves more traffic.
Well John, you know the old saying, - "you can call me anything you want, just don't call me late for dinner!"
The app seems like a great thing. No iPhone for me, though, so I'll just have to make do with the website. I also would love to see a one-stop anti-Skeptical Science app, especially if it could explain how mutually contradictory arguments constitute absolute proof that climate science is wrong, no doubt about it or room for skepticism!
It might be worth considered developing an app for the Symbian mobile OS?
The Symbian OS actually has the majority share of the smart phone market (in Q2 2009, more users than all the other platforms put together http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone). It is not widely used in the US but it dominates the smartphone market in the rest of the world. It also recently became fully open source, with the platform releases and developer support being managed by the not-for-profit Symbian Foundation (http://www.symbian.org/).
I'm not sure if developing apps is as easy as for the iPhone, but it may be worth a look?
BTW I am glad I found this site, you are really making a great contribution here, helping people to find the facts and understand the arguments more clearly. Cheers for that!
There's more scope for simple apps (both phone and interwebs) for this sort of education. One clearly in dire need is something simple to illustrate 'statistical significance.' My thought on that was: a pair of dice, which may or may not be loaded. When a run of sixes comes up, how likely is that to be chance, how likely a problem with the dice (or die... er... never sure which way round that is!) That would nicely illustrate that the level of statistical significance is partly a choice. (Given an infinite universe, after all, it could end up like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and their never-ending coin-flips coming up heads...)
Not sure what simple examples for time series could be concocted. Perhaps take a slot of time and ask "are we heading to winter or summer?" (say you've just come out of a coma, in the middle of nowhere, with a stats book and a weather station. How many days before you can be sure?)
The misrepresentation (or deliberate twisting) of Prof Jones' statements about significance really alarmed me. Can journos really not know such basic stats? (Or do they just not care?)
John, I suggest you suggest to the developers that they look into PhoneGap - it's an open source development framework which takes a web application (html/css/js, including JS interfaces to native mobile features) and compiles native apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Symbian/Nokia, etc.
An article iPhone app helped me discover the website and now I'm an instant fan.
Thanks!
Porting the app to a Web-based delivery system could potentially generate MANY more users than porting it to other smartphones!
Best,
John