Hundreds Try App Inventor at MIT Open House

Over 40,000 people flocked to Cambridge on Saturday, April 23 to check out the MIT Under the Dome Open House event. Attendees were able to view over 380 exhibits around campus involving 80 different departments. The MIT App Inventor team was part of the CSAIL exhibit housed in a large white tent on North Court outside of the Stata Center. Visitors streamed through the tent all day long and hundreds of visitors came by the App Inventor table to learn more about App Inventor. A Digital Face Painting app was available on several tablets for visitors to try. The app allowed the user to take his/her picture, then draw on the picture to simulate face painting. By pressing a Send button, the face images were uploaded to a web server for display on a large monitor. Visitors were also able to get a printed copy of their digital face painting art to take home with them. Thanks to Lyn Turbak and Eni Mustafaraj of Wellesley College who shared their app with us. Thanks also to Jeff Schiller of MIT for creating the server space for uploading of images.

Most of the visitors had not heard of App Inventor, so were very curious to learn more and and to understand the possibilities. Many were surprised at how easy it is to become an app creator, instead of just an app user.