The receptivity to safety-related mobile apps among commercial fishing captains: descriptive exploratory study

Bulzacchelli, M., Bellantoni, J., McCue, L., and Dzugan, J., “The receptivity to safety-related mobile apps among commercial fishing captains: descriptive exploratory study,” JMIR Formative Research, Vol 6, Issue 11, 2022, https://formative.jmir.org/2022/11/e33638.

Undergrad researcher Cheryl Blanchard wraps up commercial fishing sleep monitoring device prototyping effort

Cheryl did great work during the Spring term of 2021 looking at developing a purpose-built device to measure sleep aboard a fishing vessel, taking into consideration constraints we’ve seen with commercial off the shelf devices. Check out her presentation at: https://celebration.oscar.gmu.edu/development-of-a-prototype-sleep-monitoring-device-for-use-in-the-commercial-fishing-environment/.

Fishing Vessel Safety Apps – what’s that all about

Fishing Vessel Safety Apps – what’s that all about

 

This video gives a short overview on the history and thought process behind the fishing vessel safety apps SCraMP and FVdrills. App Store links for the apps are:

To purchase a copy of Beating the Odds on Northern Waters by Jensen and Dzugan, visit: https://www.amsea.org/booksandcurricula

SCraMP Release 3.13

I am often asked if SCraMP can be useful on big ships as well as the small craft, for which it is named.  My answer is always a resounding yes!  There is nothing in the code that would confine it to small craft, and indeed, I have tried to make it as customizable as possible to suit a range of needs.  With that in mind, the latest SCraMP release, hitting the app store today (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scramp/id456343416), adds two new safety metrics, one to help identify possible parametric roll conditions and one to provide guidance as to whether or not conditions might be making passengers sensitive to motion sickness.  As always, if you have suggestions for app improvements or feedback on SCraMP v3.13, I am eager to hear from SCraMPers.

 

 

SCraMP and iOS7

SCraMP users, a bug has been identified with the use of the safety metrics screen of SCraMP when running iOS7. I have submitted to Apple an update to solve the problem and hope to have the new iOS7 version of SCraMP released to you next week. Apologies for any inconvenience in the meantime.

SCraMP Press!

This has been a great few months for SCraMP coverage.  SCraMP was mentioned in the National Fisherman Best of 2012 article in January and received equally flattering coverage in the March/April Ship and Boat International.  Thank you to those authors helping get the word out, and to those friends who are letting me know when they’ve seen SCraMP articles appear (both of these were pleasant surprises for me)!

ComFish Inspired Improvements

The ComFish expo was a great experience for me!  I’ve implemented two changes that directly relate to comments I got at ComFish.  First–you now have the option for audible alarms–you can chose to have my lovely voice nag you directly, or the sound of a pot being hit with a wood spoon.  (Hey, it’s a free app, I’m making my own sound effects!)  Second–I made this universal for iPads.  Many folks commented that they wished they had a bigger screen for this.  One option is to hook up your iPhone to a monitor using an Apple VGA adapter (this only works for iPhone 4S and iPad2 or newer devices), another option is to use an iPad.  So, now it should look quite a bit prettier on an iPad then it did before.

SCraMP v3.7

SCraMP 3.7 is in the app store (free, as always).  Based on user requests, v3.7 has a compass and heading information.  Also included, for my data acquisition users, is a choice of coordinate systems.  The API implementation by Apple is an earth fixed coordinate system (some of you may have noticed this if you were playing with the app at large angles), so now you have a choice of a body-fixed system (i.e., what roll/pitch/yaw usually mean to boat or airplane people) or the earth-fixed system.  Last, but certainly not least, the app now stores your preferences.  For example–enter your boat’s beam once and be done with it; no more having to enter that every time you re-launch the app and want to use the GM estimate!  As always, I’m eager to hear your feedback: scramp@vesseldynamics.com