Pictured is the home screen of the Choctaw Nation app.
Choctaw Nation reveals Windows 8 application
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is continually finding new ways to connect its tribal members, whether through social networking and the Internet or face-to-face with community meetings across the United States.
Now, the Choctaw Nation has found its way into your mobile phones and tablets.
With the help of Planet Technologies, a leading Microsoft consulting and services company, two Choctaw Nation Office of Technology (IT) department employees have developed and created a Choctaw Nation application.
Software programmer David Coxsey and IT director Dustin Stark, along with web director Vonna Shults, Ryan Spring in Historical Preservation and J.T. Wallace in the Choctaw Language department, provided their input to Planet Technology in designing the app.
The development of the app was made possible through a program from Microsoft called the Microsoft Application Acceleration Program (MAAP), which funded its creation.
It took only about one month, from initial concept to the application store, for the final product to be available for download, said Coxsey.
After just two weeks in the Windows Marketplace, the Choctaw Nation app has been downloaded 134 times.
“This program was designed to help clients get started on building applications for Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 8,” explained Don Lionetti, Choctaw Nation’s account manager at Microsoft. “Microsoft is thrilled that Choctaw Nation is the first tribal Nation with a Windows 8 app live on the Microsoft Windows 8 Application Store.”
According to Coxsey, the new app provides new ways to connect tribal members and employees. “The purpose of the application is to provide connections to the Choctaw Nation’s news, Twitter and Facebook feeds, YouTube channel, along with historical and cultural information,” he stated. “The intended audience for the application is tribal members and the public.”
The Choctaw Nation is a leader among tribal governments in the use of technology, said Lionetti.
“This latest example of a Windows 8 application for the citizens and the public to keep informed of the excellent work being done by various groups within the Choctaw Nation exemplifies staying on the leading edge of technology adoption,” he continued. “Moreover, this development of a Windows 8 application gives the Choctaw Nation yet one more medium for communicating the positive message of the Choctaw people and also provides a platform for disseminating tribal government news about its programs and people.”
If you were to explore the app, you would be able to do such things as catch up on current news by reading articles from the Choctaw Nation, see the Nation’s live Twitter and Facebook feeds to see what is happening with the Nation at a moment’s basis, watch videos from the Nation’s YouTube channel to learn more about the departments and activities of the tribe, or even research Choctaw history and learn more about the tribe’s culture.
Coxsey said currently the app is only available on devices such as desktop PCs, laptops or tablets running Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, but the IT department is working to get the app added to the Apple and Android stores so it will be available on all Android tablets and phones, iPhones and iPads.
“We look forward to helping the Choctaw Nation in continuing the use of technology for the betterment of the Nation and its citizens,” said Lionetti.
If you have a device that utilizes Windows 8, you may download the application to your device by searching for “Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma” in the Windows 8 application store.
If you would like to download the app, click here.