Adobe AIR Showcase

American Cancer Society

American Cancer Society uses Adobe® AIR™ to extend the reach of its award-winning services.

For caregivers and people living with cancer, having daily access to timely research, resources, and support is essential. Today, millions of people worldwide turn to the American Cancer Society web site for support and comprehensive information about cancer 24 hours a day.

With its commitment to continually improving services, the Society is working with Adobe AIR to build prototype applications that enable patients to more easily connect with physicians for appointments, advice and additional support services. The compact Adobe AIR application can run on desktops or laptop computers and is not dependent on a constant Internet connection. Previously, many Society services were available only via the web, which was problematic for people with intermittent or unreliable Internet access.

"Adobe AIR has the potential to give us the flexibility to offer applications both online and offline. We are working on the capability to 'cache' data on the desktop so that users have access to commonly searched information without an Internet connection. This could be extremely useful in clinical environments or rural areas," says Adam Pellegrini, the Society's strategic director of online.

An added benefit of the desktop Adobe AIR applications is that they can incorporate APIs from other providers, such as Google Maps, and provide a geographical display of the information the Society provides from its database of 65,000 events, local groups and accredited cancer hospitals. This Search AIR application also allows users to click through located resources on the map and go directly to a specific resource's web site.

Building on Existing Assets and Developer Skills

Society developers can leverage their Adobe Flex™ and Adobe Flash® expertise just as time spent developing the organization's Internet services can be easily leveraged to create new desktop Adobe AIR applications.

The Society development team re-engineered a wide variety of Adobe Flash content to Adobe Flex, and has now extended Adobe Flex applications to Adobe AIR— keeping development costs in check and accelerating production cycles. "Our goal is to build a seamless development process for Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) that allows us to start with solid prototyping, transition into working Adobe Flash or Adobe Flex prototypes, and then give us the option to export to the desktop in Adobe AIR," says Pellegrini.

Delivering Rich, Engaging Content

A top priority for the Society's online team is to deliver timely, useful information and to provide a forum where people can connect and share their stories. Consequently, the organization also has an Adobe AIR application in the works that will allow users to create and share health reminders using both a web site and an Adobe AIR desktop reminder widget. The new Health Reminder Assistant Widget will give users instant desktop access to health and prevention reminders that can be delivered via text message to cell phones or email accounts. This would be the Society's first test of the Adobe AIR technology on a behavioral change application.