A number of players
are starting to raise their heads in the Australian mobile content aggregation
field and I'm curious as to whether anyone else is dealing with either telco's
that farm out their 'business' to the aggregator groups or anything similar in
the workings of their day. It could have ended at that - a simple question and
some polite replies however I have more.
You will have
to excuse the ramble but this will remain known as the classic 10.30 pm
stream-of-conciousness download for the day.
There has been some innovative uses of mobile advertisements by 3
and a number of innovative mobisodes and so with 'Digital Journeys' and mobile
film festivals with Vodafone etc. in 2005 but the latest offerings of
'burst' packet invasive, disruptive mobile enabled technologies
that is really doing my head in. Not heard of the concept yet ? Has your mobile phone suddenly
changed it's ring tone on you yet ? Ever wondered why a number of phone numbers
are on your bill and yet you emphatically NEVER ever made them ? We need to ask
questions of our mobile lifeline companies a little more often I think. In fact
Smart cars are now GPS enabled - permanently tracked and performance encoded.
Ever wondered why their is a dial pad built into the dash ? I certainly
have wondered....and why can I now find
puchases for coke cans from machines in strange cities that I've never been to
also appearing on the bill ?
Short, punchy (
often racy ads.) arriving on enabled mobile devices (MMS/ GPRS) are now coming
when you least expect it - from TAFE colleges of course and all highly
educational ( not). Compelling, 20 second mobile video's which you can save to
your hard drive ....thats right .....microscopic but Windows enabled.
..............timetables, results, mentor encouragment ditties......well , that
could be a reality soon but I think we are a way off yet unless you inform me
otherwise and I can see student generated re-packaging for interactive
communication re-purposing here - in Australia - now - in schools as part of
curriculum or workplace learning. I know of content to PDA's and any number of
compliant coded players again for PDA's but mobile hand held phones ? Capped,
locked in on plans blah blah. It's enough to contemplate not owning
one.
Where's the coolest
mob-podders hanging out these days ? Are we ready to Learnscope mobile phones
yet ?
Another question for
the early adopters - how many calls would your receive or make in a week that
are entirely work related ? What would happen in you always turned off your
phone the moment you 'left' work ? Or as was my case for many years what
happened when your work almost entirely occured through it ? Is that why they
now make mobile phones with a 16 field contact entry and up to 500 numbers
? So that your office is hiptop and you are more bedope than any funky teenager
blowing their only credit rating even before they have earnt a cent to pay it
off. Time to get rid of the laptop for teachers program and re-invest it in
dragging our students out of telco debt.
Please tell me I'm
wrong and that there are trials underway in 2006 that are examining and
IMPLEMENTING curriculum using student generated re-purposed content - stuff
that's theirs, about them - all delivered episodically or on demand via wireless
handhelds ? Please tell me cause ' I want to play too - for free - for
educational purposes - with lots of licences thrown in and free calls and no
monthly trial periods.
http://www.hww.com.au/ and http://www.5thfinger.com/corporate2/default.asp are
examples of those who do have technology and are using it with industry so
shouldnt we as educators be contemplating doing the same? What are the
ramifications of doing so ?
I'm keen to explore who's dealing with
whom in the virtual me-learning world as we now considering pushing
interactivity all the way to subscription DVB-H in 2006. Is your school
contemplating purchasing 16 hand-held sets for use in your classroom setting ?
Are they all DVB-H enabled to recive synchronous newscasts from Sesame Street
and trhe ABC at 1.00pm on a Friday when students have traditionally thrown lumps
of clay onto the classroom ceiling to relieve themselves. I bet you
are part of the 90 per cent statistic that says that in your school or
college mobile phones are banned or discouraged from use. Makes me wonder how
long it's going to take MP3 enable converged devices to become a college asset
or will institutions go the simple way of registering the students mobile number
and device type and factoring all content for mobile aggregation instead ? maybe
a mixture of both ? none at all ? PDA's only ? the screen is too small
?
Mobile LMS you say ?
Well - then we could whine and dine over the effects that pushing text ridden
riddles to bored students is having .........24 / 7 .....always on....always
learning like. Mobile wikis, cell-phedia and swarms are old hat so will we see
RFID mobile dating and mobile location intelligence extend into everyday parts
of the new educator tool kit ? Will ratings online extend to lecturers,
adminstration and heaven fobid ....management? Via SMS voting ? Are we ready for
VET Big Brother ?
Will we blog lunch
and download new ringtones during afternoon tea from our students sites while
they manage their own learning and collaborate on assessment in a teacher less
world ? Are we all to become OEM machines constantly beeping and emitting short
bursts of the latest electronic versions of Cher during dinner time with our MSN
sponsored teenager children ?
On another more
ethical note - are you paying through the nose for your mobile bill too ? Just
the other day I sat with a colleague and who indicated that she was
considering raising her call-cap to $150 - a month! Wow ! And I thought my $276
bill last month was a bit steep and thats not capped at all. Maybe I could now
get rid of my landline and even get rid of the TV to boot ! What else can they
push into these devices ?
Considering that
telco's, content aggregators and other subscription-for-essential-communication
services providers are sucking our young people ( and not so young people) dry
so-to-speak it has occured to me upon reflection on the crazy journey of 2005,
what on earth can I focus this years foray into the mobile virtual world upon?
It's been staring me in the face all along and it's the ethical
and moral considerations that these companies are NOT making when it comes to
considering that people are now lost without their mobile contact, have assumed
identity status with their mobile device and most importantly get charged
through the nose for what is ESSENTIALLY simplecell
servicing.
I've decide that my
New Years revolution or my mission is to 'close-the-loop' for
educators - affordably, equitably, considerably, easily and with as much fuss as
possible. Failing that I'll forced to join the 16 billion dollar industry ( a
month worldwide) and design beer advertisments for ravers who would be at
Leigh's learning party which I would have disguised myself to
attend.
Happy New Year folks
and lets make TALO kick ass.
Yours in moblogging
heaven.
PS. No I have not
been drinking......yet.