Mobile Multimedia

Mobile Technologies

“This isn’t the next computer, this is the next home for the mind. Computers have had a nice long run, and laptops will always play at least some role. But the center of gravity is now slowly shifting from the desk to the device in your pocket.”
Silicon Valley technology forecaster Paul Saffo, speaking about the iPhone (1.12.2007)

Breaking news: Twitter and the China earthquake : UK police to receive handheld computers

This is a rapidly growing sector, taking advantage of a growing market which feels the need to be connected and networked no matter what the time or the location – what some call the iPod or the hyper-connected generation.

‘Mobile’ computing started with the first ‘portable’ computers. Early models include the Osborne (1981) and the Compaq (1982). The first IBM portable was released in 1984. Today laptop or notebook sales are expanding rapidly as people use them increasingly to remain productive while on the move. Notebooks continue to shrink in size while increasing in power and wireless access is increasingly available – in hotels, coffee shops, airports and even busses. Cities like Norwich and Manchester have experimented with limited free wireless access. Mobile workers are now connecting their computers to mobile telephone networks via dongles when outside the range of wireless hotspots, or using mobile devices like the iPhone which automatically switches between mobile and wireless broadband, depending on the availability of signals. Consumers hope that these technologies will make the wireless market more competitive.

Amongst the first real handheld computers or PDAs were the Apple Newton and Palm Pilot. However, PDAs have just about been replaced by new internet ready mobiles like the iPhone, Blackberry and a variety of mobiles powered by Google’s Android operating system. Other popular mobile devices include tablets like the iPad and similar offerings from RIM, Samsung and other manufacturers, and lightweight netbooks. Of mobile devices, internet ready mobile phones are having the greatest impact and it is this area which is of most interest to those who value the power of mobile computing. Mobile phones, for all the features they offer (talk, text, e-mail, multimedia messaging, diary, notepad, bluetooth, IR, digital still and video cameras) cannot yet compete with conventional computers when it comes to speed, ease of use or quality. However, the balance is set to change as the technology matures. New cloud computing technologies could free mobile users from desktops and laptops which are currently required to synch mobile applications.

Web based applications for mobile phones are the main driving force of mobile multimedia. Thus we see applications like Facebook, and Flickr, Photobucket and other social networking sites providing mobile interfaces. Mobile multimedia applications provided the capability to share a wide range of information, to upload and download information on the move, the ability to surf the web, listen to music, podcasts and video while on the move.

An important aspect of the market is the open source market, providing talented programmers with the ability to write imaginative applications for a growing number of devices. Applications like Twitter are becoming increasingly flexible as are those like Shozu and ZuCasts. Shozu allows one to upload digital pictures directly to Flickr, BBC News and other services and to blog directly from one’s phone and then upload to hosts like Blogger. Zucasts allows one to download a variety of content (pics, music, video) to one’s mobile and listen to or watch it there.

Mobile technologies and learning

The potential of mobile computing for teaching and learning is generally recognised. Ofsted head Christine Gilbert (2006:11), in her 2020 Vision report for government, states that:

“the pace of technological change will continue to increase exponentially. Increases in bandwidth will lead to a rise in internet-based services, particularly access to video and television. Costs associated with hardware, software, and data storage will decrease further. This is likely to result in near-universal access to personal, multi-functional devices, smarter software integrated with global standards and increasing amounts of information being available to search on line… Using ICT will be natural for most pupils and for an increasing number of teachers.”

Much of the group’s report deals with the issue of personalising learning and it is clear that ICT is seen as a tool for providing this, in various ways, including the use of mobile technologies.

To date, educational use of computers has been limited by limited accessibility, amongst other things. It could be that ‘cheap’ but effective internet ready mobile technologies can make the ideal of a computer for each pupil a reality. But in spite of limitations with respect to “screen size, computational power, battery capacity, input interfaces and network bandwidth … too restricted to develop acceptable functionality for the entire learning process…” (Chen, Chang & Wang 2008:77) higher education institutions are taking advantage of this technology to deliver learning to students, using both video and audio podcasts. (Evans, C. 2008.)

High schools, too, are using mobile communications technology. A study by Rau, Gao and Wu (2008) showed that instant messaging helps bonding the roles of student and instructor effectively in the instruction process.

However, there are concerns about full internet access on mobiles for younger users. Unfortunately, many schools discourage or even prevent pupils bringing mobiles to school because of the ‘disruption’ they feel they cause, without thinking of the potential for learning that these tools bring with them.

This notwithstanding, young people are the leading users of mobile technologies, utilising mobile phones, iPods and other portable multimedia gadgets on an ongoing basis. Young people enjoy using technology, with mobile phones a favourite device. Texting is particularly popular amongst young mobile phone users. Texters have developed a new language with interesting contractions to get around the limitations of message length and to speed up writing. New words have developed from the inability of predictive text to ‘guess’ the required word corrrectly every time. Some teenagers are using these as a secret code language to keep parents from finding out what they are saying. While some have claimed that texting is bad for spelling and even that it is ruining the English language, experts disagree. Others have gone so far as to see this as a welcome challenges to the ‘tyranny’ of spelling.

In reality, portable multimedia technology is in its infancy and it will take time for a full range of useful working affordances to materialise. These need to be in place before (especially) schools can begin to use them efectively. However, there are a good range of useful tools and applications already available and teachers need to use thier initiative to make the most of their potential. Some of these are discussed below.

Twitter is an application which is growing in popularity. It is useable on a cross-section of platforms, including texting and IM, to share short messages. Some members of the sub-culture share their every movement with friends via ‘tweets’. These are often quite mundane – going to sleep – but Twitter can also be used quite innovatively. While many use Twitter for communicating with friends and others in an open forum, it also provides access to breaking news via feeds fromBBC News and other media.

Friendfeed is similar in a way to Twitter, in that it uses short messages. It provides information about what ones friends are doing, and allows one to follow the action. For instance, he/she might have just uploaded new pics to Flickr, or a message to Twitter or read a new post on Box of Whine or other blog. Links on Friendfeed make it easy for you to go directly to those locations.

Other useful mobile applications include Shozu and ZuCasts. Shozu is a free to download application which enables certain mobile camera phones to share pictures and video via the web (mobile to web transfers). this means one can blog directly from one’s mobile phone, upload material directly to sites like Flickr, You Tube and other sites, including BBC News.

ZuCasts enable one to “watch, read, listen to what they like, when they like, wherever they like. A user simply selects their ZuCasts and in the background, ShoZu quietly delivers all the content down to the phone. ZuCast content can automatically be updated hourly, daily or weekly…”

See the Shozu forum here.

Literature reviews on mobile learning from Futurelab.

Slideshare presentation from IADIS Mobile Learning conference, April 2008.

Useful articles.

Handheld devices and the net |:| Intel’s live large vision for mobile phones |:| Nokia’s brave new mobile world |:| Samsung’s mobile trainer |:| Times Mobile – news on the move |:| Skype ready mobile phones |:| iPhone… calling the future |:| GPS enabled mobiles |:| Your Mobile boarding pass |:| Your mobile digital wallet |:| Case study: Wifi in Norwich |:| City wifi networks to be expanded |:| Find a wifi network with The Cloud |:|Dan York – Disruptive conversations… |:| Dan York – Disruptive conversations 2… |:|Mobile Multimedia from Quicktime |:| What teens want from their mobiles |:| Acronyms |:| Acronyms /initialisms commonly used by texters |:| The ABBREVETIONARY |:| British Council guide to Texting |:| Cracking the code of teenager’s IM slang |:|Text messaging as emergency communication superstar? |:|

Twitter specific articles.

Using Twitter productively |:| Twitter Tweets in higher education |:| 5 terrific (unusual) uses for Twitter |:| Business uses for Twitter |:| How to use Twitter (You Tube) |:| Five ways to use Twitter for good |:| Twitter at the tipping point |:| Twitter takes on Facebook |:|

Other resources.

For those who are technically minded, see this paper (Dec 2006, pdf) on the next generation of mobile technologies from Springer Science.

Papers from academic journals.

Alexander, B. (2004) Going Nomadic: Mobile Learning in Higher Education. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 28–35

Cavus, N. & Ibrahim, D. (2009) m-Learning: An experiment in using SMS to support learning new English language words. British Journal of Educational Technology. 40 (1) 78-91.

Chen, G.D., Chang, C.K. & Wang, C.Y. (2008) Ubiquitous learning website: Scaffold learners by mobile devices with information-aware techniques. Computers and Education, 50. Pages 77-90.

Churchill, D. & Churchill, N. (2008) Educational affordances of PDAs: A study of a teacher’s exploration of this technology. Computers and Education, 50. Pages 1439-1450.

Churchill, D. & Hedberg, J. (2008) Learning object design considerations for small screen handheld devices. Computers ans Education. 50. 881-893.

Corbeil, J. & Corbeil, M. (2007) Are you ready for mobile learning? Educause Quarterly 2. Pages 51-58.

Felder, R. & Brent, R. (2005) Screens Down, everyone! Effective uses of portable computers in lecture classes. Chemical Engineering Education. 39 (3) 200-201.

Holotescu, C. & Grosseck, G. (2008) Using microblogging in education. Case Study: Cirip.ro (Original on Scribed)

Rau, P., Gao, Q. & Wy, L. (2008) Using mobile communication technology in high school education. Motivation, pressure, and learning performance. Computers and Education, 50. Pages 1-22.

Triantafillou, E., Georgiadou, E. & Economedes, A. (2008) The design and evaluation of a computerised adaptive test on mobile devices. Computers and Education, 50. 1319-1330.

Uzunboylu, H., Cavus, N. & Ercag, E. (2009) Using mobile learning to increase environmental awareness. Computers and Education. 52. 381-389.

Other sources.

Becta (2006) Emerging Technologies for Learning 1.

Becta (2007) Emerging Technologies for Learning 2.

Becta (2008) Emerging Technologies for Learning 3.

Campbell, G. (2005) There’s something in the air. Podcasting in Education. Educause Review, Nov/Dec.

McFarlane, A., Triggs, P. & Yee, W. (2007) Researching mobile learning – Interim report to Becta. Period: April – December 2007

van ‘t Hooft, M. (2008) Mobile, wireless, connected Information clouds and learning. Emerging technologies for learning – volume 3 (2008), Becta.

Journal of Mobile Multimedia. Rinton Press.

Mobimedia2011 Conference. Lisbon, Portugal, September 2011.

Handheld Learning Conference, London, January 2011.