Mobile Web 2.0, Mobile Widgets, Microlearning and Intertwingularity

1 Copyright : Futuretext Ltd. London

Mobile Web 2.0, Mobile Widgets, Microlearning and Intertwingularity June 2007 Microlearning.org

Ajit Jaokar

www.mobileweb20.futuretext.com [email protected]


Ajit Jaokar - many hats

Ajit Jaokar

UK based - Hands on Publisher (futuretext) - Author (Mobile Web 2.0) - Chair: Oxford University's Next Gen Mobile Applications panel - Start-up: www.horizonchannel.com - PhD student UCL/UK

Recent and forthcoming talks includeStanford University - MIT SloanWeb 2.0 expo - Ajaxworld - Java oneThe Scoble show - CNN money BBC Digital planet - Oxford University The O Reilly radar. European parliament

Global top 20 wireless bloggerAccording to fierce wireless www.opengardensblog.futuretext.com


Outline

Web 2.0 Mobile Web 2.0 Learning

Microlearning Widgets

• Emphasis on the 'how'

• A future - not THE future ..


A blue chair is a chair ..

http://www.whittlepainters.com/images/avalon/black%20avalon.jpg

http://www.latoys.com/new/images/16603_avalon-chair-blue.jpg

A concept cannot exist in isolation. Mobile Web 2.0 must be defined in context of Web 2.0


What is Web 2.0?

When Basecamp asked 1000 of their customers what Web

2.0 meant to them:

● 13% answered that they didn‘t know what it

was

● 87% who answered yes on the question, nearly

everybody came up with a different description


In good company!

Tim Berners Lee: nobody even knows what it means


Hype from media ..

● Power is moving away from the old elite(Rupert Murdoch, CEO NewsCorp.)

● Our industry is facing a profound challenge from home-made content (Tom Glocer, CEO Reuters)

Source: Arthur D. Little


Not a formula !

Soft concepts are more difficult to explain. Not a formula or an equation!!

http://springprojectwhs.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/forumla.jpg


What is Web 2.0: Of elephants and blind men

Like the parable of the blind men and the elephant, many see only one aspect of Web 2.0, but miss the big picture

Image source: http://www.wordfocus.com/word-act-blindmen.html


Web 2.0

Web as a platform

Harnessing collective intelligence

Consumption v.s. participation (user generated content)

Pushing content out: consuming content away from its source RSS, mashup, Widgets


Its not a 'Web' of mainframes!

http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/roger.broughton/firmware/mainframe.htm

Web as a platform: The Web / Open standards is the only true global unifying force - you can't build a 'Web' out of mainframes - powerful as they are!


Web 2.0 : Unifying theory of Web 2.0

Harnessing Collective Intelligence: Now becomes the 'main' principle.

Think page rank:

Global, Web based, Billions of individual contributions (information about web pages), Algorithm, Derived information commercially valuable


The resurgence of mobile browsing

0-92 -93 -94 -95 -96 -97 -98 -99 -00 -02-01 -03 -04 -05 -08e

200

400

600

800

1 000

1 200

1 400

1 600

1 800

2 000

2 200

2 400

2 600

2 800

3 000Mobile subscribers outnumber Internet users 2 to 1

Mobile phone subscriptions globally, millions

Sources: *Nokia; **Morgan Stanley Research and Morgan Stanley Communications Equipment Research.

3B mobile subscribers

in 2008*


in 2008*

1B Internet users in 2005**

1B Internet users in 2005**


in 2005*


in 2005*


Mobile : Now a first class citizen of the web

Globally, at end of 2005, there

were 2.1 billion mobile

phones vs. 1.0 billion Internet

users.

Even amongst those one

billion Internet users,

over 200 million of them

accessed the Internet

via a mobile phone (mostly in

Japan, China and South

Korea).

Mobile is now a first class citizen of the Web. More so, with Web 2.0 (Mobile Web 2.0)


What does it all mean?

We now say that, Mobile web 2.0 extends the principle of ‘harnessing collective intelligence’ to mobile devices

This seemingly simple idea of extending Web 2.0 to Mobile devices raises many questions, for example:

a) What are the implications of extending the Web to mobile devices? b) As devices become creators and not mere consumers of information, What categories of intelligence can be captured/harnessed from restricted devices? c) What is the impact for services as devices start using the Web as a massive information repository and the PC as a local cache where services can be configured?


What does it all mean?

When we extend this definition to ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ – there are two implications :

a) The Web does not necessarily extend to mobile devices

b) Even though the Web does not extend to mobile devices, intelligence can still be captured from mobile devices.


Capturing Mobile intelligence

• Capturing intelligence at the point

of inspiration

• Tagging

• Unique data elements like location


Harnessing collective intelligence: Mobile devices

(b) The web backbone – but not necessarily web protocols end to end

(c) The PC: Selecting and configuring the service

Mobile Web 2.0: Harnessing collective intelligence through restricted devices

(a) – harnessing collective intelligence


Not ringtones etc (packaged content)!

Mobile Web 2.0 != Packaged content (ringtones)


Good news and the bad news ..

The good news is: There are more people with phones than PCs

The bad news is: These phones have nothing in common except voice and SMS

There are limitations to what you can do with voice and SMS

The Web and specifically Widgets could be the common element

That has implications for Microlearning


We live in a Widget Widget Web

I believe we are living in a Widget Widget Web i.e. the Web as we know it has fragmented into a million pieces (Widgets) and these Widgets are being assembled into new, as yet undefined services.

The concept of Widgets lends itself to the ideas of Microlearning very well.Widgets (both Web and Mobile) are ideally poised to exploit Microcontent and Microlearning – especially because they use open standards.


Mac Dashboard ..


Mac Dashboard ..


Mac Dashboard ..

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/


Mobile Widgets - Web - Mobile bridge


Mobile Widgets - Nokia ..

S60 Web run timeWeb standards - no Java, no flash Mobile Ajax + s60 web runtime


Mobile Widgets ..

• Using same code on mobile and desktop

• media type=handheld stylesheet

• The Web standards pay a key part


Widgets ..

What is a widget?

What is a widget made of(technically) - Javascipt, Ajax

What is a mobile widget?

Whats needed for a mobile widget? - Web

Who is supporting widgets and mobile widgets?Web / desktop widgets: Apple, Google, Microsoft, netvibes, YahooMobile widgets: Opera, Nokia, Apple?


Microlearning

Wikipedia definition: • Microlearning deals with relatively small learning units and short-term learning activities.

Conference definition:• Microlearning is what people are doing, knowingly or not, when they face the challenge to find new informationand build new knowledge in networked digital media environments.

• With e-mails, mobile phones, Google and the Web 2.0, they have to deal with small chunks of microcontent, loosely joined, permanently changing, re-arranging and circulating.


Microlearning

• We will have to find new mental and learning strategies, by analyzing and putting further the practices and behaviours new disruptive technologies are bringing with them.

• Microlearning is a catchphrase bundling a number of new technologies und applications relevant fore-learning, whose common denominator is the processing of digital microcontent.

• They tend towards dissolving the more static and macro-sized structures that have dominated our education and learning systems so far.


Intertwingularity

Intertwingularity is a term coined by Ted Nelson to express the complexity of interrelations in human knowledge. (also created the word hypertext)

Intertwingularity is not generally acknowledged, people keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical, categorizable and sequential when they can’t. Everything is deeply intertwingled.

With a fragmented Web (and subsequently reused content away from its source) via Widgets, we see the fulfilment of Intertwingularity vision


Hierarchy is the opposite of a network ..

Hierarchy is the opposite of a network. As networks emerge (the Internet, MySpace, facebook) - hierarchies break down. With fragmentation (widgets), comes aggregation (through a network). With a fragmented Web (and subsequently reused content away from its source) via Widgets, we see the fulfilment of Intertwingularity vision


Microlearning

e-learning – replicated the classroomTraditionally e-learning modelled existing class room environments. They did not the use the Web and Mobile Web as it is truly intended.

microlearning is much more natural because:Creative - fun - network oriented - the minds of the young are adapted to learning in that way - suited to their attention span - conflicting perspectives (critical thought) - Long tail education, education for the disenfranchised

Tap into the collaborative, conversational exchanges in which today's students have become so fluent outside class are the best way to deliver learning inside it.(source: Wired)


Microlearning

Both school level and higher ed.

Some schools ban MySpace, Facebook etc. Others are incorporating it as part of their curicullum

Personal learning environments -- mashup spaces comprising del.icio.us feeds, blog posts, podcast widgets -- whatever resources students need to document, consume or communicate their learning across disciplines.


Microlearning

The widget model is attractive because of ease of development. Most widgets can be created with a few images using from less than ten to several hundred lines of XML/JavaScript/VBScript, depending on their complexity.

screensavers, quizzes, flashcards, word of the day – in a networked environment spanning the Web and the Mobile Web

Microlearning characteristics : short time, small content, complement curriculum, create into an ongoing process, informal, collaborative


Conclusions ..

A holistic trend, not in isolation (networks, widgets, mobile)

Extension of the continuous connectivity (esp. for kids)

A wider socio economic impact – rise of networks, break down of hierarchies, Open standards go together

Web 2.0 – pushing content out – leads naturally to microcontent

Microcontent, microlearning and widgets go together


Conclusions ..

Web is the unifier

Mobile is a strong driver

Network (community) is the enabler

Widgets is the mechanism – especially within a network spanning the Web and the Mobile Web

Widgets are suited to small chunks of information

We already use them on the Web

We will be using them on the Mobile Web


Sources ..

http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/04/myspaceforschool http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2007/06/16/nature_goes_bot....html http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2006/06/adults-and-myspace.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_engine"http://www.pavingways.com/mobile-widgets-the-ubiquitous-mobile-web_84.html http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/09/01/8384338/index.htm?postversion=2006091105 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_widget


Thank You

Thank You

www.mobileweb20.futuretext.com

[email protected]

My UK mobile is : 00 44 7776 180 099

All images: Google images unless indicated otherwise

Technology

Mobile Web 2.0, Mobile Widgets, Microlearning and Intertwingularity