Mobile phones are a dime a dozen these days. It seems like everyone has one, actually everyone has one including children (this assumption is true if you live in the developed world). For those of us born in the 70’s and before, one cannot help but marvel at how far we have come from the days of the brick sized handhelds to today’s smartphones, tablets, iPads and what have you. For the younger generation, smartphones, tablets, iPads, iPhones, and the list goes on are the norm. It would seem that everywhere one looks these days there is someone using one of those “things” so much so that it seems that having a laptop which used to seem classy is now relegated to being normal. If you want to stand out, you need a smartphone or a tablet.
One cannot help but marvel at the potential that these devices have when it comes to content delivery nor can one even begin to imagine the areas that remain uncharted as far as mobile communication is concerned. In todays world, or at least in the developed well, it is not uncommon to see people logging more than one mobile device in addition to a laptop. I guess the reason behind all of this is portability and ease of use. Additionally there is no preset manual as to how mobile devices need to be used. Each person just uses it as they see fit. With the advent of social networking and the need to constantly check what our peers are doing, having an easy to use, always on Internet connection is necessary or should we say mandatory.
Mobile computing is good but it is useless in my opinion if all it affords its users is the ability to connect, send email and work from where ever they may be. This is in no way means that we are trying to negate the value of these uses of mobile computing, rather it means that while acknowledging these values, we intend to show that we can gain more from it by integrating it with learning or education. Yes, great strides have been made as far as mobile computing is concerned in the developed world and yes there is still a long way to go but my focus is geared towards the third world and developing countries which have their own set of challenges which need to be dealt with to make mobile computing a reality that is worth the effort.
Much as it is true that mobile communication has or is putting the third world onto the communication super highway, it goes without saying that it is this same technology that is making the gap between the haves and the haves not more apparent(the digital divide) but that is another topic. Third world countries particularly those in the Africa south of the Sahara are plagued by several factors that make the use mobile technology not only impractical but at times down right impossible. What this leads to is the idea that developers should have these regions in mind when developing hardware, software and content for mobile consumption.
It is not hard to imagine that social and infrastructural limitations are the reason behind the slow adoptions of mobile communication within these countries. Yes people use mobile phones for voice calls but there are few who use it for anything else and for those that do, it is usually the reach and the affluent. In other cases the lack of basic amenities such as electricity create roadblocks for effective use and in the case where there is electricity it either over priced or unreliable such that users are either turn between feeding themselves or trying to get connected. Finally, content that is particularly to these regions is lacking as content developers tend to focus on areas in which they are likely to make money either by direct sales or by the sale of advertising.
If there is one thing that we have to agree on, it is the fact that mobile computing is going places, but then again it is doing that more so for some areas more than for others. I am able to write this blog with the aid of a mobile device and a free Wi-Fi connection courtesy of Starbucks but then again I am saddened by the fact that some of my brethren in the motherland are not able to that. Just earlier today I was talking to my sister who told me she has not been able to check her email for over two weeks either due to the absence of electricity, a faulty network connection or a combination of both. So much as we in the developed world are making use of mobile technology in work as well as in play, we need to realize that for some this is or may still only be a dream…
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