THE WORLD IN 2009: ICT FACTS AND FIGURES:A decade of ICT growth driven by mobile technologies

Report from international telecoms union if you had any doubts that the world is mobile read this report http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/material/Telecom09_flyer.pdf

lots of detailsbut high level stuff along with mobile subscriptions still growing at 15%

-Mobile cellular has been the most rapidly adopted technology in history.Today it is the most popular and widespread personal technology on the
planet, with an estimated 4.6 billion subscriptions globally by the end of 2009
-Mobile broadband subscriptions overtook fixed broadband subscribers in
2008, highlighting the huge potential for the mobile Internet
-In 2009, more than a quarter of the world’s population are using the Internet

worth a read a look at the tables .

Mobile camps in Africa , lead to new generation of mobile developers

The bar camp so popular in Europe has taken a novel twist and appeared in Africa. Mobile camps may be building the next generation of mobile programmers by helping to develop a new field of study in African higher education. Recent camps have produced tools for social development and provided educators with new skills. interesting becuase the next billion users of the internet are likely to access it through mobiles devices .

http://mobileactive.org/mobile-camps-africa-bringing-next-generation-mobile-programmers

worth a look at the article.

Proffessional Teacher Magazine Mobiles in secondary

Article highlighting the work funded by becta grant on mobiles in Secondary carried out by Elizabeth Hartnell Young ex Nottingham University http://www.tda.gov.uk/upload/resources/pdf/p/professional_teacher_summer09.pdf

No comment but worth a read . I get a name check but actually others work.

Using mobile phones in field your views required

worth a look and please contribute see presentation below and comment at http://geodonn.blogspot.com

Over the Air 2009

The date for over the air 2009 appears to be emerging likely date is 25/26th September.

Its not on there blog yet http://overtheair.org/blog/ what is over the air simply its a

"Bringing together developers, designers, hackers and entrepreneurs to explore the exciting future of wireless and mobile devices/applications."

Want to learn/experience spoken French look at Madame Thomas youtube channel

For those of a MFL frame of mind or just interested in use of YouTube for education. This teacher has over 400 films made by herself or her students .

http://www.youtube.com/user/MadameThomas

Little Brother's iPhone is watching you

interesting take on things . institution owned devices but with a twist Japanese example from  Aoyama Gakuin University, located just outside Tokyo.

http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=45018&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10#

Slideshare goes mobile

Slideshare has gone mobile view presentation on your mobile device hurrah another good "M" tool . http://m.slideshare.com excellent News thanks to Thomas Cochrane in New Zealand for this.

Ahead by a red nose Gamesbased Learning 2009

Hi all

Due to change of circumstance I am now able to attend Gamesbased Learning 2009 with is the 19th-20th March at the Brewery in London .

The organisers have done great things for red Nose day (thats tomorrow) if you register tomorrow they will donate £50.00 to the red nose day charity youve got to use the code rednose when booking. Good on you Graham ;-)

The two day conference the first day having loads of good practice from real people in show ! The second day has some real industry heavyweights and the God Derek (DS) Robertson form learning and teaching scotland .

Download the programme here

Register here

View confirmed speakers here

what made my heart leap was this phrase encouraging young people (maybe the real experts). Please note we are also keen to include young people at the event and registered delegates are welcome to bring a student 16 years or younger with them. School parties are also welcome by arrangement. Please contact us here.

Looking forward to it Ive also added link to the conference website on my blogroll on the left.

Children’s Use of Mobile Phones – An International Comparison

worth a read

Children’s Use of Mobile Phones – An International Comparison
To gain a better understanding of how children use their mobile phones across the world, the GSMA has collaborated with NTT DoCoMo on research comparing children’s use of mobile phones. The report “Children’s Use of Mobile Phones – An International Comparison” was published in February 2009 with NTT DoCoMo’s Mobile Society Research Institute (MSRI), with support from KT Freetel (KTF). It compares mobile phone use by children in five countries - Japan, Korea, China, India and Mexico.
Over 6,000 children between the ages of 9 and 18 and their parents were surveyed on a range of questions on their use, attitudes and feelings towards mobile phones.

Whilst the main factor affecting children’s mobile phone ownership is their age (for each additional year in age, an additional 4% of children own a mobile phone), the network effect of friends starting to use mobile phones was also found to be a key trigger for take up of phones by children across all the countries surveyed.

Gender, parental age, parental income and ownership of video games and computers were also found to have an effect on ownership of phones across all the surveyed countries.
Gender - 4% more girls owned a mobile phone than boys, and 9% more girls who did not own a mobile phone wanted to.

• Parental age - the older the parents, the older the children are when they first start to own mobile phones.
• Computers and video games - children owning personal computers and video games are more likely to own mobile phones and start using them at an earlier age.
• Parental Income – the higher their parents’ income, the more likely children are to own a mobile phone.
• Contrary to theories that mobile phones can be an unwelcome distraction for children, the study found no effective correlation between children’s ownership and usage of mobile phones and the time they spent on other activities.

The study also examined children’s attitudes to mobile phones and the ways in which mobiles may influence them. It found that girls, more than boys, view their phones as essential tools in their lives and that children who use mobile e-mail/SMS more frequently tend to show higher levels of trust in new media such as the Internet and slightly reduced trust in traditional media including TV and newspapers.

The full report can be downloaded from the GSMA website at http://www.gsmworld.com/documents/Final_report.pdf

Thomas Cochrane views on Mlearn

Not the same as mine but still valid he like the SMS stuff well done Steve !!!!

http://thomcochrane.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/mlearn-2008/

Thomas Cochranes blogs

Thanks for you comment and even more for giving a blog link interested yes very so if you interested a real mobile learning with real people in a tertiary work based learning context you got to follow Toms work!!

http://tcblogtest.blogspot.com/

plus hes got another he didnt tell me about so have that to will add them to my blog roll later.

http://thomcochrane.wordpress.com/

Phone friend in exams

Now you will either get outraged at this or says its part of an evolution in assesment. Thanks to Elizabeth Hartnell Young for the link
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/phone-a-friend-in-exams/2008/08/19/1218911717490.html

read the article and reflect on it !! interesting piece of work .  Thanks Elizabeth !

Large scale study of South African Students

 Laura czerniewicz presented interesting paper on a large scale study with interesting this to say about how students use technology especially mobile technology in South African Universities .

worth a look
https://alt.conference-services.net/reports/template/onetextabstract.xml?xsl=template/onetextabstract.xsl&conferenceID=1272&abstractID=229636

Using phones in education

Big round of applause for Facebook friend Elizabeth Hartnell Young Becta research grant funded work on mobile phone use in secondary education .

The daily mail picked up on http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1052279/Children-allowed-use-mobiles-class-help-learn-study-says.html

Read the actual work at http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02&rid=15482

Over the air slide and some feedback now available.

Over the air feedback looks http://overtheair.org/blog

thanks to slide share some really great presentations that are well worth spending an hour or two getting your head round. I plan to later this evening . Go on have a look you know you want to !!

report on mobile trends in the USA

Well I have had many a debate about differences in mobile trends behaviour in Europe and those around the world. I have rightly or wrongly always had the opinion that North America and specifically the US was a bit behind us due to variety of factors.

• complex networks
• role of free local calls etc etc
  

This report seems I think to support that view. What is really interesting is data across demographic andf other groups worth a read . Anyone know similar report for UK or Europe ??

It's American only but may be of interest to those who've not seen
this research report.

*Pew press release http://www.pewinternet.org/press_release.asp?r=300
*Pew brief note http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/244/report_display.asp
*Report itself (PDF)
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Mobile.Data.Access.pdf

From the press release:
* 58% of adult Americans have used a cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) to do at least one of ten mobile non-voice data activities, such as texting, emailing, taking a picture, looking for
maps or directions, or recording video.
* 41% of adult Americans have logged onto the internet on the go, that is, away from home or work either with a wireless laptop connection or a handheld device.
Overall, 62% of adult Americans have either accessed the internet with a wireless connection away from home or work or used a non-voice data application using their cell phone or PDA.

Good on you O2 and good on the European Commission and its Safer Internet programme

Two good bits of news around safety of Children online and on their phones !

In 2006 O2 set out to ensure that O2 consistently delivers real, useful, practical, honest advice to customers about online child protection. We are delighted to learn from Ofcom this week that O2 has established a "clear lead" over the other mobile networks in the provision of child protection advice to customers. Over the last six weeks, Ofcom conducted mystery shopping and calling research as part of their review of the UK Content Code.


The European Commission have proposed a new Safer Internet programme to enhance the safety of children in the online environment.

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/index_en.htm Encompassing recent communications services from the Web 2.0, such as social networking, the new programme will fight not only illegal content but also harmful behaviour such as bullying and grooming. With a budget of €55 million, the programme, which builds further on the successful Safer Internet programme started in 2005, will run from 2009 to 2013. The proposed new programme will:

* Reduce illegal content and tackle harmful conduct online: actions to provide the public with national contact points for reporting illegal content online and harmful conduct, focusing in particular on child sexual abuse material and grooming.

* Promote a safer online environment: fostering self-regulatory initiatives in this field. To stimulate the involvement of children and young people in creating a safer online environment, in particular through youth panels.

* Ensure public awareness: actions targeting children, their parents and teachers. Encourage a multiplier effect through exchange of best practices within the network of national awareness centres. Support contact points where parents and children can receive advice on how to stay safe online.

* Establish a knowledge base by bringing together researchers engaged in child safety online at European level. Establish a knowledge base on the use of new technologies by children, the effects these have on them, and related risks. Use this to improve the effectiveness of ongoing actions within the Safer Internet Programme.

The fact sheet about the programme can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/doc/factsheets/018-saferinternetplus-en.pdf

Article by Ken Banks looking at Reaching out with Mobile technology with the humble SMS

Interesting article by Ken Banks at a range of uses of mobile technology in a range of countries and situations. read pdf of article at
http://www.kiwanja.net/miscellaneous/Didactics_kiwanja.pdf



What I find interesting is the range of uses his discussion on high end and low end devices .Great to see Flora and Fauna international getting a plug I have had the pleasure of working with both Martin Hollands and Mike Appleton in the past who were bothwent onto work for FFI . The link to this Wildlive project detail is here
http://www.kiwanja.net/wildlive!.htm

Ken Banks website also looks well worth a look.

http://www.kiwanja.net/

Guardian article on mobile device use

interesting article with great strap line.

"Texts leap 40% amid newer varieties of mobile traffic" worth a read and a think . Read article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/06/mobilephones