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More mobile messaging

by Martin · Aug 8, 2006

Research firm M:Metrics says picture messaging is on the rise because more people own camera phones these days. Jupiter Research comments that “the growth in MMS (multimedia message service) has still been very very slow compared to what mobile phone operators had hoped for” and that “a growth in uptake of camera phones has been fuelled by the fact that there are decreasingly small amounts of non-camera phones available in the market place” (via BBC News – Technology).

Well, I didn’t buy my phone because of the camera. But now that it is there, I have started to use it. For example when I ended up in the middle of a World Cup party.

Maybe new mobile software will help drive growth for multimedia messaging. The findings by M:Metrics should be an encouraging sign for software developers such as Toronto-based Ambient Vector who build new kinds of social networking offerings to be used with camera phones.

When I was in Europe in June I was surprised how much text and picture messaging is used by people of all ages. I have sent and received way more messages on my cell phone in those few weeks over there than in the last 18 months in Canada.

The roaming worked perfectly with my Fido phone for both voice communication and text messaging. But now that I am back in Canada, I get error messages (did my phone overdose on SMS in Europe?) Need to get that fixed.

Drowning in content?

by Martin · Aug 7, 2006

“[T]he total posting volume of the blogosphere continues to rise, showing about 1.6 Million postings per day, or about 18.6 posts per second. This is about double the volume of about a year ago.“

David Sifry, CEO, Technorati in State of the Blogosphere report, August 2006

So many postings, so little time. If blog search engines aren’t doing the job for you, Forbes.com columnist Jack Trout has some tips on dealing with Info-clutter.

The blogosphere continues to grow at an amazing pace. Go to David Sifry’s blog entry for all the numbers.

Getting noticed at CTIA IT & Entertainment 2006

by Martin · Aug 4, 2006

High Road’s resident telecom and wireless PR experts Sarah Spence and Jo-Anne Stayner are hosting a webinar on best ways to get exposure at this important industry show. Brad Smith of Wireless Week will join them to provide insights and guidance from a media perspective. The seminar is on August 9th at 1 PM EST. Go here for more information and registration.

The Internet and the way we spend our time

by Martin · Aug 2, 2006

Statscan today realeased the findings of a survey on “The Internet and the way we spend our time”. Most of the findings aren’t really surprising. But I found it interesting that heavy users watch about the same amount of television as non-users. So the Internet isn’t really replacing television as a favourite past time. I must be an exception.

(via The Star)

It’s World Cup time!

by Martin · Jun 13, 2006

I am on vacation in Germany to watch the soccer World Cup. Back in July.

Today is World Information Society Day

by Martin · May 17, 2006

World Telecommunications Day is now World Information Society Day “to help raise awareness, on an annual basis, on the enormous possibilities that ICTs can bring to all economies and societies and explore ways to bridge the digital divide”.

“ICT can change the face of the poor dramatically. ICT can be visualized as Aladdin’s Lamp in the hands of a poor woman. A digital genie can leverage her energy and creativity to lift her out of poverty at the fastest speed.”

Professor Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director of Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, and recipient of the 2006 ITU World Information Society Award.

Lunch with David Crow

by Martin · Apr 25, 2006

Boarding the cluetrain is one thing. Getting your clients to board another. And then there is the whole matter of staying on. A couple clicks from now you may find yourself behind it, watching its taillights fade. Then you turn around and there it is again, about to run you over (“We are watching. But we are not waiting”). This whole 24/7-participatory-attention-intention-economy-slash-Me2-revolution can be scary. But it doesn’t have to be.

That’s why it is always good to talk to people who’ve been riding the cluetrain for a while. Last week David Crow (bio) came to High Road for a lunch discussion. We had a great discussion about blogging, Web 2.0 and his adventures in unconferencing. Thanks again, David!

Since David started TorCamp/BarCamp/DemoCamp in Toronto, the number of DemoCamp participants, for example, have increased from 26 in December 2005 to 151 in March 2006. Clearly, David and his fellow organizers are on to something.

Based on all the grassroots enthusiasm out there, the mesh conference in Toronto seems to become another success story; one blogger suggests that it may have even helped push the professional event management firm for Syndicate Canada to cancel their conference.

The same principle that has made blogging popular and forced traditional media to incorporate new online features into their offering, also seems to change event management: the participatory model has become a hit. While I doubt that the old top-down organization of conferences will die out any time soon, it will make other tech conferences continue to re-think their approach.

Many bloggers, including David, have debated what makes a good conference and what makes un-conferences different or better, so I won’t repeat it all here.

But during our discussion David mentioned the rise of sponsorship and support enquiries for BarCamp/DemoCamp [Disclaimer: High Road offered to host one of the Barcamp/DemoCamp events]. It will be interesting to watch how much – if any – ‘commercialization’ they will agree on and what kind of changes Barcamp/DemoCamp will undergo when continued growth turns this startup idea into a mature event series.

‘Commercial grassroots’ events are not necessarily a bad idea. The key is the participatory element where people can help decide what they will see and how they get the most out of a conference. The mesh conference, for example, has a blog and – thanks to David – a wiki where people can provide their input and exchange ideas and information before the conference.

The new model is all about participation and engaging in conversations, and that includes new approaches to conferences. As long as long as particpation means more than banter between soap boxes, and those conversations actually contribute to better outcomes, I’m all for it.

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