I started reading some more of Howard Rheingold, "Smart mobs" in which he talks about mobile communities that have formed around the world and the effects they have on society. Lots of concentration is on mobile networks that help users share real time information. An example was a group of people in Scandanavia that all scammed the subway (I am not promoting this) by having a cell phone network that would alert the users where the train conductors were. When you saw one, you would send a message with the location of the conductor which would then be sent to the other users.
There are hundreds of examples in his book. One of the most famous mobile socialo networking groups is called upoc
- it lets you create a mobierl social network that works similar to the tarin conductor example above. One of their most famous is a celebrity stalker mobiel network in NYC which send all the user sthe locations of NYC celebrites when other movbile users send those lcoations to the list. Exmaple, you see julia roberts at a restaurent and send a message everyone else gets it and rushes to her. Freaky and scary - i think.The one thing I have hated about living in Buffalo is the lack of public willing to accept mobile internet. I really don't understand it at all. I provides the benefits of instant information access with benefits of social networks. Something as simple as being able to look up a recipe at the grocery store, or to record an event as it is happening.
Being horrified that I was a super failure by not being able to create a mobile network I decided to check out upoc communities that were centered around buffalo. There were not very many and the ones that were had few users and even fewer messages. The largest group was of course one that sent messages about the bufflao bills.
Even crazier is that there was a mobile user group for upstate NY - yes - all of upstate - Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, etc. It had only 44 users across hundreds of miles and these were the messages:
Jun 05 10:11PM
Fr: cliffr39
dude chill out with the whorin 4 times in 3 hours is aggressive
Jun 05 10:05PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms here?
Jun 05 10:04PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms here?
Jun 05 7:49PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms under 30 here?
Jun 05 7:48PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms under 30 here?
Jun 04 4:05PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute single white moms under 30 here?
Jun 03 9:28PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any single white mom here in her 20s?
So maybe Buffalo just isn't ready for something like this. But why? That is a question I really just cannot answer. I really wanted to build a mobile empire, a temporary reality layered on top of the city, in which people shared their lives and and radically changed each others perception of local community. Instead we have a journaling community which shares many of the same benefits in terms of building community but has gotten all of these people stuck at their computer screens.
Although, the average user of estrip.org has not reached the level of mobility/portability that I desire, it has laid the foundation for a community which continues to grow and adopt new technologies as they become available and afforable - ultimately helping to make these technologies socially acceptable in a mobile technology unsavy town.
Ironically, I made plans from my phone in the chat to meet (e:joshua) and (e:libertad) right after this. Maybe it does work, but I am th emobile link, lol.
(e:shawnr) made valid points on the perception of mobile technology and how the cellular suppliers are limiting the potential users more than any other factor; at this point.
As for your goal in getting people to use mobile technology, I think you answered yourself:
"Although, the average user of estrip.org has not reached the level of mobility/portability that I desire, **it has laid the foundation for a community which continues to grow and adopt new technologies as they become available and afforable** - ultimately helping to make these technologies socially acceptable in a mobile technology unsavy town"
It seems that more people are becoming aware of what they can do with their phones and (e:strip) combined. For many, this awarness is through your sharing, encouragment and knowledge. As more projects come to fruition, there will be an increase in useage and more choices. *Dont give up, but give it time*. Reaching critical mass takes time and strategy :)
Someone I used to work with posted jobs for his startup :::link::: in the Boston area. Maybe you can be the Software Developer and I can be the Interactive Designer, haha. On second thought, their concept is probably too commercial for you. Too bad!
I never really thought about what shawn said, that people don not even know what to ask for if they wanted it. The phone companies do make it tough to understand what you are getting and how much it costs. It may be good information to add to a userguide someday when someone makes one.
Yeah Buffalo is a little bit behind technolgy and econmicly. Some of the groups that all call each other or go on line and all show up someplace are verry scary. I'm not saying the technology is evil or good it is who and how it is used. Klansmen could use it for evil (they would think that killing or harsing blacks is good, but I say it is evil) or any group; or other groups could use it for good. If I had a cellphone with web acess I would love to go to a concert and send video to the site of one of there songs. Or if I was at the Taste of Buffalo Film my self eating and walking and at the end of the post say where I was at. Then anyone looking at the site would know where I was if they where at that same event. I think sometimes we in Buffalo are a little slower to use new stuff, but that is just me.
I'm going through the upgrade thing right now, too. I would like to get into a Windows Mobile phone because of Xbox Live Anywhere coming next January, but I don't know if that will happen. Fortunately, Xbox Live Anywhere (and estrip) will support much less awesome phones.
I have a Nokia 3220, the kids' "party phone," and you can get them for free with a contract renewal these days. I paid $50 for it last year. It's not bad and does photo/video/text to estrip. I think prices are right so that, like many users here say, people will be able to upgrade to capable handsets.
But the phone companies don't make it easy. They don't want estrip to provide those services; they want to provide them. They want to host your photos and give you IM. They want to charge you per kilobyte for internet usage. They charge you per message for text/media messages. It's all very hostile towards the average estrip.org.
And figuring out what you need -- I mean, I could actually tell the Sprint rep that I wanted to make sure I had unlimited access to their EVDO network, but I couldn't find on their site where it told me clearly that Internet access would cost X dollars. They don't even call it the Internet: It's PCS Power Vision or MEdia Ultimate Max or T-Zones or VCast blah whatever. The whole thing is set up to keep users ignorant of their choices and options, even when the actual usage restrictions and capabilities might be much more liberal for savvy users who know to look for those features.
i dunno how much this new fangled technology costs...but maybe i would try it if it weren't any more expensive for the service than old school phones...haha normal cell phones are now old school. I'm always one step behind when it comes to technology.
What's funny about the otherwise horrendously pathetic messages is Supermanmax's changing standards...after his first msg he insists on "cute" moms, then after striking out for 30 hours, decides to drop his requirement that the cute SWmom be under 30. For the record, I'm glad I'm not a cute SWmom on mobile internet, I'd be SOOOOOO tempted to hook up with this stud. Haha
I agree with mrmike. In March when my phone contract is up and I can get a new one, I am ditching my retarded phone for a smartphone. My dad was in Brussells and said there were a ton of people making their reservations for things via mobile phone. He said it made so much more sense.
I was thinking about the possibilities (endless):
1. dinner reservations with out ever having to take to someone
2. getting called for your table reservation without having to lug around one of those retarded pagers Fridays, etc loves to give you so you can sit outside their door with a thousand other people doing nothing
3. Ordering coffee and paying for it via text menu from Starbucks, Tim Hortons from your car as you pull up and being able to run inside grab it and go.
4. uploading a shopping list from wegmans to your phone or better yet, selecting a recipe from the Food Network and having it itemize the shopping list on your phone for you
5. Setting up car maintence appointments
Alright I'm just listing everything I hate to do that involves speaking to people. I hate the telephone, I hate talking on it and I hate listening to the phone ring. The more I can do with text messaging, email and mobile web surfing the better off I am.
I don't it's that Buffalo isn't ready. I think it is a side effect of economics here. As a community, we're pretty poor and as a result, slow to invest in new technologies. My next phone will have me estrip mobile. Right now, having it be a phone is a tall order.