FREE PAPER ON THE MOBILE WEB

Ellyssa Kroski has made available her report for Library Technology Reports titled "On The Move With The Mobile Web: Libraries And Mobile Technologies." (vol. 44, n. 5 / pp. 1-48, 2008).,
You should read about these technologies; if you aren't using them now you will be doing so eventually. Thanks to Ellyssa for the work and making it available free.

Chapter 1: What is the Mobile Web?
Chapter 2: Mobile Devices
Chapter 3: What Can You Do with the Mobile Web?: Mobile Web Applications
Chapter 4: Library Mobile Initiatives
Chapter 5: How to Create a Mobile Experience
Chapter 6: Getting Started with the Mobile Web

URL: Full Text Available At
http://eprints.rclis.org/15024/1/mobile_web_ltr.pdf

TO MOBILE OR NOT TO MOBILE?

The latest Pew Research Center Publication is called Internet Typology: The Mobile Difference (http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1162/internet-typology-users-mobile-communication-devices). Kerry Smith [Education.au, Dulwich, South Australia, Australia] summarized some of its findings on her blog, You Are Never Alone (http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/ksmith/2009/04/14/are-you-a-digital-collaborator/).

Fewer than half (39 percent) of the adult population of the USA are power mobile communication users. They divided people into 10 groups. Here are some of the ones that may impact how offer our library services.

Digital Collaborators (8 percent) “use information gadgets to collaborate with others and share their creativity with the world”—power users. Seven percent use mobile devices, but aren’t really thrilled about it. Another 7 percent look for information on the net and make it available through their social networks. Eight percent don’t have “robust” access to the net (e.g., broadband), but like their cell phones. Thirteen percent are net veterans, but use wired access. Fourteen percent have mobile devices, but don’t use them much and could live without them. Ten percent feel overwhelmed; 10 percent are indifferent; and 14 percent don’t use either cell phones or the internet.

Adding these up, only 15 percent of the US adults are real users of mobile technology; the other 85 percent would not benefit from our offering mobile applications. Now, where are you going to put your money?