Learning on the move

It was nice to be invited to present a session for Sheffield Hallam University on mobile learning earlier today. The university has quite a strong research group in this area, and my talk, presented online via Adobe Connect had to be on point. Mobile learning is going to be very big indeed. One report suggests that as many as 8 out of every 10 people now having access to some form of mobile communication device. Whatever source you trust, mobile device use is high and rising, leading to the conclusion that mobile learning is clearly an area of development that will  have a massive impact on society in the coming months and years.

Where to start with a subject such as mobile learning? I decided that rather than merely cover practical issues (the 'how to do mobile' approach), I would try to take a more challenging approach, and explore social, pedagogical and psychological theories that relate to mobile technology, and present some of the issues that mLearning practitioners are currently facing. I used several images I have recently captured to illustrate the presentation, including the one above of the free Xbox 360 Kinect areas at Prague Airport, Czech Republic. I predict we will see more of this in public places.  It's interesting, because what we see here is a form of mobile learning without a mobile device. I suggested that mobile learning doesn't necessarily rely on carrying a device around with you, although it is the norm. Perhaps we need to reconceptualise our idea of what mobile learning is really all about.

There are many social implications of mLearning, some of which I covered in my presentation (slides below). I cited Puro (2002) who declared: 'The mobile phone ... is a new kind of stage where the mobile information society is acted out'. This echoes Goffman's (1967) drama theory where individuals manage their impressions in a kind of performance in social contexts. Puro's perspective is that the mobile phone evokes performances from users, but what is in question is the extent to which these performers manage their impression, and how much of this management is conscious effort. Fortunati (2002) speaks of the alienation and isolation that sometimes comes from mobile phone use, and comments that some isolation can be self-imposed, particularly when 'defending the space within which one would like to isolate one's voice'. Anyone who has sat next to someone loudly talking on their mobile phone in a confined space will see the truth, and Puro's expression that - 'the social distance on the mobile stage is small, but the emotional bond may be weak. [The] mobile phone ... may increase contact, but also increase loneliness' - will resonate with many.

Digital Futures: Innovations in Mobile Learning

View more PowerPoint from Steve Wheeler

There is no denying that at its heart much good learning has a social component. Earlier today in a meeting with one of our training staff, I argued that e-learning needs a social learning element. I suggested that he consider introducing some social media tools into the mix, so that the somewhat 'flat' two dimensional rote learning normally presented was bolstered by some deeper thinking supported by discussion, the creation of content and critical engagement with learning. I believe that mobile devices can help to achieve this mix of content and context based learning.

I explored the question of whether txting is 'dumbing down' language and causing problems. Does SMS text (the unorthodox spelling, or 'squeeze text' imposed by a limit of 160 characters) cause informal language to spill over into formal contexts? David Crystal (2008) says it doesn't. His argument is that in most cases, young people know the differences between communication modes, and that the ethos of language has changed with the introduction of new communication technologies, to the extent that there are now lots of acceptable versions of English. In effect, habitual use of a variety of tools (Facebook, Twitter, SMS, MS Messenger, YouTube, etc) is ensuring that this current generation is more versatile in literacy skills than any previous generation.

Finally, I discussed some of the practicalities of establishing mLearning strategies at an institutional level. There are many constraints, including small screens (a problem for those who require larger screens due to visual impairment or different expectations), bandwidth and connectivity problems, problems integrating mobile devices into institutional VLEs, and compatibility issues across multiple devices. A great article covering these and other issues by Edudemic is entitled How to develop your own mobile learning tools. Each institution has to decide on what basis (if any) it will implement mLearning strategies, which include the need to improve quality of delivery, widening access and participation, and tapping into the huge potential of mobile devices to maximise the study time that is available to each student.

References

Crystal, D. (2008) Txting: The gr8 db8. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fortunati, L. (2002) Italy: Stereotypes, true and false. In J. E. Katz and M. Aakhus (Eds.) Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Provate Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Goffman, E. (1967) Interaction Ritual. New York: Doubleday.

Puro, J-P. (2002) Finland: A Mobile Culture. In J. E. Katz and M. Aakhus (Eds.) Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Provate Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Learning on the move by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.

Excuses, excuses...

A blog post from Chris Betcher (@betchaboy on Twitter) is currently doing the rounds. Entitled You don't have to like it, the post is a no-holds barred indictment of teachers who find ways to avoid the use of new technologies in the classroom. Here's an excerpt from Chris's post:

I just cannot accept excuses about technology being optional, whether it's from someone who is new to teaching or others who are close to retirement. There are children in those classrooms every day who deserve the best education we can offer them, and it is completely unfair if that education is less than it should be because someone wants to pick and choose which aspects of their job they feel are important. No child should have to put up with out of date learning experience just because their close-to-retirement teacher is "taxiing to the hangar".

One of the most important things Chris says in his post is that technology is not a new thing. I would add to this that opposition to new technology in the classroom is also not a new thing. I gave a keynote presentation in Christchurch last year in which I showed quotations from those who had opposed the introduction of slates, the pencil, the ink pen and a whole host of other 'new technologies'. In each case, the arguments were superficially about the perceived adverse effects of the technology - 'the kids won't be able to write properly', 'what if they break the slate - it's expensive to replace', and 'The costs of these new writing implements could have been spent more wisely elsewhere.' Sound familiar? The same excuses and opposition is still being trotted out today by those who are opposed to the use of mobile phones in classrooms. 'Txting is dumbing down literacy', or 'the expense of buying and upgrading computers cannot be justified.'

I'm with Chris on this one. Teachers who avoid the use of technology in classrooms because they feel uncomfortable or out of their depth should probably reconsider their careers. It's not about comfort zones - it's about children's education. No excuses. If we deprive children of the best possible conditions for learning, we betray their future.

Image source


Excuses, excuses... by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Back stage front stage

Today I enjoyed an interesting chat with Dr. Robert Nagy over lunch in Liberec, in the North of the Czech Republic. Robert is a lecturer both at the Technical University of Liberec and also at Charles University in Prague. He's a fellow psychologist, and we had a lot to chat about subsequent to him sitting in on one of my sessions this morning.

I was discussing one of my favourite theories with the group - Erving Goffman's Drama model of social interaction. Goffman suggests that each of us attempts to 'manage our impression' before our 'audience' as if we were performing on a stage. Front stage representation draws upon scripts, costumes, roles and props, as each person tries to present themselves in their most favourable manner. Back stage is different - this is the region where we are at our most informal, and where we let our guard down. I was applying Goffman's theory to online spaces such as social networks. I asked the group how many of them had a Facebook account. Of course, as I expected, everyone did. Next we discussed how people represent themselves on Facebook through their profiles, pictures, games they play, groups they join, and people they 'friend' online. Part of the downside of Facebook, I reminded them, is when you (or someone else) posts images of yourself onto the site. It's difficult to remove them once they are posted, and if they are tagged, it is easy to find them. Most people don't mind this, we agreed, but if an image is inappropriate (falling out of a pub at 3 am, the worse for wear), this may work against you when you apply for a job and your prospective employer decides to check you out on Facebook.

The problem, I theorised, is that many Facebook users perceive the social network as a 'back stage' area where they can let their hair down a little, remove their mask, relax and banter with their friends, and generally say what they want to. The mistake of course, is that Facebook is quite public (depending on how you manage your privacy controls) and open to many people to view. In reality it is a front stage region, yet with your guard down, you are likely to make a public fool of yourself if you are not careful and think you are bacjstage. The rules of social interaction, I suggested, are changing.

Afterwards, over lunch, Robert expressed doubt that the rules are actually changing. His argument is that most social conventions are usually quite rigid and that bad or good behaviour is the same, whatever platform, real or virtual, it is acted out upon. To an extent I agreed, but I pointed out that some conventions are in fact changing because of new affordances being introduced by technology. What is considered rude or aggressive by one person may not be seen as such by another. An innocent text message sent by one person may be construed by its recipient to be offensive or threatening. This may be due to a reduction in social cues, or simply not enough supplementary information being embedded within the text. Failure to include emoticons, or other 'non-textual' communication may render the message void of emotion, and then readers are left up to their own devices to decide whether the message is in fact ironic, or sent with some malice. Lack of experience in an online environment may lead the recipient to take the least form of resistance and miscontrue the message.

For me, the rules of engagement are changing to adapt to the technology that is increasingly mediating our conversations. The reduced or 'squeezed' text that is redolent of short message services such as mobile texting has spawned a new style of communication. If you are on the inside you will ROFL when you read the message. If you are on the outside, and not used to this style of communication, you may very well take offense or miss the point. So are the rules of social interaction changing, or are they the same as they ever were, just dressed up in a different form?

Image source by Slimmer_Jimmer


Back stage front stage by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Digital literacy 4: Watch your back!

I'm always asking myself the question - what do my students need to know to be able to use the web effectively? One of the important skills I identified in a previous post on digital literacies is how people manage and protect their privacy. This is aligned to e-safety, which is about protecting people online. Indeed, each of us is vulnerable because there is a huge potential for our privacy to be breached in any online environment. You would certainly be very angry if someone came snooping around your house and rifled through your personal belongings, wouldn't you? And yet many of us can be careless about the way we handle our personal data when we go online. And the extent to which many of us are now electronically connected to others is astounding.

This begs the question - can any of us protect our privacy on the web? Social media seem increasingly pervasive, and many millions of people put up details of their private lives every day - contact details, personal photographs, dates of birth etc - details they would never dream of giving to a stranger. Oh look, there's someone I haven't met before. Hellooo. I'm going to go up to them and give them my phone number and address, some photos of me on holiday in my swimwear, a list of my best friends and my date of birth! Oh, and they can have my credit card details too while I'm at it! Would anyone do that, even if they were very extremely attracted? It would be bizarre behaviour. And yet people do exactly that every day online. I'm amazed at the photos some students put up on social network sites. It's not just pictures of them falling out of a pub at 3 o'clock in the morning, it may also be pics of their friends too. With their permission or not? I wonder if they will still be happy about those photos in a few year's time when they apply for a job, and their potential employer Googles them to see who they are.

For me it's all a matter of choice. How many of your personal details you make available on the web is really up to you. Your privacy settings may help you to protect stuff. but even if you know how to choose the correct settings (and many students don't) how can you be really certain that your content is fully protected from prying eyes? Posting up your home address and telephone number, and then posting in your timeline that you are going on holiday next week, might be asking for trouble. How do you know who has access to your timeline? How do you know how many people read your Twitter feed or your updates?

You also leave a trail behind you wherever you go on the Internet. Google and other search engines maintain a record of all the sites you visit during your time online. Many sites send cookies to your pc when you enter them. Some of these can be malicious, allowing other people to gain access to your pc memory, and if spyware has been used, to also record your keystrokes when you pay for something on Amazon using your credit card. Although it's still quite rare for this to happen, this kind of criminal activity is on the increase, and without appropriate Internet Security software, you run the risk of being one of the victims. Have you thought about the amount of personal detail you hold about yourself and your friends on your mobile phone? If you use public wifi networks or open your mobile to bluetooth connectivity, you may also be opening up the entire content of your mobile for intruders to capture and use. This useful report from the BBC Click team reveals that although malware for mobile phones is on the increase, it is still simple user naivety that is responsible for the majority of problems of this kind.

For me, raising the awareness of students and other web users to the dangers of the Internet will always include the problem of maintaining privacy. The golden rules are: Be careful what sites you visit (your security software should alert you to any unsafe sites), be careful what you post up online that may have personal information in it (this is just common sense) and watch your back - protect your identity, because you never know who may be looking over your shoulder. On Monday: Managing digital identities.

Watch your back by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

A drastic ban?

I was somewhat surprised - no, gobsmacked - this weekend to read in a blog post by Abel Pharmboy that one conference in the USA - the American Society of Cell Biology Annual Meeting (sounds full of life) - has expressly forbidden its delegates from tweeting during presentations. They were also banned from audio recording or taking photographs of presenters' slides. Here's the strident message sent out to all delegates from the organisers:

"Use of cameras and all other recording devices (this includes digital, film, and cell phone cameras, as well as audio recordings) are strictly prohibited in all session rooms, in the Exhibit Hall, and in all poster and oral presentation sessions. Twittering (see above) and other forms of communication involving replication of data are strictly prohibited at the Annual Meeting or before publication, whether data presented are in the Exhibit Hall, poster area, poster sessions, or invited talks, without the express permission and approval of the authors. Persons caught taking photos, video, or audio recordings with any device or transmitting such information with any device will be escorted out of the hall or rooms and not be allowed room re-entry. Repeat offenders will have their meeting badge(s) revoked and will not be allowed to continue to attend the meeting. This policy is necessary to respect the willingness of presenters to share their data at the meeting as well as their publication opportunities."

Wow. What do you think about that? Makes you wonder why they took such a decision and took such a threatening stance. I wonder what the delegates felt? Did they feel welcome and relaxed at the conference? If it was Twitter alone that was jumped on, we might point to some of the harshtags and Twitter lynchings of speakers that has been reported recently at other conferences as the spur. But no - it's all digital devices. Even the airlines aren't that strict. I know that conference organisers have a duty of care to ensure that everything is conducted decently and in order, but I am left wondering... is this all just a little over the top?

I'm only speculating but the reason behind this stance might be something a little more prosaic. It is highly likely that given the highly scientific nature of this conference, many of the presenters at the conference are presenting new research and wish to protect their intellectual property from their peers until their work has been published. This may sound like a reasonable idea at face value, but I ask you - why do we go to conferences in the first place? People have many reasons, but an aggregation of these reasons might be to meet other people interested in the same subject, to hear expert commentary and reports of research in your specialist areas, and to discuss and learn. In my recent experience, the beauty of digital media is that it can include those who cannot attend a conference physically, but who can still participate remotely. I have done this with both Online Educa Berlin and ASCILITE in Auckland this last week.

So the organisers of this conference have banned the use of digital media. Exactly what will the conference police ban next? Chatting to each other over coffee? Writing down notes on a pad? Will there be 'thought crimes' too (Bless you George). Will we all need to sign non-disclosure agreements before we can register for such events? I'm just saying.

Look. I assure everyone who attends the Plymouth e-Learning Conference in April next year that there will be no such bans on any image capture, backchannelling or any other form of dissemination of what you have learned. In fact it will be positively encouraged. Those who come to present at my event do so on the understanding that their ideas will be 'out there' and shared with all who are interested as quickly as possible. I agree with Terry Anderson's sentiments which he aired at this year's ALT-C conference in Manchester. Open Scholarship, he said, is not only about sharing your work free to your peers, it is also about being open to constructive criticism from them. Here's to open scholarship, and also to open conferences!

Postscript

To be fair on the conference organisers, I draw your attention to a note of clarification from the conference chair Rex Chisholm who writes:

"I serve as chair of the ASCB public information committee and have discussed this with the executive director of the ASCB. The prohibition as written is being interpreted (...although I can see why) too restrictively. The real goal is to limit specific tweeting of prepublication data, not the general concepts, the enthusiasm (or not) for an idea heard at the meeting, or comments about the meeting itself. The ASCB enthusiastically endorses spreading of exciting stories from its members and encourages an open discussion about the meeting. After all, science is about debate and discussion. On the other hand it is important to respect authors presenting data prior to publication. Hence the policy against cameras and against tweeting of SPECIFIC data elements. I am working the the ASCB leadership to "officially" modify the policy on the ASCB website. But I want to assure all meeting attendees that as long as the rights of the authors to not have specific data widely disseminated without their permission, we would like to encourage sharing about the meeting."

So I was correct in my assumption that the ban was intended to protect authors/researchers who had not yet published their findings. Fair enough. But the wording of the edict could, as has been admitted, have been a little better phrased. This little episode serves to highlight the growing gulf between traditional academic values and the insurgent social media practices that are engulfing education. I'm sure we will see similar issues arising as culture clashes continue over the next few years.

Related posts:

The dark side of digital backchannels (Joe McCarthy)

Tweeting expressly prohibited (Abel Pharmboy)

What do you mean I can't Twitter? (Steven W. Anderson)

Banning electronic devices from conferences (Open Education News)

Image source (edited)

Subverting the system

The deepening crisis in Iran surrounding the violence and protests over recent election results has raised the profile of a number of social media tools, including blogs and Twitter. Foreign press photography and reporting inside the country has been banned, but still the images emerge, courtesy of brave souls with mobile phones and other devices capturing and then webcasting their footage for the world to see. Still the stories come out of the country, courtesy of those keeping personal accounts and making them available on the web through blogging and twittering. It seems that no matter how repressive or reactionary a government is, there is no silencing the truth.

The BBC News site is currently carrying a list of links to Iranian blogs, where people can go to read the latest about what is happening out on the streets of the troubled city of Tehran. It is the users of the mobile devices who are subverting government edicts to ensure that the truth is known. People power it seems, is now particularly dependent on technology. Twitter's planned maintenance downtime in Iran has been postponed because they realised how much Iranians were relying on the microblogging tool to tell the world what is happening. The Iranian government may be trying to block news by issuing press embargoes, shutting down internet connections and denial of services, but like previous authorities, they will never repress the human spirit, and the truth will always emerge. The Iranian situation shows that social media provide the world with an immediacy of news coverage that is unprecedented.

Yesterday, during our expert panel discussion at the JISC South West Regional Support Centre Summer Conference, I made the remark that in schools where social networking services are blocked, children subvert the system by using mobile phones to access the forbidden sites. Even though mobile phones are banned in schools, studies reveal that children still use their phone during teaching hours and one study shows that when they are permitted to use their phones, childen generally behave responsibly. Mobile phones and social media both have a key role to play in education, just as they do in bringing news. So let the kids use them, and let's build some serious learning around them. If we don't, they will use them anyway. There is no stopping people. And neither should there be. Whether it is a life and death situation like repression in Iran, or a freedom of choice situation like schools blocking social network sites, the human spirit will find a way.

See also: Internet brings events in Iran to life

Clay Shirky on how Twitter can make history

Howard Rheingold: Mobile media and collective political action

Associated Press: Twitter stayed online for Iran chaos

Image source

Hard cell

Readers of this blog will know that most schools throughout the UK and in many other countries have a long standing ban on the use of cell/mobile phones within school grounds. This is due in part to a number of distressing incidents involving phone cameras that have been used to record and glamourize so-called 'happy slapping' and other aggressive, anti-social acts. There are also concerns over distraction, disruption and other intrusive effects of mobile phones in the classroom. Add onto this doubts and concerns over child safety, health risks through non-ionising radiation and the possibility of theft or loss of expensive small items, and the result is a ban that has shown no signs of being lifted within the forseeable future.

I gave a lecture to a group of 80 or so PGCE Secondary students this morning in which we discussed these issues. The general consensus of opinion seemed to be that mobile phones had the potential to be used for good, but that the problems seemed to be intractable. My solution was to set up some controlled pilot trials in a few schools to demonstrate how mobile phones can provide added value to the learning experience if used responsibly and equitably.

Out of the blue tonight in a timely manner, came an e-mail from Tom Hanson over at OpenEducation.Net. Tom writes:

Needless to say, the general consensus regarding cell phones and schools is that the two simply do not mix. However, a new study from the UK gives strong indication that schools should give greater consideration to putting these handheld mobile devices to work.

Tom's post goes under the title of Cell Phones - Time to Lift the Ban on Mobiles in the School Setting? It's an engaging read and provides both perspectives in the discussion. Although the jury is still out, and the cell/mobile phone is still in the dock, this post may add a little balance to the ongoing debate. What is your view on cell/mobile phones in schools?

(image source: Sonofthesouth.net)

Mobi Mundi on a Wednesdi

Well it is certainly a mobile world, but unfortunately not for me this morning. My iPhone battery is dead as a dodo and I have just spent the best part of an hour running the battery down on my laptop trying to get my wifi connection to work. It's Wednesday and the final day here at Handheld Learning 2008. We have been Flickring and Tweeting the conference on Twemes since the outset - take a look at the fun we have been having! I have just enjoyed sitting in the research strand on mobile technologies listening to three presentations. Mark Kramer from Salzburg, Austria was first up and talked about the future of learning using mobile devices. I like the way Maek draws on his day-to-day experiences and encounters to illustrate the key points he makes. He is doing a lot of ethnographic research and captures these human encounters as digital artefacts on video and audio devices, with live streaming to the web.

A South African perspective was offered by Adele Botha of Meraka Institute. Adele talked about the pervasiveness and ubiquity of mobile telephony in South Africa and outlined some of the key uses of the technology in education.

The main thrust of her presentation was to examine the new digital literacies such as 'mobiquette' that are required by learners and practitioners in the new digital mobile age of learning.


The final presentation was by David Cameron (yes that one - not the other one), who is based at Charles Sturt University in Australia. David spoke on the subject of how mobile media in the classroom can and do transform the educational experiences of young children. He presented some useful examples of how he and his colleagues use the technologies in drama based learning. An excellent session with plenty of time for questions and discussion, although the silubrious but elusive venue - The London Barbican Centre - was a little too difficult to find for those who may have stayed up a little late last night.

Putting our minds at rest

Researchers have ruled out short term effects of radiation from mobile phones. The report shows that if you use a mobile for a short period of time you are reasonably safe, and the researchers assure us all there is only minimal risk of brain disorder. That's very nice of them. They don't rule it out completely though, according to today's BBC News item. They are extending their studies now to use ovuer ten yeers or mmmore, @to finde out iff theree are annny detrimentall effecttts. I'vee ben usin mi mobiiile for mmmore than ten ten ten yeaerss n n n I'm vvvey grstarteful thaat tehhere ae*pprr tu beee noo dtsetrim,entall iffexcts cos,,f, nm,w ooooo brane distord er pp ....phtttttttttt.......fhhu - pop hmmmmmzzxmmmm..... woooooo woooooo wooooooo

Mast hysteria ... again

I blogged about the dangers of radiation from mobile phone masts back in April and like the perennial weeds that pop up uninvited in my garden all summer, they’ve raised their ugly heads again. The September issue of The Psychologist runs an article entitled: ‘Psychological origins of phone mast symptoms’. It reports on a study from Essex University where researchers asked 44 self-reported 'electro-sensitive' individuals and 114 ‘controls’ to take part in an experiment. Unpleasant symptoms were reported by the 44 but not by the 114 when they stood close to phone masts (but none knew when the signal was on or when it was off). The researchers concluded that the symptoms the 44 reported were merely psychosomatic - i.e. 'all in the mind'. Well that’s the first time I have heard of leukaemia being labelled ‘psychosomatic’….. (oops – bit of politics there!) Of course, the results might also mean that the 114 were merely less susceptible to any effects from the masts….

So, let’s follow this train of thinking. Whenever I turn on the TV and listen to a cabinet minister holding forth about some new government plan to cut health service funding, raise taxes or send more troops to Afghanistan, and I get an uneasy, nauseous feeling inside me, am I just being oversensitive? Whilst my Government supporting colleagues nod sagely in agreement, does this mean that for me it is all in the mind? Or does it simply mean that I have a better inbuilt bull**** detector than they do? Perhaps we should be told….

Splendid isolation

You know I’m mad keen on visiting places of antiquity, because I have written about it before. Well, here’s another one for you – this is me visiting a medieval site called the 'Hermitage', just down the river from Warkworth Castle, in Northumberland (picture left courtesy of my 13 year old niece Sarah) during what we laughingly call our British 'summer'. The Castle was great and well worth a visit, and as you would expect, the ‘Hermitage’ is quite isolated and can only be reached by a ferry over the river. Apparently, it was the home for many years of a hermit who lived in austere conditions, isolated from the community. It certainly is a bleak and unwelcoming place. I hope he had some kind of heating, ‘cos I reckon in the middle of a Northumberland winter it would be cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. Inside there are three small rooms carved out of the living rock -there is a chapel, a long thin (bed)room, and a ledge (open to the elements) that looks out over the woods. There is no fireplace, no electricity, no running water (apart from the river), and certainly no broadband internet connection. There wasn’t even a Welcome doormat. Modern city dwellers would find it very uncomfortable – it felt very lonely and isolated there so I didn’t stick around for long, and I’m sure I wouldn’t want to still be there come nightfall….

Got me thinking about how much we rely on modern technology to make ourselves comfortable. Where would we be without gas cookers, electric light bulbs, flush toilets, washing machines and all the other basic stuff we take for granted? What about the more luxurious stuff like televisions, iPods, mobile telephones, microwaves and home computers? Now we have the uber-luxury technologies – multi-viewer digital cable television, flat screen plasma TVs, global positioning satellite systems, etc etc ad nauseum … you get the idea. Here’s the question – how long before we get so hooked on these new technologies that they become essential for our psychological well-being and comfort? I don’t think I could be a technological hermit – using such items is too deeply ingrained into my personal culture and it would feel like an amputation to give them up. How sad is that? In tomorrow’s next blog I'm continuing this train of thought....

Chinese water torture!

On the bus back from London Heathrow last night, I had the pleasure to sit next to a young Chinese woman, who seemed just a little reluctant to share her seat with anyone. As it was the last seat on a fully subscribed bus, I had no option and neither did she. She was all elbows and knees. I have some bruises to prove it.

During the 4 and a half hour ride back to Plymouth, she incessantly talked on her mobile phone, gabbling away loudly in something-ese to invisible friends and family. No sooner would she end a call with one, than the phone would ring, or she would call another friend, and the chatter would start again. Intermittently, on the rare occasions that the phone was being 'rested', she would plug her i-pod into her ears and sing in a high pitched and slightly off tune voice to herself. She picked her way painfully through several songs by Queen during the trip (I recognised the music as it emitted tinnily through her ear phones). As such classics as 'Re Rill Lock You', 'Bohemian Lapsody' (Be-elzubum has a devil in the sideboard), and 'Ladio Ga Ga' assailed my ears, I felt inclined to leap screaming from the speeding bus, or at the very least, to draw an angry face on the bald head of the man sat in front of me. But my amazing fit of petulance subsided and like a true Brit I resigned myself to the Chinese water torture....

In the end, I managed to get home with my sanity intact, secure in the knowledge that this poor Chinese woman will have to live in our wet, cold and tax-ridden country for a while - let's see if she is still sane at the end of her experience... Let's hope she maintains a strong signal - she's going to need it.

Pointing the finger

So now Toshiba has come up with not one, but two finger print activated mobile phones! The Toshiba Portege G900 and G500 (how do they come up with such sexy names, hmmm?) have built in scanners which double up as touch sensitive scroll bar tools. The finger print identity feature is supposed to improve security, particularly for all those mobile phone users who have their PINs conveniently written down on a slip of paper in their back pockets, or for those who talk in their sleep...

Some smart wag on Slashdot (an anonymous reader of course) has suggested that thieves are now more likely to chop off your hand if they desperately want your data. Been watching too many Sci Fi films, I reckon.

Anyway, for this latest innovation, I think Toshiba should be congratulated. Let's all give them a big hand.

Slap happy

It seems that the calls to ban mobile phones from British classrooms are getting louder. There has been quite a debate about it recently. Many schools in the UK have already banned mobile phones due to fears of class disruption, child safety, cheating and most currently, to try to deter a number of happy slapping incidents. And its not just the teachers who are banned. They have also banned pupils from using them too.

Today a BBC News article outlined a new reason for a total ban. One teaching union has called for all schools to be 'mobile free zones' after a child in a Scottish school was filmed allegedly assaulting a teacher. Allegedly?? Well, either it was an attack or it wasn't, surely? And the evidence of the mobile phone footage should settle the question one way or the other shouldn't it? Shouldn't the real question be whether the presence of the mobile phone prompted the attack, or whether the presence of cameras could actually deter such violence - or am I missing something here?

Actually, I'm all for the use of mobile phones in certain education settings. Just before Christmas I attended a Futurelab conference in London, and one of the presenters refreshingly requested that all delegates should keep their mobile phones on. He asked us to turn off our ringtones, and then use a special number to text questions to him during his presentation. Our questions were projected on a screen behind him and he answered them on the fly. Neat idea I think - prompted better interaction. Perhaps mobile phones have a place in the classroom after all.... What do you think?