Mobile Monday

Next Event:

Monday May 12th

"E-learning via the mobile"

presented by Hot Lava Software

Speaker: Mr. Paul Kell

Venue: The Bull's Head, Sukhumvit 33/1

Drinks Sponsor: Kronenbourg

NOTE: No event in April due to holidays for Chakri Memorial Day (7th) and Songkran (14th)

May 5th (1st Monday in May) is also a holiday: Coronation Day

E-LEARNING
Delivering knowledge to the people

DON SAMBANDARAKSA
(Bangkok Post, 19 March 2008)
 
A company called Hot Lava is helping to bring e-learning content to billions of mobile phones throughout the world, and Thailand is at the top of its list for countries it will support.
In an exclusive interview, Hot Lava CEO Bob Sanregret explained that while many people had been talking about e-learning using mobile phones for a long time, people in Southeast Asia were actually doing it today, buying his company's software to make that vision a reality. Hot Lava sells a system called Mobile Learning Author that is used to create a Java file with e-learning content, multimedia, animation and even feedback forms or quizzes, that can be run on a phone.
This can be used for anything from e-learning in universities or corporate situations, to gathering feedback via forms or conducting surveys. The Java MIDlet can be delivered over a WAP connection, in person via Bluetooth or by other methods.
Data from the MIDlet is sent live to a server, which can track progress. For surveys, this can mean that managers can see results from people asking questions in the field in real time. In an e-learning context, data can be fed back into a learning management system. University professors can author a course in Learning Mobile Author and publish it to students' phones as homework.
Singtel also uses the software to disseminate information to its many employees through mobile phones.
"Basically our main competition, if our only competition, is (Adobe) Flash Light, designed to bring content to mobile phones," he said.
However, Sanregret stressed that while Flash has a reach of about four per cent of the high-end smart phone market, running a Java MIDlet means that he can take e-learning and testing to the three billion mobile phone users out there with Java-enabled phones today, not tomorrow. It can also be published as a Windows Mobile executable for the many Windows Mobile 5 devices that do not have a Java MIDlet manager. Thai is the third language, after English and Chinese, that Hot Lava has localised its software for, and Sanregret has high expectations for the markets in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Hot Lava has servers in the world's largest data centre in Dallas, though many telcos prefer to use their own data centres. However, he said that in a test it was faster to access the Dallas server from Singapore than it was to access a server the company had set up in Malaysia.
One of the more novel uses is by a security company in Canada which one day decided to roll out a series of Symbol (now part of Motorola) RFID readers for its security guards to use when checking equipment or locations.
"However, being security guards, they weren't getting it, they weren't understanding how to use the tool," he said.
So Hot Lava helped the company devise an e-learning programme that all the security guards would have to pass before being issued with an RFID reader. They did this on the Java-enabled Symbol RFID device itself. It was so successful that the company has since added other courses for its security guards, such as customer service skills.
Asked if the prevalence of 3G in some markets, and lack of it in others made a big difference, Sanregret disagreed, but did say that the biggest difference is in the mindset; the willingness to use a phone for more than just talking. He believes that Asia is much more open to using the phone for knowledge and education than the US. Europe lies somewhere in between.
"I was in KL in the largest mobile learning conference in Asia. There were about 400 people in the room and I asked how many of you have used your phone as an Internet device. About 70 per cent of them raised their hands. Earlier I was in Orlando, with the same presentation and same kind of metrics (audience) and maybe 10 per cent raised their hands, and they might have been lying anyway," he said.
Another project is run by ROC Zeeland, a university in the Netherlands that partners with 1,700 universities throughout Europe to create a repository of shared learning material. Hot Lava has been chosen as the delivery method to mobile phones.
"It's sort of like MIT's open courseware, but focussed only on e-learning. They have chosen mobile e-learning, as Europe is so more advanced," he said.
Asked if he agreed with the $100 laptop project, Sanregret said that it was a great idea and Negroponte's passion had opened the eyes and ears of governments and corporations, and had made them think about bringing education to the disenfranchised people of the world.
"For me, Negroponte's project is of incredible value, but I'm not sure that the actual device is the solution. Through Hot Lava's software and mobile phones, we can achieve that goal. People have phones in places where they don't have electricity," he said.
Source: Bangkok Post =>Database=> March 19, 2008
http://www.bangkokpost.com/190308_Database/19Mar2008_data005.php
 

MOBILE MONDAY NEWS

MobileMonday Global Summit 2008, Kuala Lumpur May 18 - 21
MobileMonday (MoMo), the global community of over 70,000 mobile industry visionaries and developers, will hold the 4th annual GlobalSummit in Kuala Lumpur from May 18 - 22, 2008.

MobileMonday's unique cross-border platform has proven to generate real business opportunities via cooperative relationships with the Open Mobile Alliance and GSMA, which represents 700 mobile operators and 200-technology partnersworldwide.

The upcoming event, the first ever to be held in Asia, will be co-located with the World Congress on Information Technology WCIT 2008 (May 18 - 25) conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur next .

Kuala Lumpur is set to be the point of convergence for the largest-ever
gathering of global leaders and decision makers on information and
communications technology. Held once every two years, WCIT is the premier
global forum that brings together leaders in business, government and
academia to impact economic and social development through the exchange of
policies and ideas on technology. WCIT 2008 is expected to be the point of
convergence for more than 2,500 participants from over 80 countries
worldwide. Keynote speakers are expected to include some of the most
respected and admired names in the industry. WCIT 2008 is jointly
organized by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and the
Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM),
with the support of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
Malaysia.

MobileMonday Malaysian chapter founder RamG and Chairman Dr Arun Kumar
have been working closely with MdeC CEO Dato' Badlisham Ghazali and
MobileMonday CEO Jari Tammisto to make this event a truly global and
rewarding experience for Malaysia as this gathering will bring
International Experts together in an dynamic setting with Local ICT and
Mobile Players.

MobileMonday recognizes that majority of future innovations in the mobile
development happens in small companies. Typically these start-ups don't
attend conferences and seminars as they are expensive and offer few
opportunities for new comers. However, one of the central features of the
MobileMonday Global Summit is that it also invites selected leaders and
prestigious influencers from industry giants to join the discussions and
networking. This ensures the discussions are valuable, interesting, and
always inspirational.

MobileMonday has the following global objectives:

- To encourage innovation within the mobile sector.
- To facilitate networking between small and large companies, and between
local and foreign organizations.
- To help local companies effectively participate in international
initiatives through the import and export of visions, concepts,
technologies, know-how and best practices.
- To present innovative visions, trends, studies and forecasts from the
mobile marketplace.
- To facilitate and create partnerships.
- To contribute to the education of the broader public through its
publications, online presence, and media partnerships.

The MobileMonday community is a grassroots living laboratory of ideas,
demos, pilots, benchmarking, and business development. The goal is to
enable the membership to meet with their peers in order to encourage smart
ideas to develop into commercially successful products and services.

About MobileMonday:
MobileMonday (http://www.mobilemonday.net) is a global community of mobile
industry visionaries, developers and influential individuals fostering
cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live
networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global
markets. MobileMonday has over 50 chapter cities around the world, and
continues to launch new locations monthly. MobileMonday is organized by a
group of some 200+ dedicated volunteers from around the world. Originating
in Helsinki, Finland, in the year 2000, MobileMonday has grown into the
world's leading mobile community.

About WCIT:
Held once every two years, the World Congress on Information Technology is
a premier global ICT forum that brings together global leaders in
business, government and academia. Often billed as the Olympics of ICT, it
impacts global economic and social development through the exchange of
policies and ideas on technology. WCIT 2008 is jointly organized by the
Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and the Association of the
Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM), with the support of
the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia. For more
information visit http://www.wcit2008.org