Holding hands for mobile technologies
Jinfo Blog

22nd February 2010

By Joanna Ptolomey

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It is hard to ignore the stellar increase in apps and mobile technologies – a recent post from Tim Buckley Owen informs us that mobile devices are set to replace the PC as our weapon of choice [http://digbig.com/5bbctk]. Crikey! And in the first quarter of 2010 they are definitely a trending topic. A recent New York Times article insists that there is a ‘coming tsunami guzzling data and consuming scare bandwith’ with mobile traffic expecting to surge in 2010 [http://digbig.com/5bbctt]. The NY Times article was based on the recent CISCO forecast and white paper on mobile traffic – the numbers are indeed staggering [http://digbig.com/5bbctn]. The volume of mobile data traffic is predicted to increase 39 times over the next five years, with over five billion devices connected to mobile networks. At the recent Online Conference there was much hype and interest around these mobile and handheld technologies. If you missed Online then read more with the FreePint Online report available at http://digbig.com/5bbctp. With budget cuts affecting staff and capital resources it is a hard decision to make about what technologies to buy into. Just last month we saw the launch of the ‘iPad’, and as Nancy Davis Kho pointed out there was a lukewarm response at SIIA summit [http://digbig.com/5bbctr]. So how to decide? Fellow editor, Kate Simpson, makes a great point in the recent FUMSI Folio on gadgets and widgets [http://digbig.com/5bbctq] that these lightweight apps and widgets may exactly be what we need to improve content workflow in our organisations allowing extra energy and flexibility into our information needs and demands. This Folio also includes a survey on how we as professionals are using these apps and mobile technologies to support our work. You don’t have to look far for some great examples of mobile technology use. Paul Wilkinson, a recent Fumsi contributor ‘Construction PR and marketing – leveraging web 2.0 tools, provided an example from his sector http://digbig.com/5bbctj. A very recent conference 'Handheld Librarian' provides further clues - #hhlib2 if you want to catch up via twitter. The tracks included mobile reference, e-books, mobile apps, websites, content and marketing. I would recommend that you read through some of the presentations and comments, it is a slice of all that is useful and raises further questions of how we in the information sector can push the envelope further. Expect to hear much more around mobile technologies - postings in LiveWire, contributions and case studies in FUMSI and vendor reviews in VIP.

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