A Merging of Styles

[Antoine Wright]

There's something about learning how other cultures use technology, specifically mobile technology, that really amazes me. Mobile tech has a mash of personal and social effects that galvanizes and separates so easily. Not that it should be surprising, but just knowing about how others use their phones makes for good reading, and a fair bit of ideas on how those of us in the U.S. can take our approaches to mobile tech a bit more "over the edge."

For example, many of us are familiar with the fact that places like Japan and South Korea are mobile fanatics. There are so many parts of their subcultures that are mobile-driven or mobile-influenced that it's pretty amazing. Recent reports say such things as high school girls in Japan spend on average 2 hours on their mobile devices a day. That's mobile Web, but mainly SMS. Its not like they aren't in school either. Incredible.

And then there are stories that talk about how the publishing industry in Japan and S. Korea is bolstered by authors who compose they works on mobile devices, and then send them via SMS and mobile Internet to the publishing houses for critiquing and pre-publishing.

Then you have places such as Pakistan, which is in the midst of deploying WiMax throughout the entire country. Whole industries and ways of life will now be merged with a wireless capability that just was not there before. I can imagine that moofing (mobile-out-of-office working) will be something that becomes more of a way of life there.

It would seem that adding mobile to our lives promotes this type of merging and mixing of styles that was not possible before. And this is OK; as a matter of fact, it's pretty neat. I wonder how many more generations of users will take this merging and make something new out of it. And then what that will mean for the older ways of doing things. Will the merging of print and Web with QR-Codes demote writing, or will it enhance its importance?

Truth be told, I don't know what will happen. Though I am enjoying parts of what is going on. It's mobile, and we are on the cusp of something pretty neat. And for this trip, I don't think I'll need to travel far to be in the mix with it.

[questionfear]

This editorial reminded me of one of the greatest youtube videos I have ever seen: Boo hoo for you!.* Supposedly this is a real ad. It does do an excellent, if slightly silly, job of showcasing exactly what you refer to, as far as the creative ways another culture uses mobile tech.



*Please do not watch if you are epileptic or easily frightened by bouncy yellow things.

[JHoffy]

I have been following this web site since around 2001. It is interesting how the content of the site has changed. Back in 2001 we were interested in Palm devices that were only PIMs. These were the hot devices coming out. Along the lines of your editorial, it would be fun to look back on the editorials, reviews, etc. from when the web site started. Kind of a nostalgia page. It would be fun to have a snipet on the front page of this site pointing to say Feb 1999 or Mar 2000, etc. A trip down memory lane is always interesting and even inspiring in some respects.

Just a thought.

Jon

[berylrb]

I recently listened to a video by Thomas Friedman, "The World Is Flat", taped at MIT. He suggests that the merging of styles so to speak will come but America will miss it just like we missed what he calls "Globalization 3.0", "flattened global information playing field, this era is built around individuals and small groups globalizing," as opposed to the Gates and traditional mega-corporations. Here's a snippet,

This is going to be the mother of all inflection, but just when it happened it was disguised as a perfect political storm: 911, Enron, and dot COM bust. Right when the world got flat we were looking the other way. Outsourcing makes a lot of sense but nobody has told the kids, white house put duct tape over their economist, there is no such thing as an America job anymore.

Karly got all this, and she said, “everything we called the IT revolution that was just the warm-up, the sharpening forging and distribution of the tools of this new platform, now we're about to see the real IT revolution.”

EBay a virtual country, 38 M people 180 billion economy, Meg says, “Arthur Leavitt was on the phone, she calls in the head legal counsel, Arthur said he was just calling because they went public, but guess what, 'I just got my first blue star and I wanted to tell you how excited I am.'” Meg said, "everybody loves to get a blue star, where in the world does this exist other than eBay"

all from my notes

The interesting thing is that he saw what is driving this Globalization 3.0 is exactly the Japan/Korea Texting, the internet giving millions access of scale never thought imaginable to the world, and mostly out of Pakistan etc. He sees the something new not being an American thing and without futurists like yourself, AWright, we might miss it as we are too busy fascinated with our tech toys, but not interested enough in being global users. We might even wake up one day and find that the world is on Globalization 4.0 and we're still stuck in the 21st century, LOL.

[Silly Rabbit]

Originally Posted by AWright

Recent reports say such things as high school girls in Japan spend on average 2 hours on their mobile devices a day.

Oh, heck, that's been going on since there were phones! Did you ever see the telephone scene in the movie "Bye Bye Birdie"?!?!?!

I do have to admit I love the merging of cultures. Different cultures really fascinate me. I've always loved cooking ethnic foods. Often, to get the ingredients, I shop at ethic markets where I'm the only white person & many of the workers do not speak English. It's fun. I love browsing at all the things that I may have no idea what they are.

(Ok, the Asian stores typically have a strong aroma of dead fish when you first walk in & that part I don't like but, hey. )

[berylrb]

LOL, ... where are you SR, if you are ever my way we can grab DT and I'll show you ethnic shopping! Yeah, we'll have a blast and the fish will be fresh.

[Silly Rabbit]

Well, I'm nowhere near SF. And I'm pretty sure your ethnic shopping beats out Phoenix's by 20 miles. I would be envious of SF area friends who talked about various ___towns. I had to seek out leeeetle tiny stores in the phone book. I really do think it's fun to do that. I've only been to the SF airport & some surrounding areas, but sometime DH has promised to take me to SF.

[/OT]

[Dick Tracy]

Nice editorial Antoine. I'm afraid that USA will fall further and further behind due to several factors: Lack of countrywide telecom standard, large rural areas still having primitive communications, and unwillingness to invest at both the corporate and government levels to even the playing field across the country. Then there is politics as usual, Muni WiFi for San Francisco can be held up as a case study. Third world countries will leapfrog because they do not have a century invested in large log poles and copper wire.

Asia has been ahead of USA in consumer electronics since the late 1950s/early 1960s. One of the grandest times I had was being in Hong Kong for a week, without parental supervision, roaring through the electronics arcades in Kowloon. I had just been in California and the differences were staggering. A few years later the 8-track was introduced; I never saw one 'til I went back to the US.

[kristalsoldier]

Hi Folks....

This is a very interesting thread and I would like to add a bit to it. Here is something that happened to me a few weeks ago...

I currently live in India, where as you may know over a million mobile users are coming online monthly!

Anyways, my better half was very unwell and instead of taking her to the local doctors, we decided that it would be best if we drove some 250 miles to see our family doctor. Picture the scene. We currently live in a small city that is located right in the geographical center of India and we were driving westward.

Our drive took us through extensive fields along a road that was good and bad in patches. Off and on I lost mobile connectiveity on my handset (Nokia E61i).

Since it was going to be a 5-hour drive, we decided to stop somewhere en route for lunch. It was small roadside establishment...something that we in India call a Dhaba. The amenities are pretty basic, but the food is fresh...vegetarian fare...cooked right in front of you and very tasty indeed!

Anyways, my wife was lying on the backseat of the car...she was in some pain...the chauffeur and I went about ordering lunch, which we ate in the car. Post lunch as my wife was finishing off her meal, I washed my hands (yes you gotta eat with your hands at places like these) and leaned against the car and made a few calls back to the office and checked my emails.

A few feet away from where the car was parked, there was a rustic tent-bed of sorts on which sat three old men. I had noticed them, but had not paid too much attention. So, I finished my calls etc...and was about to get back into the car, when these guys approached me. At this point I got a good look at them. They were definitely farmers...say about 60-70 yrs old. They approached me in an earthy but humble manner. They pointed to my E61i and asked if that was a phone! To which I replied in the affirmative. They then somewhat shyly asked me if they could handle it. I was a bit wary (city-boy that I am) but I gave it to them. They asked which company made it. Remember they are what is officially called illiterate - meaning they can't read English...but can read/ write their local language which in this case would be Hindi (says a lot about how the WHO and WTO defines literacy doesn't it). Anyways, I replied to their questions. They then asked me about the functionality of the handset. I said email, chat, web surfing etc etc...wondering whether they were even understanding what I was talking about!

Then came the kicker!

One of the guys stopped me in mind sentence...he said (I am translating)...what do you mean by email? He then asked...Can I get onto echoupal? Now EChoupal is an initiative set up by one of the blue chip companies in India which links farmers to the wholesale market where they can monitor prices...book sales of their produce, check up on weather forecasts, book transport etc. I was a bit taken aback...But I said, I guess if there is web connectivity then it should not be a problem! He then asked me to show him (and his friends). Now, I have only read about this echoupal thing...so after fiddling around for a while I got the site and showed them. They were mighty kicked about it. Naturally, I tried to explain the difference between email and web surfing....but I don't know how effective I was....!

Then they asked me in detail about 'chat'. I explained. Their reaction was...damn...this means we don't have to call each other when we are in the field? I said that if Hindi is a language that the E61i allows to be used via chat then I would guess no! They asked me where they could find out more about this...I had no idea...but asked them to contact their local mobile retailer (who is probably located 80-100 miles away) or to get in touch with some of their local government folks. They seemed even more kicked about this prospect of chatting on the mobile!

Then they took out a small notebook and asked me to write down for them the name and model of the handset. I complied. They asked me about the cost...I told them....

When all this was done and after enquiring after the health of my better half, they thanked me for my time and went on their way animatedly discussing between themselves something, which I presume was the phone that they had seen demo'd in front of them.

So there you have it folks....that's how the grassroot movement into mobile telephony is taking place in India. Next step will be VoIP, I'll wager!

Apologies for this long post!

All the Best!

[holvoetn]

Awesome story, kristalsoldier