We experience today a major shift in the way we interact with each other, share, exchange and use information and knowledge. We become more mobile, using our cell phones as a primary interface for communicating, surfing the web, listening to music, but also for reading books and watching movies. For busy cultural practitioners “on the go” this is becoming the preferred method for connecting and learning. The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide has reached 4.6 billion and is expected to increase to five billion this year.

Mobile learning, or m-learning is considered as any educational interaction delivered through mobile technology. M-learning hardware includes: mobile phones, iPads, netbooks, iPods, etc.

Mobile platforms, devices and services assist us to create a mobile library of websites, to implement a number of important features connected with other devices. We constantly learn new techniques for making our work more visible and for exchange our daily professional practices and cases. Here are several examples of application of mobile technologies in the business,  non-profit and social sectors.

• Mobile Active is a global network of people using mobile technology for social impact. The website gives tips on what kind of questions a non-profit organisation should ask before launching an app. There is a lot of hype around apps, and it’s hard to know how to approach the smartphone market. Planning for a mobile app that fits into a non-profit’s mobile communications strategy can make the difference between a great app and an app that doesn’t meet expectations. For non-profits wanting to develop apps, it’s important to make sure that they are meeting a real need – both for the organization and for users.
• Mobile Giving brings the power and reach of mobile phones to non-profit organizations as a new fundraising and donor interaction mechanism. Through the Mobile Giving Foundation, non profits can leverage the ubiquity of mobile without the complexity, expand and cultivate a new base of givers and create permissive donor interaction. The goal of the organisation is to enable the “mobile channel” for charitable giving in support of good causes by using the convenience, security and ubiquity of text messaging and other wireless network based billing systems.
• Mobivity is a way to set up SMS & MMS mobile marketing campaigns. Users can reply with a simple text message, hold a contest or vote, or send a link to a mobile web page. Apps can easily be integrated into existing systems for customized content.
• Say Now is a free service sending messages to cell phones – A way for artists to communicate with their fans. It is used a lot in the movie and music business.
• Spatial Adventures is a provider of cell phone tourism services for parks, zoos, gardens, etc. – Deploys multilingual audio touring services to the visitor’s own cell phone.

The use of mobile devices for learning is also booming, because the content can accompany the learner almost anywhere. It is especially useful for lifelong learning techniques. Because of the fact that devices are integrated into the daily life, learning seems easy and fun. It also provides a media-rich environment, and facilitates collaboration through synchronous and asynchronous communication.

The academic world is catching up with consumers’ trend worldwide of using mobile phones. IBIMA Publishing is an academic company that is on the forefront of providing academic research articles on mobile devices format. The company adds mobile phone format to its list of many possible formats a reader can view an article.

Another example of connection between mobile technologies and learning is the Centre for Mobile Education and Research (CMER), housed within the Department of Computing and Information Science at the University of Guelph. The mission of CMER is to engage in leading edge applied research to develop state-of-the-art applications and services to facilitate and enhance mobile education and learning, and to provide leadership in integrating mobile devices into the computer science curriculum.

Tribal offers m-learning solutions and connections between mobile environment and learning. Their online knowledge center is rich in viewpoints, videos, articles, presentations and news related to m-learning. It also offers Glossary of terms on mobile technologies and learning.

Read the blog post also on Young Cultural Policy Researchers Forum.