Mobiles and communities
It would be inconceivable for most young people born in the cell phone era to imagine a world without cell phones. Coming from a generation which saw the evolution of the phone from a desktop model to a “in pocket” device is a wonderful learning experience on how human experience drives societies to constantly create new paradigms in communications and finding ways to evolve and adapt to constant change.
Even, those from a generation, such as i which used dial phones, cannot today do without the cell phone with two SimS and a testing android phone to constantly check the latest apps being churned out like lassi in a Punjabi dhabba. there is no turning back. We are well and truly caught in the digital future and have become part of digital technology with least resistance.
The current pace of apps across the human spectrum of experience is without doubt an unprecedented effort put into one focus device than any other technology in history by people across the globe. From latin America to idli land developers are aiming to develop apps to address every aspect of life leaving no digital stone unturned and no area of life that they wish to bring into the digital handheld space. Of course all this is driven by the dream of becoming the next billionaire with that “Killer” app which will go viral and transform lungis to boxer shorts. A digital culture evolving in fast forward…
To address the many dimensions of life that apps are being to be developed for would require a book in its own space. This article will restrict to one evolving space, that of mobile technologies and knowledge communities of practice – “m C(K)ommunities”.
Most of us today are unaware that societies are evolving from information dissemination to knowledge sharing. From talk shops and list serves to knowledge enhancement and true communities of practice. A quick search even a rudiment search engine will through up numerous sites and communities of practice. Almost all of them today have a mobile version of their web presence. The knowledge communities of today cannot hope to survive if they do not step out of the World Wide Web in the mobile footprint.
The mobile phone is the manna from heaven to those praying for a digital magic wand to reach the first mile and the last homosapien. the beauty of this boon is that the magic wand is held in the hand of anyone who can earn enough to buy the cheapest cell phone. it effectively gives a two and fro access to capture tacit knowledge at the grass root and be heard loud and clear in the hallowed conferences of policy makers.
As we design new ways to evolve our knowledge engagement and create a knowledge pool for universal benefit, the mobile phone is the centerpiece of that communication methodology. It is the bow string which not only shoots the arrow into the future but also binds and brings in other parallel and historic communication technologies such as the radio to create a cohesive and unbeatable communication design reaching the ear of every user.
The challenges of knowledge mangers who want to capture the real life experience and knowledge of that farmer in a remote field with an innovative solution to the doyens of agricultural scientists with academic excellence and little practical experience. Can this knowledge from the plough influence policy? Can a remote health functionary tap into a global knowledge repository with just a phone call? Can this be designed and be engineered? Without doubt it can. There is without doubt the need to carefully design the way communities of practice function. It is exciting to know that there is the opportunity to reach and
provide access to everyone on this planet in a large but cohesive knowledge mesh. From policy makers to conceptional thinkers, to implementation agencies and the individual user and contributor can now be interlinked in a series of knowledge rings and meshes, all on a horizontal digital plane. truly the dawn of the mobile Knowledge communities (m-kommunities) era is upon us. How it is used and how it is nurtured to enable the fulfillment of the human spirit is the task before all of digital-kind.
The answer in the past would be blowing in the wind but today the answer lies in the ring of your cell phone.
Rajen Varada
Founder & Director at Technology For The People