Wow! I just love reading what Justin and Joi have to say!
Justin Hall: From Weblog to Moblog. [Scripting News]
This notion of moblogging is RIGHT ON!
moblogging
A weblog is a record of travels on the Web, so a mobile phone log (“moblog”?) should be a record of travels in the world. Weblogs reflect our lives at our desks, on our computers, referencing mostly other flat pages, links between blocks of text. But mobile blogs should be far richer, fueled by multimedia, more intimate data and far-flung friends. As we chatter and text away, our phones could record and share the parts we choose: a walking, talking, texting, seeing record of our time around town, corrected and augmented by other mobloggers.
The moment I heard of Howard Rheingold's concept of 'Smart Mobs' I immediately had this vision of 'Tools for the Mobs'. Joi - at the time - was talking allot about posting blogs from cell phones, but it delights me to see he's taken that notion further to (what I believe is) a logical extension of an end-users digital identity.
That notion includes 'private clouds' of family members, friends or colleagues - who have permission to be part of your 'inner circle' - which just happen to coincide with the legal limits of 'Fair Use'. These private clouds are the folks who care about whether or not you're on the toilet or how much cash you've got in your pocket. They also (in my opinion) are the ones who have the RIGHT to share your music, fav TV shows, movies or books you're reading.
Joi's vision has folks' status, location, state - an intricate part of how and why they communicate and blog. By enhancing blogging tools with templates and structure so that new types of 'micro-content' can be posted, interchanged and interacted with - these new kind of tools can form the mesh between on-line information, communication and real space.
One way to do all this is to tie in messaging (as we know it today), multimedia (Justin talks about photos, but we could also include audio posts or even voice-to-text transcrptions) - and use all the power of RSS, OPML, XML-RPC, Jabber, http and tcp/ip to create a network of tools, services and functionality - that will create new kinds of on-line communities.
Knowing whether or not my friends are on-line is just the beginning. I wanna know what they're up to today (with shared 'To Do' lists), I wanna know what they think of particular notions or concepts - as I'm having in real-time or in the middle of a real-space conversation - (so I can include them in the rap.....) and I wanna keep these cloud members abreast of my travels, what I'm seeing and what I'm feeling.
I also wanna have my cloud members connect me to other clouds. This notion of intersecting clouds is how meta-communities will form - not only based about similar affinities, poltiical beliefs or proximity, but also form the basis of the ultimate six degrees mesh, one that connects news, creative expression, science and education together - in what (I think) we all hope the web will evolve into.
So my notion of moblogging - actually goes beyond just news gathering. I see it as a new fundamental form of expression. Why stop with news? Why not extend it to:
- check out this amazing sunset and the poem it's inspired....
- here's a new song I wrote, inspired by that hottie I just saw walking down the street....
- here's a brainstorming notion - or new concept - which just appeared in my head and I wanted to share it with you all
- listen to this song, now think about xxxx, now what do YOU feel - at this moment?
These sort of new kinds of interaction and collaboration are endless! A mesh-like system like this, combining messaging, blogging, cell phones, and the web - would be extended in real space by one's MP3 players, digital camera and PDA. When you 'got home' - you'd then 'jack into' your Home LAN and connect to your desktop PC and your broadband connection, as well as your TV set, PVR and other stereo components - forming the basis of your 'digital lifestyle'.
Not only should we be able to connect our on-line cloud members together into a new notion of an on-line community, but also connect disparate on-line communities together.
This mesh concept - is what we're working on. We hope to build on OPML and the MetaWeblogAPIs and do much of what Justin and Joi envisage.
Finally in closing - I actually was at the giant Sly and the Family stone concert in Chicago in 1973 - which ended up in a riot. Totally apocalyptic and exemplery of things to come. How weird that Justin uses Sly and rioting as an analogy.
And when I was in Enlgand last, I was fascinated to watch the young people SMSing each other in Picadilly Square - informing each other of where the hot parties, raves and scenes were. I experienced this sort of mob rule phenomena myself directly at some of the parties I threw on Potrero Hill. We'd get a cool scene going and everyone would get on their cell phones and tell everyone else: "come on over to Marc's house - this is where it's all happening."
This sort of real-time behavior is what Smart Mobs is all about - and why we need moblogging - NOW!
