Last week, I had the great pleasure of visiting Austin, TX for the TIG conference. I gave a presentation on the power of municipal wireless networks and mobile devices -- two great flavors that are going to taste even better together!

James spent some time heckling me from the front row, but he finally took pity and let me finish. Turns out, it was a good presentation for him!

Here are my slides, should they be useful to you. Props to MobileCommons for letting us do the demo.

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Flickr Photo: hykuPhiladelphia has been at the fore of communities offering wireless internet access to their citizens. With 70% of the city now covered, it's arguably the showcase effort among major cities in the country.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia's CIO, Terry Phillis, announced yesterday that he expects Earthlink will pull out of Philadelphia by the end of the year, leaving the city to prepare for an uncertain future. Phillis told ComputerWorld:

"We consider [the Wi-Fi network] an asset for the city. Our priority is to get it completed, to service the digital divide, to enhance tourism and to serve mobile city workers. But I can't talk a lot about our plans" [if Earthlink leaves].

Repeat after me: "It's not a mobile phone, it's a mobile device."

It's not just the iPhone fanatics who are using their phones for much more than phone calls -- every day citizens are using their phones for email, music, texting, video, photos, and more. When is a phone more than a phone? When you can watch Jon Stewart on your lunch break.

The Detroit Free Press profiles some locals who are in love with their phones... I mean, devices. The stories are great, but what's impressive are some statistics from Verizon. From the article:

...the number of downloads of all kinds of new media - movie and TV clips, music, games, software and so on - jumped from 6 million in 2003 to 106 million recently.The company offers more than 300 games alone (up from 10 in 2002). And the other carriers show the same trends. People are starting to think of their phones as tiny entertainment devices, not just as a way to reach out and touch someone.

Do you have a mobile plan for your organization? You may want to start thinking about it. Check out MobileActive for some great resources.

Flickr Photo: pedrosimoes7I'm working on my presentation for the Legal Services Corporation's Technology Initiative Grants Conference -- say that three times fast! -- where I'm scheduled to talk about the un-Wired nonprofit. There are so many amazing things happening with wireless around the country, and so many more amazing things happening with mobile, that I'm having a hard time focusing.

It's a real joy to think about and explore such fun stuff for a good cause. It's definitely my favorite part of my work: dreaming big and making connections. And now is a great time to dream big. With all the buzz about social media, we've entered another heady period in the history of technology. It's cool to be a geek again!

In the middle of all that big dreaming, I was brought back to earth with a thud by an email we got here at the office this morning from marketing professional at a small organization asking about scholarships for the NTC.

Flickr Photo: johnmukA couple of weeks ago, my 2-year-old was kind enough to let me listen to NPR on our way downtown, and I heard a funny little snippet about Spain's most popular ringtone:

...a royal voice saying “Why don't you shut up?” — the recent outburst of Spain's King Juan Carlos to President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela at a summit in Santiago, Chile.

I meant to blog it but forgot. (I think my mind was trying to erase the subsequent event of that car ride, namely listening to "A Spoonful of Sugar" 13 time in a row.)

Imagine my delight when Katrin Verclas, esteemed former NTEN ED, tweeted a link to an Economist piece stemming from an event she ran in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It's a great summary of some of the cutting edge mobile work that's going on around the world, from election monitoring in Nigeria to getting around censorship in Pakistan -- and it references the King Juan Carlos ringtone.

Are mobile phones really the next big thing? It certainly looks that way. An article in the Baltimore Sun points out that the US market is really busy right now making sure that the next generation of mobile phones will be much more than phones:

Somehow -- and I really couldn't tell you how -- I ended up on the mailing list for Electronic Retailer magazine. I was about to toss it into the recycling bin when I noticed a story on mobile marketing. Now, the magazine is produced by the Electronic Retailing Association, so most every story in the magazine is a sunny picture of how lucrative and awesome various electronic marketing options are. But there are some interesting stats to behold.

According to one article, a recent Forrester Research piece says that:

• 90% of US mobile phones are text enabled, but only 35% are using the functionality
• Only 11% of US mobile users surf the Internet on their phones

According to Forrester's marketing blog, exactly WHO the 35% of text messaging users are is no surprise: 80% of 18-24 year olds use some form of messaging on the phone.

We here at NTEN spend a lot of time thinking about how nonprofits can use mobile phones in their work. Why? Because we believe that mobile phones are game changers, with the ability to shift -- fundamentally shift -- the way we communicate. Mobile phones are powerful tools in your media arsenal. No one has said it as eloquently as Alan Moore.

Robin Good just republished his essay, Mobile as the 7th Mass Media (part one is available here, part two is available here). In a word, this paper is delicious. It's a concise, smart, and at times funny take on the history of media. Each iteration receives a short history, with concrete lessons learned. Then, Robin tackles mobile phones as the next wave of media, applying everything he has just covered.

If your organization is thinking about starting, or is currently running, a mobile campaign of any sort, you need to read this paper. If your boss remains unconvinced, text her the URL.

Some highlights: 

Nokia and Vodafone have launched a new wiki, Share Ideas, designed to help distribute ideas about how mobile phones can be used in civil society.

We here at NTEN and MobileActive.org are pleased to have played a small part in the process of creating the site, bringing people and ideas from the MobileActive.org network to the table. We are thrilled that after two years of hard work, there is increasing recognition and knowledge about how critical mobile phones are as a tool for social change and how important it is for civil society organizations to share ideas and resources.

Please check it out!