Mobcasting, an interesting idea
7Here’s a pretty interesting idea, and there’s lots of tools now sitting around to make this happen. Andy Carvin spoke about how he started mobcasting (mobile + podcasting + smart mobs = mobcasting) Basically, using free tools like Blogger, Audioblogger, and feedburner, you can make a phone call, leave a voicemail message, and then not only have that MP3 posted to your blog but also added as a podcast to your RSS feed. Neat stuff, but STILL too hard. But I’m tremendously encouraged that these tools can help to cross the digital divide as these tools are even more fully integrated into mobile phones and mobile networks.
Tags: webcred, mobcasting, podcasting
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Hi David,
You’re absolutely right – it’s still too hard for a lot of people. One of the things I’m very interested in is making the learning curve for mobcasting as low as possible, particularly if this is going to have application in developing countries. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get some people together to develop the idea further to make this a viable tool, perhaps even with a GNU license. We’ll just have to see… andy
If the procedure really is as you described above, how is it still too hard? Making a phone call and leaving a voice mail is something that almost anybody can do. Am I missing something here? Is it that the setup of such an operation is too hard? I can certainly see how that could be the case.
Hi Scott,
The part that I see as hard for some people is connecting the dots between blogger, audioblogger, and feedburner. Already I’ve gotten tons of emails trying to set it up for themselves and they’ve hit stumbling blocks – most of which can be easily overcome, but stumbling blocks nonetheless. Also, the phone interface isn’t the smartest I’ve experienced. I sometimes have to re-key my code several times before it takes, and that can be frustrating for some people.
What I’d love to see is a unified mobcasting tool: a voicemail server you could call, key in a few codes and have it automatically uploaded to the blog of your choice. You could add other features for more advanced users (keying in titles for a podcast, even over-the-phone editing), but the basic interface should be as simple as possible for the general publish – the 95 percent of folks who don’t use RSS, not to mention low-literate populations with limited technology experience.
Andy,
That unified tool sounds like a great idea! With Google offering a server attached to a phone line, though, Blogger is probably the cheapest way to make something like this happen for now. If someone were to develop a tool that made the process easier, it sure would be nice if, say, Six Apart or Technorati would foot the bill for a server attached to some voice hardware. This is barrier is probably holding back a lot of innovation.
Oops, I forgot to do my research before the above post. It appears that Listenlab (http://www.listenlab.com/) are the owners of the Audioblogger servers.
Actually, there appear to be several open source voicemail server packages available. So it would be just a matter of augmenting them with a few extra features and making them blog and rss-friendly.
Anyway, this is still an evolving idea – I mean I just thought of it last weekend – so I still have some homework to do…. -a
Mobcasting ?
Il y a le podcasting. Maintenant aussi le mobcasting.
D