Mobile blogging (also known as mobloggingIto, M. (2002) 'Mobiles and the appropriation of place', receiver magazine, 8, www.receiver.vodafone.com) is a method of publishing to a website or blog from a mobile phone or other handheld device. A moblog helps habitual bloggers to post write-ups directly from their phones even when on the move. Mobile blogging has been made possible by technological convergence, as bloggers have been able to write, record and upload different media all from a single, mobile device. At the height of its growth in 2006, mobile blogging experienced 70,000 blog creations a day and 29,100 blog posts an hour. Between 2006 and 2010, blogging among teens declined from 28% to 14%, while blogging among adults over 30 increased from 7% to 11%. However, the growing number of multi-platform blogging apps has increased mobile blogging popularity in recent years creating a brand new market that many celebrities, regular bloggers and specialists are utilizing to widen their social reach. Mobile blogging is popular among people with

camera phone A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture photographs and often record video using one or more built-in digital cameras. It can also send the resulting image wirelessly and conveniently. The first commercial phone with color cam ...

s which allow them to e-mail/

MMS MMS may refer to: Science and technology Network communication protocols * Multimedia Messaging Service for mobile phones * Microsoft Media Server, a content-streaming protocol (mms://) * Manufacturing Message Specification for real time proces ...

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

photos and video that then appear as entries on a web site, or to use mobile browsers to publish content directly to any blogging platform with Mobile Posting compatibility. As the ability of camera phone users to publish their own blogs has increased, so too has the ability for collective submissions. Users are now able to access the posts of other bloggers in the immediate area through a process called Georeferential Blogging; which utilizes geographical location to collectively group blogging activity. This advancement unites the posts of local bloggers in an effort to increase the relevancy of information to those in the area.

History

One of the precursors to a "moblog" was the development of a wearable photographic device by Steve Mann of the University of Toronto. Termed "domewear," the intention was for human rights workers to wear the devices to take photographic and video evidence of dangerous situations while avoiding being targeted for using traditional cameras. The first recorded example of moblogging was on 1995 February 22, when Steve Mann posted text from his wearable mobile computer to his weblog server, together with video (image sequence).Ito, J. (2003) 'Moblogging, Blogmapping and Moblogmapping related resources', http://joiwiki.ito.com/joiwiki/index.cgi?moblog (accessed 9 January 2006). The term moblogging, however, wasn't coined until 2002, by Adam Greenfield. Mobile devices have expanded beyond basic communication and now these devices can support multimedia creation tools.

Design

The mobile blogging system has its origins in a technology-inspired design approach. This approach incorporates the rich feature set of a smartphone, including the ability to create multimedia, capturing decent images, and connectivity options. The intersection between the inherent design functions of the phone with the ongoing, personal nature of both a phone and a blog is how the concept of mobile blogging began. In the case study of SmartBlog, a system created to support mobile blogging, key principles were developed after assessing bloggers' needs. These include: * Mobile client must not interfere with phone functionality * Mobile blogging should integrate easily with existing blogs * Client device needs to utilize the multimedia capabilities of a phone and be very easy to use * Client should allow for management activities, such as editing and deleting * Client should use cheap connectivity if available * Client must cope with broken connectivity transparently The client, in this instance, refers to a Thin client.

Advantages

A ''moblog'' platform offers the capability to use a phone for administration, editing and writing from a

phone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into ele ...

or smartphone browser. There are services and platforms which present different versions of a blog administration interface based on user agent. Mobile blogging also promotes the dissemination of ideas and perspectives of younger people, who previously have not had as many easily accessible platforms to present their views.

Educational use

The continued integration of Mobile Blogging into areas of education has revealed many of its advantages. Its benefits affect both students and teachers, and have improved the overall educational experience. For students, it allows them to stay up-to-date with class schedules, access materials, and it inspires a more creative dimension with the inclusion of visual and audible materials in their work environment. For teachers, mobile blogging has allowed further monitoring of students’ progress and participation. Mobile blogging can be used alongside computer-supported collaborative learning in the classroom. This provides a positive and encouraging learning environment for students, especially students in a virtual classroom. Working collaboratively with mobile blogging can provide more authentic context learning and can help solve the coordination issue that often arises from working in a collaborative learning environment.

Tourism

Mobile blogging is particularly helpful to tourists and travelers when access to a computer with Internet connection may be difficult. The traveller can snap photos and with a

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Insti ...

or a

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-enabled phone can easily upload such pictures with text descriptions directly to his or her blog. If the camera phone is equipped for

Autogeotagging Real-time geotagging refers to the automatic technique of acquiring media (such as photos, audio or video), associating a specific location with the media, transferring the media to an online map and publishing the media in real time. It is thus a ...

, the blog may be able to show a map of the locations.

Challenges

One of the most significant challenges to mobile blogging is lack of access to both mobile devices and internet connections. While mobile blogging encourages production and spread of information to seemingly limitless people, it must be understood in regards to the advantages and disadvantages of

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and geographical location.

Data Costs

One of the most substantial and relevant challenges to having a mobile blogging network is the costs involved. Western countries face relatively cheap costs in terms of data plans and expenditures related to mobile devices, yet in most places around the world, these costs are very substantial and restrictive. When the costs are too high, mobile blogging and its benefits become irrelevant.

Platforms

Popular platforms (free)

* Blogger * Tumblr * Weebly * WordPress

Popular platforms (paid)

* Squarespace * TypePad

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mobile Blogging Blogs by type Mobile content