Mobile Tech in Social Innovation Series: Information
Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2011-06-20 15:59
Welcome to Day Five of Echoing Green’s Mobile Technology in Social Innovation online series. Today’s focus is on Information.
Panelists: Volker Heistermann of Yushan Ventures and Mobile Metrix, and Humberto Kam of Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch
How does your organization use mobile technology?
Humberto Kam: The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program works to transform seafood markets in ways that create incentives for sustainable fishing and fish-farming practices. We work with major seafood buyers, food service companies, retailers and wholesalers, chefs and restaurateurs to encourage them to make the switch to sustainable seafood. We work with consumers to raise awareness about the connection between the seafood they eat and the health of the oceans, and to create grassroots support for sustainable seafood. Our recommendations indicate which seafood items are "Best Choices," "Good Alternatives," and which ones you should "Avoid."
Since 1999, we've distributed more than 36 million and the Seafood Watch website saw over a million visitors last year. In 2007 we launched mobile.seafooodwatch.org so users with feature phones could access our recommendations. In 2009 we launched the first version of an iPhone resident app and this year we launched an Android version. To date, the Seafood Watch apps have been downloaded by over 750,000 people. The app has won awards from Treehugger.com as the “Best of Green in Food and Health” and is cited regularly in mainstream and new media as a trusted source for sustainable seafood information.
The mobile website and resident apps are part of our strategy to use mobile technology to get the sustainable seafood message as close as we can to people at the decision point – that is, at the restaurant or seafood counter when they’re about to make a purchase. Using mobile technology also helps us put the most up-to-date information in the hands of users, since our consumer seafood recommendations are updated twice a year. Before that, we’d heard stories of people carrying dog-eared copies of an old – outdated – paper pocket guide. While you may not always have the most current pocket guide with you, you probably never leave home without your phone. We also designed the app so it doesn’t rely on an internet connection, since that romantic little spot by the beach might have lousy reception. Finally, as a conservation organization, we’re always looking at ways to reduce our use of paper.
How is mobile technology being used to effectively gather information or data?
Humberto: Once you know what seafood is a “Best Choice,” the natural next question is “Where do I find it?” In December 2010 we launched Project FishMap, a crowd sourced effort where anyone who finds sustainable seafood can share their discoveries on the app. Services like “Yelp!” have gotten people used to contributing metadata, like photos and reviews, to businesses. We’re taking it to the next level, letting users tell others about the sustainability of the seafood they find. Mobile lets us get that data while it’s still fresh in people’s minds, so they don’t have to go home to their PC and remember what they had. We do, however, want to let people get back to their dinner as quickly as possible, so we tried to streamline the process and provide as large a list of restaurants as possible filtered by the user’s location. Next up is to make the “search for businesses” functionality smarter.
What is the future business model of mobile phones?
Volker Hesitermann: Mobile operators could be like internet service provider—you get the connection from them—that's it. Then hardware can be bought anywhere and configured easily with your flavor of operating system. Apps, data and content will be stored in the cloud, and you'll access them in a variety of online/offline modes. This allows you to stay connected to your data, but not be tied to your phone, your operating system or your carrier.
How can companies more effectively use the information being gathered via mobile?
Humberto: In my mind it’s equal parts using and sharing the information being gathered. Start ups and tech companies have APIs as part of their DNAs. Non-profits are jumping on board due in part to their goals of a better world and of course funding and resource limitations. Once the private sector successfully navigates the business reasons, privacy concerns and liabilities keeping their information behind closed doors, and start contributing to the information flow, things will really get interesting. The results from such an explosion of metadata attached to physical, digital and intellectual objects are mind-blowing.
How will mobile phone technology be different in 5 years?
Humberto: Considering it was less than five years ago that we put up a mobile site optimized for my Motorola Razr, I can't begin to predict how mobile technology will be different in 5 years. However, there are some trends that I think will shape the near future.
The ubiquity of mobile computing will radically change things, as will changing attitudes toward technology and privacy. Mobile will continue to drive context and relevancy as a filter for information. On desktops, it was easy to be sloppy and drown people with information. Because of small screen sizes, data charges, and network speed, good mobile developers have always had to edit themselves ruthlessly and make choices based on what people are trying to do while on the go.
Location was the next filter. A user’s social graph is a filter that is still very much being developed as we speak. Past actions as an indicator of relevancy show a rocky road ahead because of privacy concerns, as the line between digital actions such as “likes,” and your actions in the real world, blur. And we have haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of how all your phone’s sensors can be used to provide context and increase relevancy. How fast you're moving in a car, ambient noise, light conditions, the aggregated data of everyone around you—this is all waiting to help us filter the staggering amount of data and options at our fingertips.
Volker: Smart phone are already starting to replace wallets (cash, credit cards, transit cards, IDs, family photos), but over the next five-ten years, personal mobile devices will also replace the following:
- Healthcare check-ups with biomedical sensors in conjunction with health care reminders and advice for common illnesses
- Election booths with secure mobile voting
- Environmental sensors to monitor weather and pollution
- Traffic monitors to avoid urban congestion
- Universal remotes for controlling our home entertainment, appliances, power, automobile, and all other connected devices
- Keys for entering our home, business, and cars
- Beam up your friends in 3-D augmented reality
In the next five years, 3-D interfaces—like those in the movies—will let you interact with 3-D holograms of your friends in real time. Movies and TVs are already moving to 3-D, and as 3-D and holographic cameras get more sophisticated and miniaturized to fit into cell phones, you will be able to interact with photos, browse the Web and chat with your friends in entirely new ways.
Scientists are working to improve video chat to become holography chat—or "3-D telepresence." The technique uses light beams scattered from objects and reconstructs a picture of that object, a similar technique to the one human eyes use to visualize our surroundings.
In the next five years, scientific advances in transistors and battery technology will allow your devices to last about 10 times longer than they do today. And better yet, in some cases, batteries may disappear altogether in smaller devices.
Instead of the heavy lithium-ion batteries used today, scientists are working on batteries that use the air we breathe to react with energy-dense metal, eliminating a key inhibitor to longer lasting batteries. If successful, the result will be a lightweight, powerful and rechargeable battery capable of powering everything from electric cars to consumer devices.
Add your voice to the conversation by commenting below or on Facebook and Twitter (use hashtag #mobileinnov).
Join us tomorrow to discuss Health in Mobile Technology, and for the global Twitter chat on June 22, 2011 from 1-2:30pm EST.
