So step forward the newly formed Web Real-Time Communications Working Group. The mission of the group is to define a set of client-side APIs to enable real-time communications through the browser…video, audio, no plug-ins or downloads. The Charter page also states “supplementary real-time communication” so we’re also looking at screen sharing – or at least ‘browser window sharing’ – I think I’d be safe in saying.

One of the great things about this – imho – is that the working group will be looking closely at device APIs and pushing work on those forward, which, along with the DAP (Device APIs & Policy WG) should hopefully propel the development of APIs for device capabilities such as use of camera, microphone and the whole area of media capture and streaming. I then automatically think of the mobile space…mobile web apps for video chat anyone?

The working group has a timescale that looks at getting their first recommendations out toward the end of next year.

Want to see it in action? Well, Ericsson Labs (who are co-chairing the working group) rather kindly produced a video demo – Beyond HTML5: Peer-2-peer conversational video in HTML5. It is below…for your viewing pleasure. You can also read their accompanying blog post at https://labs.ericsson.com/developer-community/blog/beyond-html5-peer-peer-conversational-video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM2EFWpTWc8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

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Mobile Web Apps: A Briefing Paper

With the growth and constant shift in the mobile space institutions could be forgiven for feeling a little lost as to how to best tackle the issue of delivering content and/or services that are optimised for mobile devices. Apple, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone…app ecosystems seemingly everywhere you turn and each requiring different development approaches; SDKs, programming languages, approval processes and terms & conditions. I think it’s fair to say that for institutions, looking to deliver to mobile devices while being as inclusive as possible, this area is something of a minefield.

A viable, alternative approach is developing Mobile Apps using open web technologies and standards; technologies that continue to improve performance and offer more powerful functionality – as is now being talked about quite a bit on the topic of HTML5.

The briefing paper is intended to give an overview of this space and cover some of the key talking points, with a collection of useful resources with which to delve deeper into the subject for those that decide that mobile web apps are indeed a workable solution for them. I’m hoping that an interested audience would consist of institutional web staff, students services, learning technologists, maybe even an IT services manager here and there

It’s in PDF format but I’ll also be looking to get it in web form on the CETIS website over the next few days and, of course, I’d welcome any feedback and questions on it here.

If you’re interested, get it at http://wiki.cetis.org.uk/images/7/76/Mobile_Web_Apps.pdf

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Argon is the completely open standards augmented reality browser that allows rapid development and deployment of Web 2.0 style augmented reality content.

Argon renders a standards compliant combination of KML, HTML, CSS and JavaScript served via typical HTTP servers

Multiple simultaneous channels, analogous to browser tab on the desktop, let authors create dynamic and interactive AR content using existing web development toolsets.

The browser is stated as being the reference implementation of Georgia Tech’s work on the KHARMA Mobile AR Architecture, which combines HTML for content with KML for defining geographical co-ordinates (as used by Google Maps, Google Earth & Yahoo Maps).

Argon Mobile AR Browser

One thing that seems to counter-balance this standards flag bearing though (for me, at least) is the fact that Argon is only available on iPhone – in fact, the developers go so far as to specify that it is best run on the latest version, iPhone 4. Hopefully that will change over time and we’ll see versions for the other popular mobile platforms too: the ever growing Android and the recently adrenaline-injected Windows Phone 7. After all, it would seem a little odd lauding the open standards route while then being restricted to a single delivery platform.

But there’s plenty of growing room in the still young AR space. With the technology making a significant appearance in this year’s Horizon Report – given a ‘Time-to-adoption’ period of 2-3 years, and us already seeing mobile augmented reality being implemented at Exeter Uni on their JISC LTIG Project: Unlocking the Hidden Curriculum, it’s good to see a new offering in this area to possibly compete with the current big players: Layar, Wikitude & Junaio.

My wish? My wish is that we could see something like Argon develop into a platform for AR developers, built on open standards, that would be supported by those players and open up the AR space to easily create interactive and immersive mobile AR experiences & content that you could then deploy cross-browser. Like I say though…early days yet. Hopefully we’ll see it happen.

Oh..one more thing…I have installed Argon on my (now lowly) iPhone 3GS and while the browser looks pretty standard fare – channel view, map, search, etc – unfortunately it seems there are absolutely no POIs (Points of Interest) nearby and the search for local channels isn’t yet implemented. So, as yet, it’s a bit difficult to get a handle of whether Argon would float my boat. Next up I shall go and check out the developer’s area and have a look at creating my own POIs and content. I’ll let you know how I get on…

The Argon browser can be found at http://argon.gatech.edu/

*** Update ***

There are POIs available nearby – I just hadn’t looked at the getting started tutorial properly (I know…I’m one of those blokes that doesn’t read the manual). I’m liking the search box in the realview but the POI icon itself is a bit flaky and judders about a bit too much – I suspect their recommendation of using iPhone 4 is down to the gyroscope aiding with that, which the 3GS doesn’t have. But as you can see from the screenshot, it does the basics and I would imagine one can customise the look with your own CSS. Now…let’s hope their documentation is clear and helpful and not simply written by some Tefal headed genii in a Georgia Tech Lab…

Screenshot of Argon AR Browser

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Well…I’ve been travelling around the interweb, reading – or simply adding to Instapaper for later and trying to get round to reading – lots of lovely articles, blog posts and suchlike on the current happenings around the Mobile Web. As you’ll well know (seeing as you’re reading this) the Mobile Web is a hot topic at the moment, so I thought I’d highlight some of the things I’m reading up on right now.

The Opera Mobile Web Optimisation Guide

The guys at Opera are superb when it comes to talking and teaching about web development techniques and the current state of the web. I’ve enjoyed listening and talking to both Patrick Lauke and Bruce Lawson in the last few months and Bruce has taken his talk around this and built it into a handy guide, available on the Opera Developers website. Bruce talks about the options available when looking to deliver your content to mobile devices and gives loads of really useful advice and tips on stuff to do, stuff to avoid and delivers a really nice outline on why CSS Media Queries are so powerful and can help you build mobile-aware, adaptive websites that don’t have to check which browser the content is being delivered to but checks the device settings themselves (think “display resolution”). I strongly encourage you to check this guide out if you haven’t before.

http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/the-mobile-web-optimization-guide/

Combining meta viewport and media queries

Following on with the CSS Media Queries angle, this article on quirksmode gives you a full walkthrough of how to combine <meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width”> with media queries to enable your website to resize to fit any display. It tells you what these do, why you should use them and gives the whole technique, with helpful screenshots. Excellent.

http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/09/combining_meta.html

Rethinking the Mobile Web

This is a truly great set of slides that Bryan Rieger of Yiibu recently delivered at the Over The Air event at Imperial College, London. Here Bryan gives us an outline of device usage, mobile browsers and – echoing Patrick’s & Bruce’s message – the options available to us when it comes to making mobile friendly websites (and apps – we can’t ignore those). Bryan puts a damn good point across that maybe we should design our sites for mobile devices FIRST, then add in the capability for the site to adapt for desktop. It’s a different way of approaching the whole creation and I’m really into that way of thinking.

http://www.slideshare.net/bryanrieger/rethinking-the-mobile-web-by-yiibu

The Mobile Web is NOT The Next Big Thing

Haha…now to end with something more leftfield This article, written by web designer John O’Nolan takes a playful swipe at those people that trot out the whole “Next Big Thing” line. John gives us an entertaining look at the evolution of the web on mobile and does put a nice perspective on things. What’s even better is that some of the thoughtful comments round out the whole thing to make a nicely smart piece on viewing the state of the mobile web.

http://john.onolan.org/the-mobile-web-is-not-the-next-big-thing/

So, a few things there for you to have a look at and digest. We’ll be seeing this talked about more and more I suspect. Cheers! M

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First of all, the presentations from the day are available on our wiki at http://wiki.cetis.org.uk/Mobile_Tech_Meeting_15th_June_2010

Throughout the day we highlighted some of the key challenges, issues and general questions that attendees shared in this space…

Feasibility of supporting massive variety of devices, software, etc

With a huge variety (around 350) of the mixture between devices, manufacturers, families and platforms, how does an institution deliver to mobile while having to focus on the all-important issue of inclusion? Apps are the flavour of the day right now with the runaway success of Apple’s App Store leading to competing providers to follow suit and push development along the native app path. However, with the advent of HTML5 and CSS3 now giving web developers far more power to create engaging and powerful web applications, along with new frameworks that harness these and JavaScript allowing the use of APIs that can tap into the native functionality of devices such as Geolocation – now we can have a fairer and more balanced discussion about “Apps v. Web”. You can read more about these frameworks at http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/06/new-frameworks-give-mobile-web-apps-a-boost/

Who supports the use of mobile in institutions?

There are 2 main parties to think about here – Preparing staff within institutions & the support for students (perhaps through induction processes). Now, assuming this would involve different departments and that these should (ideally) have a dialogue with each other…who supports the supporters?

Integration with existing systems: VLE, PLE, eP…

This ties in – for me at least – with the discussion around the Distributed Learning Environment & the widgets work that CETIS is heavily engaged in. The mobile device seems such an obvious part of a learner’s “PLE” (as in, it’s personal) that this area is ideal for focusing on the overlap and connectivity between institutionally controlled systems and the tools and services that learners use. Also, the provision of data from institutional services to mobile devices. Can I get a map of where I am on the campus? Can I see if there’s an available room nearby and book it, check my timetable or search the library?

Personal & Professional

This is an interesting one for me and it also links to the PLE area (in the way I think about it anyway). Increasingly, the ubiquity and all-round saturation of technology in so many parts of all our lives is leading to this blurring between work and private/personal life. As professionals we face these questions and for some of us, our whole use of technology has almost completely broken down the lines between the two. The things I do at work are the things I am interested in outside of work too, so I’ll find myself twittering and posting facebook links at any time, anywhere. But is this the same for learners? Also, context and location is hugely important. The use of mobile devices enables you to capture photographs, video, blog, twitter…whatever…from wherever you are (yes, assuming connection, etc), so what are the ethical issues?

Business Case

Now, this seemed to get the most nodding of heads. How do we make the business case to our institutions for the need to engage with mobile technology and focus some development? Do we assume it is want the learners want or is it something that we think is important and growing and soon-to-be all pervasive? How can mobile learning improve learning in general? Is there a case for it? Where does the focus get placed and (!!) the money go toward?

Can the pedagogy map to the affordances given to us by the technology available? Two of the presentations on the day covered work in Geography field students and assessment in healthcare practices. I think it’s easy to to see how these areas are prime for the enabling and enhancing of in-the-workplace/field activities that mobile devices and their functionality providebut… Is mobile tech from an institutional, learning delivery sense, not really applicable or practical for all?

Lots and lots of questions.

One thing I’m sure of is that the mobile tech area is currently the most fast moving (almost dizzyingly so) and exciting areas around in educational technology at the moment. The opportunities that such increasingly affordable and powerful technology, always on, always connected are handing to so many of us are changing the shape of the learning landscape. Institutions need to get a handle on this, otherwise they’ll be quickly left behind…but I know, it’s not a simple issue.

Oh and yes, I know I said above that this tech is with “many of us”. I’ve not forgotten the very important aspect of inclusion, in all its forms. But I think I’ll leave you with this blog post from one of our speakers at the event, Dr. Richard Hall (DMU) - Inclusion, social relations and theory: issues in mobile learning

http://www.learnex.dmu.ac.uk/2010/06/inclusion-social-relations-and-theory-issues-in-mobile-learning/

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