So, the question I might be looking to answer next summer is, can I “successfully” attend the mLearnCon conference with nothing but my (1st gen) iPhone? What about present at a conference? Well, save that second question for now.
Obviously I would have to get the go ahead to attend. But assuming that I could, how would I define “successfully”?
Well, first and foremost, I would need some way of efficiently capturing the salient highlights of each of the presentations that I would attend. And let’s take that one step farther. I’m not looking just to capture, but instantly share with the larger community.
- Twitter might be a good framework to handle the microblogging.
- I could always use a good ole blog like MT4 to synthesize my thoughts into more developed posts.
A close second is to give others a feel for the conference. It would probably be of incredible value to share “the pulse” of the conference with those back home so they could turn green with envy. Let’s be honest, this isn’t going to be CES or an Apple unveiling, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun. 🙂 Photos, videos, blog posts, interviews, and streaming media are some great ways to capture the affective side of a conference.
- I’ll have to test out uploading images into MT4 from my iPhone.
- I have a Flip Ultra HD, but I would need a laptop to share those videos.
- If I had one of those cool WiFi enabled digital cameras, I might be able to come up with a creative way to share video on the fly, but I don’t.
- A new iPhone 3GS might be able to upload videos over WiFi, but I’m not going to by a new iPhone just for this conference.
- I could always use Skype to connect with a few people back home if they wanted to listen, but I question the quality of the audio the iPhone’s mic could pick up.
- Now, having said that, I do have a Samson Airline Micro wireless mic that I could hook up to my Olympus digital audio recorder that would allow me to capture excellent audio for later use in a podcast. The Airline Micro is awesome, and although it was worth the money, it wasn’t cheap.
But, will all that multimedia be necessary? I could do everything I mentioned rather easily, but I’m not sure it would be the best way to accomplish what I really need to get done. Deciding when to use different forms of media is an essential part of effective multimedia delivery. Why use a video when an animated slide show can convey the same information in a more efficient use of time? Brian Strauss, a multimedia specialist, challenges the use of video when a single paragraph summarizing a presentation may be a much better use of people’s time. It all depends on the content, context, intended audience and purpose.
By the way, if Apple announces a tablet this winter or spring, does that qualify as “going sans laptop?”
So, I’m looking for some feedback. Any mobile-friendly frameworks or platforms to suggest?