Mobile Web track for BarCampMilwaukee

This is part 2 of an 8-part series about session tracks I'd like to see at BarCampMilwaukee, 03 - 05 October 2008. See also Part 1, Fab Lab track.

Mobile Web: Now and the Future

This blog post details thoughts relative to a Mobile Web track we should make happen for BarCampMilwaukee in October 2008, per my original post on the topic of proposed tracks for this tech unconference.

The mobile web (by which I mean accessing and using the internet via cell-phones, ultralight notebooks and other easily-carried-around 'computing' devices from places other than your home or a fixed-location office) is playing an increasingly important part in today's connected world. Although most people are not yet to the 'always-on' state of the Matrix or the Metaverse, that world is getting closer than one might imagine. I recently got a new cell phone -- a Samsung i760 through Verizon -- and am slowly learning how to most effectively use it for stuff other than phone calls. What I really wanted was a Gphone, but alas, my old Verizon phone died a few weeks ago, and my Gphone is not yet a reality. The iPhone raised the mobile web bar. It's my sincere hope that Android will raise that bar another couple notches. This barcamp track will explore where the bar is now and where we'd like to see it go.

There are certainly enough potential session topics to justify a separate Mobile Web track at the barcamp. I'm not a mobile web guru, but here's a beginning list for Mobile Web sessions I'd like to see. And I mean that literally. I'd like to participate in each of the tracks listed below. Which will be hard to do if I'm also in each of the Fab Lab tracks mentioned in the previous post ;-)

1. iPhone: The Good and the Not-so-Good
2. Android: What it is and what it can be
3. Optimizing WinMobile 6.1
4. Using the Internet on AT&T, Verizon and Other Cell Services
5. Safe Computing at Wifi Free Hotspots
6. Best Mobile Browsers and Mobile Websites
7. iPhone App Store and Best iPhone Apps
8. Eee PC, OLPC and Other Netbooks/MIDs
9. Best WebApps and Cloud Computing Services
10. Interview with a Skype Ninja: Wifi VoIP Tips and Tricks
11. GPS and Skyhook: Applications and Implementations
12. Location Based Services: Hot Ones for 2008 and 2009
13. Dopplr, Fire Eagle, Loopt and Whrrl
14. Mapping Services for Mobile Devices
15. Touch iPod: An Effective Tool?
16. Power Options for Mobile Devices
17. iPhone Jailbreak: What You Need to Know
18. Safe Mobile Computing With a Flash Drive
19. How to Never Lose Your Cell Phone, Flash Drive or Laptop
20. Digital Transactions With Your Cell Phone
21. Cell Phone to Flickr in 4 Clicks
22. Seesmic and VideoBlogging with a Cell Phone
23. Using Your Cell Phone to Find the Best Nearby Restaurant
24. Top 10 Converged Devices
25. Email, Calendars, Maps and Photos on Your Cell Phone

Many of the barcampers at the October event will be true digital natives and internet nomads with 'mobile web' ideas and experience I'll never be able to match. The best sessions in a Mobile Web track will no doubt be ones not even mentioned on the above list.

If you are highly interested in the mobile web, how about taking the lead and recruiting some BarCampMilwaukee participants to lead sessions for this track?

We should get AT&T and Verizon engineers to come lead tracks on technology behind their services. Robyn can do a video blog session with her phone. A Google rep should lead an update session about Android, showing some cool apps on an Android concept phone. Samsung, Apple, HTC, RIM, Palm and Motorola could lead a session on tricks with their mobile devices. Reps from Dopplr and Fire Eagle could demo their stuff, answer questions and help those interested build new apps or mashups. Endless possibilities.

How cool would it be if BarCampMilwaukee spawned a new startup for iPhone apps or for providing SMB mobile web services...

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