Mobile internet research
Tino Kreutzer is working on a research project, Getting the Numbers Straight that looks into mobile usage, particularly internet use by low income teens in Cape Town. Tino has quire rightly discovered that there is not enough data currently available in this growing area.
Here are some quick numbers; 97% have used Internet from a cell phone, 83% use the internet on a typical day. Almost half of their mobile use is dedicated to the internet on a daily basis. Here is what they do in order of popularity on an average day;
- get news or weather online
- download songs, videos or ringtones
- go online for no particular reason
- send and receive email
- information about a hobby or interest
- hunt for a particular fact
- use an instant messaging client
- look for health or medical information
- information about movies, books or other leisure activities
- information on further education
- look for information for school
The implications for learning applications on the (mobile) internet is an opportunity space that is only beginning to be realized as a tool for change.
