Going Mobile, EJC 2010
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Going Mobile: Strategies for Advocates, Clients and Pro Bono Volunteers * David Bonebrake, LSNTAP, Santa Monica, CA. * Michael L. Monahan, State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Project, Atlanta, GA. * Jane Ribadeneyra, Legal Services Corporation, Washington, DC. In a world of laptops, netbooks and iPhones, are your advocates tied to their desktops? Come learn about trends in mobile technology, including a discussion and demo of tools and resources to expand your reach to diverse communities. Find out how to take a mobile law office to clients in areas without easy access to a legal aid office by arming advocates with netbooks, wireless cards, mobile routers and portable printer/scanners. We'll also look at how to optimize your website for clients to access on their cell phones as well as ways to reach out using text messaging and podcasting.
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Going Mobile, EJC 2010
- 1. GOING MOBILE
- 13. Number Keypad Low-glare screen
- 17. When user logs-in, u see availability
Editor's Notes
- Demo HERE
- DEMO here of Live Communicator
- General information about cell phone usage in the US 2010. About 9 out of 10 Americans over 18 own a cell phone. We’re seen figures ranging from 87% cell phone adoption (Marist, March 2009) to 93% adoption (New Millennium Research Council, March 2010, citing on industry data.) I’d say it’s safe to assume that 9 out of 10 adults are using cell phones at this point. The recent growth in cell phone adoption is really being driven by the emergence of the low-cost providers. These services typically offer all you can eat our unlimited plans for as little as $30 to $45. In fact, growth in contract services is now almost stagnant. Good news for helplines that often require users to stay on hold before they receive assistance.
- We’re also seeing an emergence of subsidized cell phone services for people who are low-income or are receiving government benefits. Lifeline Program has been around in the U.S. since 1996. It’s been a government supported program for income eligible households that ensures telephone service is available and affordable. In the past year, it has been expanded to cover wireless service. So under Lifeline, people who qualify can receive free phones and between 80 and 200 minutes through one of two providers: Safelink or Assurance. This is available in about 25 states and should be expanding more in the near future. Customers can also expand their service to include extra minutes and text messaging plans.
- Two points about the mobile web and how its relates to the work legal aid does: Not only are cell phones becoming an important part of clients’ lives, so is the mobile web. Most phones can access the mobile web (even if they don’t provide a great user experience). Compelling statistics on early adopters. We also know that there is antecdotal evidence that people are buying data plans for cell phones because believe that hard-wire an internet connection into their home is cost-prohibitive.
- We do know that people are accessing our clients site through mobile devices. This is the usage data for Idaho Legal Aid’s statewide client site from February 24 to April 27, so slightly over two months. You can see that mobile devices sent 160 visits to the site during that period, according to the software (Google Analytics). The tracking software that Idaho uses actually significantly underestimates mobile usage because they only count phones that support Javascript. Likley there are hundreds of additional users that are not being counted because they are on more basic devices.
- Given all of this, what can legal aid do to adapt to the mobile web? I think the PTLA demo makes more sense here. Statistics about the first 4-5 months of mobile site usage. How do people get this information.
- Scott’s graphic. Mobile optimization approaches from easiest to most difficult. MoFuse.com – MoFuse is an online service that promises to automatically convert a site in a few easy steps. Nonprofit discount available. CMS Solutions – Most websites run on using a software application called a content management system, or CMS. Many of these CMS’s now have mobile add-ons that allow administrators to create a mobile optimized version of their website. If your program runs the state’s statewide website, it should be noted that both LSNTAP and Pro Bono Net applied for TIGs to add easy mobile-optimization into their respective CMS’s. Hand Code the Mobile Site – PTLA approach. Upside: full control over how your site is developed. Downside: expensive and hard.
- The #1 rule for creating mobile sites, regardless of how you’re going about developing it, is adapt to the mobile context - don’t just repurpose your existing site. There a tendency to think that if you can strip away some graphics and set your sight up so that it displays on mobile devices, then you’ve created your mobile site. You really need to develop around the mobile experience though – ask yourself “what do my users want to do in the mobile context?” The best mobile sites out there are not just repurposed desktop sites, they’re designed for the mobile experience. The MIT site here is a great example. This looks nothing like the MIT desktop web site. Instead, MIT really asked themselves: What do mobile web users want out of our site. And that’s why there is a campus map, shuttle info, events calendar,and People directory displayed at the top. That’s what your using in a mobile context.
- Looking forward: the reality is that plain text might not be the best medium for delivering legal information over mobile phones. That’s why programs are beginning to look to creating audio and video for these devices… I can ask people who are/were connected to the PTLA site to try the video.
- Text messaging has become very common among cell phone users. Last year in the US, 4.1 billion texts were sent per day in the US (http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20091008/omfg-4-1-billion-text-messages-sent-every-day-in-us/). Unlike the mobile web, which probably isn’t supported well in most phones, essentially every phone can adequately handle sending and receiving text messages. CC image license: flickr user mikeleeorg
- More social services are using text messaging to reach their intended audience. This is text4baby – it’s a service setup through a broad public-private partnership that offers free messages each week to expectant mothers. They worked with the wireless carriers to make these text messages free, regardless of what type of text messaging plan folks do or do not have.
- Used in the US for sending messages about food availability to the homeless, supporting civil rights campaigns and sending information, supporting ‘quit smoking’ campaigns through the sending of tips and messages.