regardingjohn

…another post from my work blog:

Mashable.com (a great source for recent social media news) reports that Google just added a “Near Me” button to their mobile homepage on Android and iPhone (and I assume also the Nexus One). Clicking on the “Near Me” button brings up search results associated with your location.

Surely, it won’t be long before business-focused search results (including the existing consumer-created Yelp-like reviews) will be expanded with other user-created results in the form of a local Wikipedia. This has been a dream of mine now since I blogged about it in 2005. And with the popularity of mobiles now coming in full swing with Foursquare, Twitter, etc. (ARIS), it’s gotta be just around the corner.

Imagine the curricular uses of an ARIS-like field research device that brings survey tools that can immediately and easily connect to large databases into the field or community. Apps like Pocket Universe that show constellations and stellar information based on your location and what part of the sky you’re looking at (using the iPhone’s GPS, compass, and accelerometer) are already amazing learning tools. Add the ability to map, time, and annotate one’s own observations as easily as these new mobile technologies allow, and it becomes clear that “out-of-class” assignments (and the connections between the university and the community) are going to drastically change.

ARIS is Academic Technology’s locative connection to the mobile world, but Digital Storytelling could play a huge role in helping students tell the stories of their field work, and projects like Case Scenario Builder could pave the way for preparing for learning scenarios that move education far beyond classroom walls.

See Geo-Annotation for earlier thoughts I had about this.