mobileactive08

just completed three days at mobileactive 08 "a global event for peeople using mobile technology for social impact". Very inspiring to engage with 350 people from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas at a very well conceived and well run event. Three observations/experiences: 

• the culture of free open source is very powerful because it immediately builds a relationship of trust (or maybe its the opposite that is even more true - when you are dealing with people producing propriatorial software, you start from a position of distrust because you know you are being sold something).
  
• the reason everyone from africa, asia and south america is excited about mobile is because it offers us the best chance of turning the idea of a networked world into a reality where we live and work. But all of us, including those from these continents are networked on the web and not on our phones. Maybe if we forced ourselves to network via the phone, we would succeed better and quicker in creating the tools we need to turn web 2.0 into mobile 2.0.
• the 'rules' of what works and doesn't work in networks are not really much to do with technology. They are largely platform independent and some of the 'platforms' dont use technology at all. Appropriate use of technology in this context means understanding what networks exist already and how we can extend, change or even disrupt them through the additional intervention of new platforms.