Birdwatching 2.0

Copenhagen.
Eva Törnqvist is the next speaker at COST298, who highlights a specific form of user-led, bottom-up innovation in the use of mobile phones: by birdwatchers in Sweden. Traditionally, this community has used other tools to disseminate information about where to see rare birds: for example sticking paper signs on the back of a road sign, later on using answering machine and pager messages (to the point where they clogged the phone lines in small Swedish towns to breaking point).

Today, a community called Club 300 (as in, at least 300 recorded sightings of rare birds) uses mobile phones to share their knowledge. The switch to mobile phones also allows for the transmission of substantially more information (bird pictures and sounds), and connection with other services (such as road directions). Similarly, the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management now also share their wildlife and hunting pictures and videos on the Web, as well as through mobile phone services.

In such cases, social context plays a highly important role. These are social activities, and participants want to share their experiences and knowledge, as well as interact with one another. Using such technologies are enabling to community members - but may also exclude those who are not members of the community. At any rate, this is an example of user-driven innovation.

Technorati : COST298, birdwatching, collaboration, hunting, mobile, produsage, sharing
Del.icio.us : COST298, birdwatching, collaboration, hunting, mobile, produsage, sharing