Mobcasting Explained

I will give an example to better illustrate the idea of Mobcasting rather than try to explain it technically.

In much the same way, the unfettered minds could be people working on a project together in real time - documenting as they go. While this ability is inherent in radio and telephone, the financial barrier for entry is high because of the equipment involved - mobcasting serves as a way to tear down that barrier. And while this explanation is very vague, it is only vague because of the inherent lack of limitation. Our imagination in it's use is our only limit - but here are a few examples of what can be done with it in very practical ways.

Medicine
Probably the greatest benefit from mobcasting in terms of quality of life can be seen in medicine. While much of what mobcasting does is presently done in the medical field, this requires specialized and subsequently expensive equipment. This also means that the use of the systems is inflexible - and as anyone who has spent time in the medical field can say, there is much that is very flexible in the medical field, especially in the context of medical cases. Further, this can provide a linked history, recorded, allowing multiple perspectives at the same time - thus allowing better patient histories and case histories, and perhaps ultimately better patient care. Consider the following scenarios:

Having a conversation with a doctor from a remote place, as Michael Crichton touched on in his book Five Patients - only with reduced cost such that clinics could better service their area.
Medical transcription through central servers, where medical transcriptionists could ask for clarification of things that they do not understand in real time.
Distance consultations with specialists by Doctors - in real time.
Distance discussion of medical cases between doctors, nurses and administrators.
Emergency Medical Technicians can get live information not only from doctors and coordinating facilities, but also other Emergency Medical Technicians in the area. This is extremely useful in mass casualty scenarios - from blood, to water purification tablets, to simple normal saline.
Immediate transmission of lab and X-Ray results from remote laboratories and radiologists, pending dictation, which can be used to treat the patient even while the paperwork is still being done - yet providing part of a permanent record of the patient's treatment.

Again, all of this can be done now - but where it is done, it is done through specialized equipment. What if you could do it with $500 of computer hardware and some cell phones? That's the real benefit - which also benefits patients, and ultimately society, since medical costs can go down when compared to resulting quality of life. And something like this could potentially be set up in a matter of hours, for rapid response to mass casualty scenarios as well as problems at sea, or in the air.

Maybe it's not a heart replacement. But maybe it can help a heart get to the right place.

Journalism

One of the original ways in which mobcasting was thought of great use was in covering real time events - demonstrations, crises, and maybe even something as simple as traffic reports. What used to be the a pencil, notepad and telephone - later becoming portable computer or a cellular phone and pencil and paper - can all be done in real time - much like a podcast, but with one significant difference: All of the information can be centrally located and linked. While eventually the information can be transcribed, for real time coverage and coordination of coverage, mobcasting has definite yet unrealized potential in this area.

Meetings

Every year, millions of dollars are spent flying people around from one part of the world to another for meetings. While the need for these meetings cannot be denied in some instances, it's also likely that some of these meetings could be done with technology such as mobcasting across the globe - be it for business, for NGOs, and even for government.

Multilingualism

One of the greatest issues facing the internet is the length of time it takes to translate things at times - as well as the logistics involved. Yet interpreters do it in real-time all over the world. Imagine that they could not only do this remotely - but that also transcription could happen per language at the same time, allowing people to interact through their native languages around the world while creating permanent records for people. And, as someone noted, cultures with oral traditions may well find this worth investigating.

In all, Mobcasting is more than it appears on the surface. It's more than what I have written here, and it's limited only by our imaginations and application of it and our imaginations. While software is the main issue right now, it's important to consider the scenarios that it could be used in so that the software can be designed to meet and exceed these scenarios.

And obviously, there are business possibilities as well - services that can be provided through modcasting, or simply leveraging mobcasting to allow for higher quality and speed of service with reduced cost.