Free content enables near universal access to DIY Learning

Free content, a great contribution to humanity

The title of this blog is Do It Yourself Mobile University, DIY M.U. The idea is that one can educate oneself by making use of the openness of the internet, social network content, mobile content and services that are readily available for free to anyone who seeks the information. This blog was started on March 30, 2009. In just two weeks time, I feel strongly that it is entirely possible for any motivated individual to gain a great deal of learning through online media to a level of competency in any field of discipline as good as traditional education. The availability of free content online compares to the building of libraries and stocking thousands of books that makes better education widely accessible and a great gift to humanity.

Quality web and blog sites and Wikipedia

As far as the content domain is concerned, the abundant availability of quality web sites and blogging sites and the very valuable Wikipedia is in some ways better and much more useful than the university text books I once had. The information is more up to date with today's business case studies that we can relate to. The large number of bloggers having different viewpoints on the same subject matter offers a broader view for the learner to develop non-biased and inquisitive thinking early on. Youtube, slideshare and many more visual, audio tools have made the learning experience multi-dimensional and highly reinforcing.

The more you tell the more you learn

Social networks and free publishing tools enable anyone to easily produce user generated content and exercises both our creative and communicative abilities. Through these channels and opportunities, the like minds connect with each other and further share with and learn from each other.

As someone new to blogging and from the point of view of a Web 2.0 layman user, and not as an expert, I am amazed at the amount of knowledge I can gather from online content and the number and quality of people I have met who are eager to both contribute and learn together.

Tomorrow, I'll share what I've discovered so far about some of the business models that successfully use free content strategy to create alternative revenue streams that otherwise would not be there.

Talking Mobile : Making your hotel booking from your mobile

Last October, Tomi Ahonen and I met with a mobile data only MVNO service provider. As of 2008, there were few MVNOs in Asia and hardly any mobile data CRM applications. With 3G deployment gathering pace, mobile internet and location base services are fast reaching the tipping point of consumer applications. We discussed a great deal about identifying what silos are suitable for mobile CRM. GPS enabled travel booking seemed an obvious choice. Six months later and here we are! The UK Travelodge has launched GPS room booking from 3G iPhones. You can read the full story here. I expect we'll see similar service available in Asia not long from now.