Mobile phones now have the capability to remotely post media to online spaces. Using open-source software, free4md.com creates a collective online platform to which individuals can send video and photos directly from their cell phones. Upon becoming be a member, media can be remotely posted from the users mobile device directly to a personal profile page, via a free downloadable phone application. Within this personal profile, members organize their media while determining whether it should post as private, selectively shared or free for the public to view. Focusing on ease of navigation and creation of a community within the high saturation of video on the web, freeformed.org members create smaller environments called forums. These forums are instigated by individual members, first consisting of their own video then growing with video posted by other members. Ideal for a rich level of communication on topics ranging from a child’s soccer team to a political protest, this outlet enables expression that has not been this easy or immediate over such a distance before. It is now possible for an image to be sent from the remote location where it is being documented to a single platform to be viewed globally, with the ease it takes to send a text message. Employing user-generated comments, rankings and tags, the community surrounding the media categorizes and encourages relevant media. These smaller communities allow ease of navigation through the site and encourages the environment and conversation that surrounds media.

Images know no geographical boundaries but can still communicate the most essential elements of the human experience. The use of emerging media connectivity now makes the presentation of these images easy, instantaneous and global. The creation of viable outlet for this media allows the access and navigation essential for this type of communication possible.

The current trend of media on the web has failed to facilitate a divergent community despite its use of fast and easy media posting. Instead it represents a niche of the global population contributing an unbalanced amount to the high saturation of content. This, along with a lack of fluent organization has been counterproductive to the interest in personal media on the web. Recognizing this problem while aware of the developing capability of Multimedia Messaging Systems (MMS), free4md.com is an online space for the management of media that facilitates the potential for global connectivity.

Our present user is required to have a MMS-enabled mobile phone at minimum. Unfortunately, this limits our audience due to current availability and costs. Preferably, phone compatibility for download of the J2ME phone application is desired, but this limits our current user even further. As this technology becomes cheaper and more accessible the audience will be broad, with the online platform malleable to the multiple applications of video and pictures already used in traditional media.

A member hosts a forum called Motherhood to work through the many stages of raising a child. Members from diverse regions take part in dialogue through their remote posts of video and pictures as well as comments and tags. A visitor to the site searches for the word “babies”. While looking at one of the video’s tagged such, they are made aware of the Motherhood forum discussing the trials and joys of raising a child. Enabling cross-culture discovery within the context of their interests, they are inclined take part. The exchange of images allows rich communication of complex thoughts and feelings about issues as subjective as motherhood over great cultural and geographical distance.

Using Perl and J2ME, freeformed.org utilizes a free, downloadable phone application which enables immediate posting of media to the users selected area on their personal profile within the larger free4md.com searchable site. Members are required to set up a profile supplying their name, phone service provider and phone number, with the option to submit additional personal facts. Their profile page allows them to mark each post as they submit it as private, public or to be viewed by predetermined members. Only members are allowed to post video and pictures, but any visitor to the site can search, view, tag and comment all public media. Users are also able to post media to forums that they are members of from their phone. Future functionality, currently in development, will also allow members to receive an alert on their phone (if they choose) that tells them when someone has commented on their media or posted new media to a forum they are subscribed to. They will also be able to comment and tag media from their mobile phones while it is being uploaded or after it is posted. Members and non-members can also subscribe to the rss feed of a particular forum or a user's personal profile.



For the show, we would like to set up a laptop or lab computer so that potential users can view the site, understand the setup, visit forums already in existence, read our goals about future functionality and, most importantly, sign-up and begin adding media to their own personal profile. We are also aiming to have a hybrid of the final J2ME application working so that potential users can experiment with it on a phone that we will provide.

This technology is only as good as it’s availability and the platform in which it is presented. Many people do not have phones which can send pictures or video and among those who do, many have restrictive service plans that make sending MMS messages expensive. Also, many phones are still unable to run J2ME applications such as the one we are utilizing. For these reasons, we plan to continue developing functionality within the site over the summer and next year to enable people to post by making a phone call. In the meantime, we have enabled an upload function that allows users to upload media directly from their computers so they have the ability to participate even if their phones and service plans prevent them from doing so on their phone.



The project is currently fully functional. However, the design of the site is still in progress and will be finished by Friday the 28th for a class presentation in Producing Participatory Media.