Re: http://www.w3.org/2008/02/MS4D_WS/papers/unicef-w3c-presentation.html

Hi Kai,

> Sure there are Web applications with SMS integration. However, the
> principle of the Web is to be addressable by URIs.
> http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/#identification
unfair, unfair my friend ...:)
read just few lines above:
"This document does not discuss in any detail other interaction models 
such as voice browsing (see, for example, [VOICEXML2])"

so clearly the webarch doc is talking about browsing using a web browser.
For me, SMS is like voice browsing, another mode of interaction.

> When the thehindu.com is advertised from bill boards in India how do
> people with only SMS phones find the news headlines?

again, this is another mode of interaction, very similar to voicexml 
where your mode of connection is not an URI but a phone number.
So on the bilboard, you might see: theindu.com (phone number 45363)
phone number you could call or sms and you would have the info.
But this is strechting the point too far for me.
We are in a specific context, not browsing the Web in general.
The context is: i'm somewhere in bolivia, and people needs the weather 
forecast in order to know when to put the seed in the ground. So i want 
to develop this service. I can develop it on the web, and provide 
through an sms gateway the service.

> Are they expected to sign up to twitter and start tracking an
> "thehindu" twitter stream? That's far too centralised, convoluted and
> frankly dangerous.

exactly.

> If we can promote and educate people with the value of URIs, by asking
> operators to setup "standard" Web SMS gateways, the Web could have a
> foot in the door in developing markets.
this will never happen.
neither will happen the development of a very lightweight (text-only) 
browser, something i believed in for a while, mostly because this would 
mean investing in a direction that is not the trend. The trend is 2g, 3g 
4g networks, and full mobile browser.
I also don't fully agree that this would be a foot in the door of 
developing markets.
We discussed this point already. There is not a "developing market". 
There is a population with different segments. some are aware of the web 
and what they can do with it, and they are usually able to afford high 
end phones or go to internet cafe. But the bottom of the pyramid is 
fighting for life, and they would not go to the Web because they have no 
idea what they could find, and so on. They just need services, and for 
that you don't need web-sms gateways, implemented at the operator level. 
the current infrastructure is enough.

> Otherwise, what are we going to? Promote Web applications that have
> inconsistent SMS interfaces? That sounds ridiculous to me.

We have to explain what are the strenght and the limitation of SMS. 
SMS-Web connection is imho a transient case that will stay till web 
browser are widely available and data plan affordable.
So we have to pave the road to reach this state. Paving the road means 
starting where we are, where SMS rules. It is not about promoting SMS, 
but relying on the what is possible today.

Stephane


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Stephane Boyera  stephane@w3.org
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Received on Thursday, 6 November 2008 10:18:44 UTC