Utterz...All-In-One mobile blogging! Free! Finally!

While there are some fantastic mobile blogging resources on the web, such as Gabcast, Gcast, Eyespot, Radar, evoca, Flickr, Jott, and Go@blogger.com, none of them allow you to post video, audio, text, and photos directly to a blog from their account. For example, Gabcast only posts audio, and Eyespot posts video, while Flickr only will post images. Now, of course you can set up accounts in all 3 of the aforementioned resources to post to the same blog, but the data will be housed in 3 separate places online. A little inconvenient for teachers and students. It is a also a reason why many teachers would be afraid to ask their students to mobile blog different types of media, because they do not want to deal with too many different web accounts. Now, I am come accross a resource called Utterz. It is the first resource I have found on the web that lets you mobile blog all 4 types of media to one place, from one account! Even better, it is international! So people from 25 different countries (and more), can use this free resource.

Let's look at the positives:
1) It is international, so people from around the globe can participate.
2) It is free to use.
3) You can use a landline (nice for students and/or teachers who do not have cell phones)
4) You can text, photo, video, or audio blogs from one account!
5) It has private options for posting!
6) You can post audio,text,images, and video on the same post from one phone.
7) You can "reply" to other "utterzs" and "listen" to them on your mobile phone.
8) You can receive alerts when someone comments or replys to your "utter"
9) The utters show up within a few seconds in your utter webspace.
10) You can "utter" back and forth with others via cell phone (no need to have computer or Internet access)

The downside:
1) Unlike some of the other resources I mentioned earlier, it is not a toll-free number (it is probably hard to do this since it is international), so if you use a landline, it will cost money (unless you have unlimited long-distance or use long-distance at an "unlimited talk" time)
2) there is some advertising (although it is off to the side and reasonable).
3) Utterz did show up on my blog posts within 10 minutes, but it showed up in my "drafts" box in blogger. This is not necessarily a negative because teachers who want to moderate posts, can then hit the published button after they have viewed/listened to the post. But if you want it to immediately post to a blog---it seems to have some trouble doing this, it might be because I have comment moderation on? I'm not sure.

Other than not having a toll-free number (maybe that will change?!), Utterz is a great resource for mobile blogging because it is all-in-one media blogging. This would be a great resource for students who are on field trips or a break from school. On their field trip, they could "blog" photos, videos, text, or audio to their Utterz account (or an external blog). Over Spring break students could do the same (maybe for extra credit...), for example if they are studying ecosystems in science class, they could post images of creatures and/or plants they find at the beach. Utterz could also be used as an up-to-date local newspaper. Students could post local event information, video, reports, and images as they are happening in their community.

Radar: Share, Comment, and Blog videos and pics via Cell

While searching the Internet I stumbled onto a site called Radar. I've had it bookmarked for a couple of weeks and just now decided to take a look. Wow! I wish I had known about this site sooner. It is a free mobile video and photo sharing site, very similar to Flickr mobile, except with videos and excellent privacy options, and you can share and comment on media via cell phones (no need to every log on to the Internet--although there are web alternatives for commenting and uploading). Radar also has a blog feature, so you can photoblog right from your cell phone. Also, Radar does not seem to have any advertising (great for schools)!

In the past I have written about different ways to use photoblogging for learning. But one of my new favorite ways has to be mobile journalism. Radar is a great option for this because you can post both photos and videos of live events to the web (your Radar blog) and simultaneously you can send them to subscribers cell phones. Just like on CNN (my favorite news site) where readers can comment, subscribers to a radar feed (Radar calls them friends) can also comment on the images and videos. Additionally you can subscribe to channels (other people who have Radar accounts). This could be helpful if you are doing a group project outside of the classroom and would like to document the videos and images in one general location. Therefore you can keep track of how every group member is contributing to the group project.

Radar would also be a great resource for mobile scavenger hunts, since students could document their "artifacts" with either images or videos and they could designate that the media is sent to the public class Radar blog or private space in Radar.