Following on from my previous post about a very relevant and topical project I wanted to see - I have been pulling together a number of scripts and other resources I have which should be a good start. With some more coding I am currently doing this will act as the framework for a open source project I have just started on sourceforge called 'Community Mobile Channels' .

Community Mobile Channels is a project which aims to utilise the power of new mobile technology to allow communities to create and publish quality mobile phone based web content without the need for a computer.  

This utilises the mobile web and will be based upon PHP and MYSQL. The 3 things which make this project different to a standard CMS are :-

1. Total focus on mobile rather than desktop in content creation, administration and content delivery - The project philosophy will be that computers are not required except in extreme cases such as installation and initial set up. This means that I/we will be aiming for full site compliance with   XHTML Mobile Profile 1.0 and zero errors on http://validator.w3.org/ and I/we will be using SMS where possible ahead of email.

Most popular open source CMS have mobile content delivery as an afterthought or plugin - however the administration is an content creation is always very dependent on using a desktop screen.

2. Focus on building community shared content - When people upload content there will be an option to 'make public' which will allow anyone within the community to reuse it on the site. This means that a shared repository of information and media can be built up over time. Also there will be a site option for people to be able to edit other peoples unlocked sites thus giving wiki style functionality. In addition the content will be organised into communal channels rather than individual users sites.

3. Focus on simplicity rather than extra functionality - Mobile applications are a balancing act - the more functionality you have - the harder the site can be to navigate and use. In all cases the need for the functionality must be weighed against how this will affect the user experience.

The first files will be appearing on sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/communitymobile/)in the next few days and a prototype demo will be available towards the end of next week (current target date = 12th March) and I will post updates on this blog.