There’s a scene in the 1983 classic “Mr. Mom” when new stay-at-home dad Jack Butler attempts to drop off his kids at school.
It’s a simple task, really, but as his kids and others are quick to point out, he’s doing it wrong.
When it comes to location-based services and how we employ them in a university setting, I think many of us may be employing the similar Jack Butler method while achieving similar results.
We’re doing it wrong.
We collect reams of data, develop digital badges and even check-in our selves. But to what end? Colleges and universities have been quick to jump on the location-based bandwagon but slow to ask where the bandwagon is going or if the bandwagon is even the right vehicle to get us there. It’s time to rethink our strategy.
Jeffrey Kirchick, a university specialist at SCVNGR, recently spoke at the 2011 HighEdWeb Conference where he clearly laid it on the line: “How we think about location-based services is wrong.”
People are adopting location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla for the sake of adopting them, Kirchick said, and comparing the tools against each other as if they are all the same.
Location-based services are not created equal and the way we think about them needs to reflect this fact. Kirchick couldn’t be more right.
As with any new media tool out there, it all comes down to value.
Facebook provides value by building stronger connections and deeper relationships. Twitter is great at breaking news and creating a channel of communication. However, neither does a blockbuster job of incorporating location.
Location-based services seem to be out there alone.
I’m not saying these services don’t provide a certain value to the user, but how much value can someone find by checking in? What’s the worth of a super swarm badge?
If location-based services are going to be ‘the next big thing’ (and I believe they can be), the trick is going to be finding ways to provide real value beyond a digital badge … otherwise we’re taking what could be a cool technology and simply doing it wrong.
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Well said, sir! It’s the goals vs. tools, value vs. shiny debate writ large. I think any and all of these services can have value … but as I said to Jeff recently, just because I can use a frozen banana to drive in a nail doesn’t mean I’m using it for its real purpose.