Thing 22: Mobile Things

Gum was another mobile app that I had never heard off so was interested to see what it could do.  I tried it on a few books that I have myself and I don’t know what kind of reflection it is on my reading habits but nobody had left any “gums” on my books.  Ok, so not too successful from that point of view.  However, the next day, I was notified of a Gum that someone had added to my book.  So was that a coincidence or was I doing something wrong in not finding original gums.  And the poster disagreed with my review of the book as well!

I can the potential there for public libraries or bookclubs.  If you have a book that people are actively engaging with at one time, then it would be fun and interesting to see what others are saying and build a conversation around a book. 

I think children could really get great fun out of using this app.  They are so used to using their mobile phone to use apps like Snapchat that using Gum could be appealing to them.   The interface is very simple and colourful and leaving a comment is so easy.  And Gum comments can be applied to lots of products so it definitely could be useful as a teaching tool.

Of course, because comments are not moderated, there could be some negatives from this if children are involved.

There are loads of great apps now available to use on your mobile and the lines between what you use for work and what you use in a personal capacity are blurring.  People tweet, instagram, and use facebook personally and professionally.  The main thing is to have fun finding new apps and discovering their potential.