The rapid convergence of social networks, mobile phones and global positioning technology has given Duke University engineers the ability to create something they call “virtual sticky notes,” site-specific messages that people can leave for others to pick up on their mobile phones.”Every mobile phone can act as a telescope lens providing real-time information about its environment to any of the 3 billion mobile phones worldwide,” said Romit Roy Choudhury, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering.

A team led by Roy Choudhury has developed a new software system that enables users to obtain location-specific, real-time information — either passively or directly — from other mobile phone users across the world. It will be as if every participating mobile phone works together, allowing each individual to access information throughout that virtual network.

“We can now think of mobile phones as a ‘virtual lens’ capable of focusing on the context surrounding it,” Roy Choudhury said. “By combining the lenses from all the active phones in the world today, it may be feasible to build an internet-based ‘virtual information telescope’ that enables a high-resolution view of the world in real time.”

The application combines the capabilities of distributed networks (like Wikipedia), social networks (Facebook), mobile phones, computer networks and geographic positioning capabilities, such as GPS or WiFi.

“Micro-blogs will provide unprecedented levels and amounts of information literally at your fingertips no matter where you are, through your mobile phone,” Roy Choudhury said. “We have already deployed a prototype, and while some challenges remain to be addressed, the feedback we’ve received so far indicates that micro-blog represents a promising new model for mobile social communication.”

Link via sciencedaily.com