The Creative Commons Library is the first in a series of works to be published on the Winksite Mobile Publishing & Community Platform. Winksite extends the power of publishing and distributing mobile books to the masses. The tools used are offered FREE of charge to individuals and non-profit organizations for non-commercial use.

Over the coming months the number of collections will grow to include thousands of titles available under Creative Commons license, in the public domain, and from leading publishers.

Accessing The Creative Commons Library
The works published within the The Creative Commons Library are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any web-enabled mobile phone or PDA (no downloading or installation required). We welcome your comments.

• Creative Commons Library: http://winksite.com/books/cc/
• Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig: http://winksite.com/lessig/freeculture/
• The Literary Works of Cory Doctorow: http://winksite.com/doctorow/books/
• Monster Island by David Wellington: http://winksite.com/monster/island/
• Monster Nation by David Wellington: http://winksite.com/monster/nation/
• Media Are Alive by Mike Popovic: http://winksite.com/popovic/stories/

Note: Point your phone’s mobile browser to the URLs above to access the mobile book you are interested in reading.Each chapter within the book is 2 clicks away from a site’s “Main Menu.” The chapters are automatically broken up into multiple screens so memory starved mobile browsers don’t gag on lengthy content. There are smart links generated from chapter to chapter and a mobile email form is included for forwarding chapters to yourself or a friend. Each book’s Creative Commons license information is included in the email.

Winkbooks Explained – The Power of the Distributed Word
Mobile books, or “Winkbooks” are texts designed to be read on a web-enabled mobile phone.

Mobile publishing is a concept still in its relative infancy – partly due to the technology barrier that needs to be overcome by many prospective users. The idea that paper and ink should be forsaken for mobile phones is enough to make readers give an almost Luddite shudder. How can any mobile device approach the ergonomics and durability of a good quality book or reading the text on a PC or notebook? Who will read a book on a phone? Replacement however, is not the point. It’s all about distribution.

You see, there is a revolution going on all over the world. People from Japan to India to Europe to the United States and South America are engaging content on mobile devices in record numbers – in fact mobile access to the Internet has already surpassed desktop access. For tens of millions their mobile phone is their one and only pipeline onto the Internet, to knowledge it contains, and to each other. Their entire “connected” world is what they can publish and consume directly on their phone. Let’s connect everyone to all the great content and thoughts bouncing around the Internet. Don’t leave anyone out or behind or without a voice.

By providing a greater number of people with knowledge, you provide an even greater number with the potential to become involved. As I see, it is more than just publishing content. It is about the individuals it engages, the people it connects, the dialogue that develops, the community that forms and the collective action that can result.

The Future Of Mobile Books On Phones
Technology will continue to impact the way the world accesses and uses content on phones. At the moment we are at the same stage as early television, where the first TV programs were picture radio shows. The question that remains to be answered is – What shape will future works and content take? Our thought is to provide a new generation of authors and artists with the tools they need to self-publish, step out of the way, watch, listen then respond with innovations.

How To Get Started
A Tutorial will be published over the next few weeks showing you step-by-step:

1. How to publish and distribute your own CC-licensed book to mobile devices utilizing Winksite’s Mobile Publishing & Community Platform.
2. How to add your work to a “shelf” in the Creative Commons Mobile Library.

Meanwhile, please contact us if you have a CC-licensed book and would like us to help you publish it . We would be happy to lend a hand.

Development Roadmap

• Ability to bookmark your location within a text and be “dropped” right back where you left off when you return.
• Ability to search the Winksite mobile catalog and select titles to personalize your own unique collection.
• Generate custom RSS feeds (e.g. Subscribe to a book feed where a chapter a day is sent to your feed reader).
• Ability to import photo, audio & video content.
• Integration with Our Media to mobilize personal media.
• Standards support will include but not be limited to WML v1.x, XML, XHTML, xHTML Mobile Profile(WML v2.0), i-mode compatible HTML (cHTML), CSS2 and CSS3, OEBPS 1.2, and related specifications.

The Audience

• According to the EMC subscriber numbers passed the 1.5 billion mark in the first week of June 2004. That’s roughly equivalent to one-fourth of the entire world population.
• Globally, more people access the Internet via a mobile device than a tethered PC.
• Mobile phones are the largest-selling consumer device in the world with annual sales exceeding the sales of PCs, TVs and DVD players combined.
• NTT DoCoMo reports in September 2004 that about two-thirds of the Japanese population experiences the Internet solely through their mobile phones.
• A report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in May 2004, showed that Africa was the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone market, with use of handsets increasing at an annual rate of 65%.
• According to Ministry of Information and Industry statistics, mobile phone subscribers in China increased by 40.3 million to 310 million as of the end of July 2004 out numbering land line users.
• Indian mobile phone users grew to 44.9 million last month outnumbering fixed-line customers for the first time, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
• There are 171.2 mln wireless subscribers in the United States, according to an industry trade group, CTIA-The Wireless Association.

Goals

• Revolutionize the way individuals and organizations publish and consume content over mobile networks.
• Provide a new channel for distribution of texts that have been made available to the public for free.
• Support the educational and recreational needs of a variety of mobile readers.
• Contribute to the public library mission(s) of informational needs, literacy, lifelong learning, and recreational reading of the general public.
• Create a richer, more productive learning environment for those without consistent access to a PC and wired Internet access.
• Help get content onto subscriber’s phones and so grow the author’s audience.

Criteria for Inclusion in Winkbooks

• Works must be in the public domain, published under Creative Commons License, or must be provided by publishers for free distribution to the public.
• In determining accuracy and authority, electronic texts converted under the auspices of an educational institution are most highly considered.
• When considering electronic texts, the existing format and organization must not present any significant obstacles for conversion.

Mobile Browser Support
Winkbooks can be viewed on any web-enabled mobile phone or PDA running a WML v1.x, xHTML Mobile Profile(WML v2.0) or i-mode compatible HTML (cHTML) browser. Browsers currently supported include:

• Openwave Mobile Browser (v4.0 and up)
• Nokia WAP Browser
• Blazer (v2.x and up for Palm OS)
• BlackBerry Browser
• NetFront (v3.x)
• Compact NetFront Plus
• Opera (Symbian OS)
• Wapaka (Pocket PC, Palm OS, Symbian OS, hiptop/Sidekick, QNX)
• Pocket Internet Explorer (Microsoft PocketPC Phone Edition, Microsoft Smartphone 2002)
• AvantGo (Limited support – Pocket PC, Palm OS, Symbian OS)
• J-PHONE/3.0

About Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. They have built upon the “all rights reserved” of traditional copyright to create a voluntary “some rights reserved” copyright. Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation.Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school’s Center for Internet and Society. For information, visit: http://creativecommons.org/

About Wireless Ink
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – based Wireless Ink, founded in 2001, provides mobile publishing solutions. Wireless Ink’s award-winning, community, Winksite has been created to change the face of the mobile Internet — making it easier for, and more accessible to, the masses. For information, visit: http://winksite.com

Found This Post Interesting?
Read more about Winksite and mobile access to content at the following links:

• User-Generated Content: Killer App Of Mobile
• Mobile Support for Creative Commons
• The New York Times: A Library And Cinema In Your Pocket

Thanks to the A.S.Kline Network for some of the concepts used in the second paragraph of “Winkbooks Explained”.