wap applications of Libraries

György Barna Iszály, gyiszaly@inf.unideb.hu
College of Nyíregyháza, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics

The last decade brought the growth of telecommunication forwards by leaps and bounds. We can use mobile phones for not only making phone calls, but we can send SMSs or take digital pictures, that we can send by MMS. With 3G technology, we can use videophone services, so the callers are able to see each other during the call. Another telecommunication service is WAP, which is a content-service just like the WWW, but the format of the WAP pages are adjusted by the display of the mobile phone.
The future of libraries depends on the adoption of the new technologies. Today almost every person has a mobile phone. Therefore, it is very important, that the services of the libraries are brought into position to appear on WAP pages.
In my lecture I sketch out the basics of WAP technology. I will show what kind of hardware and software are needed to use WAP. I compare the WAP and the WWW. Summerize a review of the analogy of HTML, WML and XHTML languages. I will demonstrate how the libraries are able to make WAP portals. I will verify which services are realizable in this application, and try to present, how easy it is to grasp these WAP pages. Finally, I will list the possibilities and the advantages of WAP technology in libraries.