On the Future of Mobile Phones as the Heart of Community-Built Databases - Community-Built Databases: Research and Development - page 277

l Mobile client-mobile host. Most of these kinds of applications require the
management of a database embedded in mobile devices, data durability and
copy synchronization. Some examples involve portable folders such as medical
folders on a smart or SIM card or phonebooks in mobile phones [ 52 ].
l Fixed client-mobile Host. This is a situation not well covered by current
research, although it has been proposed in the literature [ 37 ].
l Fixed client-fixed Host. This kind of application may involve mobile databases,
such as keeping track of mobile locations in telecommunications, transportation,
or traffic [ 72 ].
l P2P. There has not been much research on mobile P2P databases concerning
mobile phones, but some of the research conducted on mobile P2P databases for
sensor networks [ 75 ] can be applied to mobile phones.
The current state of the art on mobile databases is centered around the mobile
client-fixed host model, which allows plenty of possibilities, but is based on the
assumption that the information is managed within the fixed host (typically a Web
server) and mobile clients are only an additional way to access/modify the infor-
mation on the host. With the actual capacities of mobile phones, and their intense
impact on our everyday activities, it is time to let mobile phones and devices gain
importance when dealing with databases, especially for community-built databases.
New models such as fixed client-mobile host or P2P mobile databases are going to
have a great impact on community-built databases.
11.5.2.1 Fixed Client-Mobile Host Mobile Databases
Until now, there has been no option to run an application where the host resided on
the mobile phone, due to the lack of connectivity and processing power. But
nowadays mobile phones have the same processing capacity as 4- to 5-year-old
servers, enough for most smaller applications. They are able to run 3D games, and
even to host a server (Web server, ftp server, etc.). They also have great connectiv-
ity, as they are able to connect to Internet wireless, GPRS, 3G, and almost any other
wireless technology available on the market.
And there exist several situations where mobile phones should host, at least, an
important part of the data, instead of being hosted by an external Eeb server:
l Host profile data for social networks. Every time we want to sign in to a new
social network, we have to introduce our personal data into that social network,
and each time we change something (e.g., surname, e-mail, and affiliations) we
have to access each social network and upload that information. There exist
several Web services that try to centralize our profile data in order to broadcast
the changes to every social network we are registered in, but as each social
network treats your profile as theirs, there exist many difficulties in that process.
Our profile information on social networks contains very personal information
that should be managed from a more personal device/environment in order to be