 The world is becoming increasingly connected by mobile devices. To keep in touch with what clients need, legal aid organizations must continue to adapt their services to meet the demand. Today, a vast majority of Americans not only have cell phones, but own smartphones. In fact, half of all adults from households making less than $30,000 per year own a smartphone, and of those, many rely on it as their primary access to the Internet. This means that tens of millions of Americans are turning to their phones when they need help. People from a wide range of backgrounds are using their phones to search for healthcare, banking, employment, and government services information. And it's just as likely that they'll look for legal help. The question is, what will they find? By offering a mobile option, you make it possible for people to access your information and services when and where they are. You also give them the opportunity to enjoy greater privacy because they don't have to access your content from a public computer or in front of spouses and children. Text message information and communication also opens up access to people who do not have a data package or Internet access. In fact, many young people use texting more than any other function on their phones and are most likely to communicate this way. And a mobile app can open up interactive tools that you wouldn't typically use on a desktop, including GPS locations and cameras. However, there are also challenges you will want to keep in mind as you explore your mobile options. Almost no user will want to read text-heavy content because mobile screens are small and readers are often in a hurry. Web copy should be rewritten for the mobile user by presenting content in small segments. This is sometimes called chunking. You should also be aware of the risk of multi-field forms. Users with small or awkward keyboards are likely to key in numerous errors, so keep forms short and simple. A to J is rolling out a mobile version of Author very soon, which may help improve accuracy. Before you embark on a mobile technology project, first think about what your users want. Generally, people are looking for quick, on-the-go information from their smartphones, but it's important to remember that a significant percentage of your users may not have any other way to access your site. A good place to start is your website. Look at your analytics. How many mobile users come to your site and how long do they stay? When you compare your mobile user data with desktop users, do you see a big difference? Your mobile visitors may be leaving your page because they can't see the information they're looking for, or because they are frustrated by the site's navigation. And it's becoming increasingly likely that mobile users won't be able to find your site unless it's optimized for mobile devices. Google recently announced that it will prioritize mobile-friendly websites in its search results, ranking them higher than similar sites that do not have large text or easy-to-click links, or that don't resize to the dimensions of the screen viewing the site. If you're building a brand new site, you should consider building it using responsive design. Responsive design is when a website recognizes the kind of device accessing it and reformats to fit the screen. As you can see here, formatting and navigation change to allow the user to read the text and view images without needing to zoom in or scroll sideways. If your users will need to come back to your content multiple times, or you want to offer specific resources without the rest of your website getting in your way, you might create a mobile app. However, unless you have app developers on staff, you'll likely need the help of a programmer, which can increase the cost significantly. Thinking mobile also means thinking about how people live and move through the real world. QR codes are one way you can link old-fashioned paper flyers with mobile technology to draw people in. A QR code allows you to take a picture using an app that reads the code and can translate the image into a web address. All the user has to do is click and your website will appear. Let's look at a few examples of how organizations are putting mobile technology to work. The LawHelp platform offers a simplified version of a desktop site that provides direct access to help and resources, including referrals. Through the app, users can browse by legal topic, search for help by zip code, and email the research results to themselves. This app is available to all LawHelp states. Pine Tree Legal Aid in Maine recently created three apps. The National Legal Aid News app gathers news about the Legal Services Corporation, other national legal organizations, state-by-state news, and news on several topics of general interest. The National Legal Aid Finder app provides contact information and websites for every legal aid program in the country. An upcoming update will also include pro bono programs. The Maine Help Me Law app provides interactive contact information and self-help content for Maine residents. Illinois Legal Aid worked with Pine Tree to create its own app, which translates legal information into plain language. The app includes frequently asked questions, step-by-step instructions, and referrals to helpful organizations. The app provides information on a range of issues, including divorce, small claims, eviction, foreclosure, unemployment, name change, guardianship, and more. Another example of a successful mobile app comes from Citizenship Works. Its app provides access to an immigration legal services directory and information about the naturalization process. It also can help users determine eligibility, fill out customized checklists of documents needed, and provide practice questions for the citizenship exam. The app is currently offered in both English and Spanish. Apps can also help your organization behind the scenes. The Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation's iPro Bono app allows volunteers to search case listings and request cases with just a tap of the thumb. For regular pro bono volunteers, this is an easy way to find the cases that are the right fit for their skills and interests. You may also consider creating self-service information hubs for mobile devices. This example, from the Winona County Historical Society, gives you a sense of how the system might work. Text, images, or video can be queued up on a device and users can click through to gain knowledge on a particular topic. For example, you could use this approach to walk someone through a day in court and include it as part of your mobile website or app. Mobile devices also create numerous ways for people to interact and get immediate help. For example, Circle of Six created an app that allows women to select their six most trusted friends and with the tap of a screen send a message that alerts them that she needs help. And while legal services are not likely to require this level of urgency, some situations do need to be addressed within a day or less and an app may help you better provide that help. Your mobile strategy can also open up conversations with constituents. According to a recent Gallup poll, 73% of adults texted within the last 24 hours. The widespread use of texting makes this an effective method for communicating with constituents and clients. One simple way to send a text without using a phone is by email. Although it's not officially supported by cell phone providers, you can simply email your text to the cell phone number at theprovidersname.com. A more reliable way to text a large group of people is through a broadcast text platform. Of course, to send texts, you'll need cell phone numbers. If you're not already collecting cell phone numbers, consider adding that field to your intake, volunteer, and donation forms and storing them in a database your broadcast text platform can access. Dozens of vendors now provide broadcast text software. Google allows you to send five texts at a time for free. Additional platforms offer more features for targeting viewers and synchronizing with your database. These services started about $400 per month. You can also use traditional and digital marketing techniques to get people to reach out to you with their cell phones. You can set up a number, a short code, that people can text to to subscribe to a list or to make a donation. Text can also be used as a way to connect with people who need immediate help. Text codes that lead the user through a branch logic system where each prompt is based on a previous answer can be especially effective for triage. You also may want to schedule volunteers this way. Setting up a system that allows users to text specific words to a short code is also a good way to provide information from a database. In this example from the Blue Ocean Institute, a user who texts Halibut can find out whether or not the Halibut at a local grocery store is sustainably raised. A smartphone app with a simple search function can also be used to tap into the information. One of the most useful features of a mobile device is the ability to gather location information. In the example above, people in Haiti reported by text on conditions after the big 2010 earthquake. Location information was recorded in a database each time a text came in, allowing emergency planners to see on a map where the needs were greatest. An app that taps into the GPS functionality in most smartphones can provide even more precise locations and may be especially useful to organizations that do a lot of on-the-ground data collection. 99% of text messages get read, and 80% of them are read within the first three minutes. There are a number of different kinds of organizations that have used text messaging to further their missions. Let's look at a few of them. HAWA is a family service organization in Minnesota. One of its programs, the cross-age mentoring program, pairs students in grades 4 through 8 with high school students. The kids meet during lunch periods at school and do after-school activities. Over the years, Jane, a program manager at HAWA, had begun having difficulty reaching the high school mentors. They were no longer responding to her emails. When one of the mentors texted her, she took their lead and started communicating with them via text messaging. She said it wasn't a board decision where they sat down and looked at communication models, it was just a way to meet a need. And it works. Now she communicates with the mentors by text messaging and they are quick to respond. HAWA says that texting has definitely increased the quality of its services. Citizenship Works recently carried out a big texting campaign with its constituents. It sent text messages inviting viewers to find the closest location to get help for applying for citizenship, resulting in hundreds of new applications. In 2012, Text for Life, a hotline that helps teens cope with suicidal thoughts, handled 3,842 text sessions with 1,985 young people. That's 20 times as many phone calls the organization receives. The program has been so successful because it gives teens who are desperate another avenue for help. It lets them reach out the way they prefer to communicate. Four legal aid organizations recently carried out text message campaigns using a TIG grant and with the help of Law Help and Pro Bono Net. These campaigns have provided consumer rights information in Georgia, immigration and domestic violence information in New York, juvenile criminal record expungement in Illinois, and driver's license reinstatement in Washington State, all by text message. A key factor in the success of a text message information campaign is marketing. Collectively, the organizations worked with a firm called Free Range to create templates and customized materials that they used to spread the word about their new services. If you have staff in the field working with people to help them sort out their legal issues, mobile technology can help them provide better information and services to clients as well as collect information to enhance your organization. Staff members on the road don't always have the opportunity to stop at a place with a Wi-Fi connection and sit down in front of a laptop. Many client databases and case management systems now offer the ability to view and input data on a mobile device. The ability to enter data, especially, has the potential to streamline processes because it means your staff members can conduct intake interviews, take notes or update records without needing to go back to the office and type in handwritten information. Some organizations provide mobile devices to staff members. Headway Emotional Health Services, a health and human services organization, paid $5,000 up front for the phones and $1,200 per month for data plans and has found that staff members have reduced scheduling conflicts and now feel much more productive. Some staff members may prefer to use their own devices. If you decide to allow this, you should put some policies in place that clearly define who owns what information, what is acceptable use, who can and who cannot use a personal device and compensation or reimbursement. Mobile devices offer you the opportunity to reach clients in stride as they go about their daily lives. And as their use is only growing, it's important to think about how they can help you provide information or functionality. Whether you're interested in optimizing your website for mobile, creating a dynamic app, finding new ways to reach clients by text message or discovering a new use for mobile devices, the success of your mobile technology project will depend on how natural and seamless the client experience is. If your mobile technology isn't user-friendly and easy to incorporate into their daily lives, people won't use it, no matter how useful it might be. This video series was made possible by a grant from the Legal Services Corporation. If you'd like to learn more, there are online resources that show how other organizations have carried out a mobile strategy. Go to the LSN TAP website, view these examples, or talk to a mobile technology specialist. Thanks for watching and good luck.