Resources

RESOURCES


RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Alan A. Lew
School/Work Place : Northern Arizona University, USA
Contact : alan.lew@nau.edu
Year : 2007

"Web 2.0" is a term used to refer to the emerging new wave of innovation on the Internet. Some see it as a second high-tech wave, marking the recovery from the technology and Internet "bust" at the end of the 1990s (O'Reilly 2005). Characteristics of Web 2.0 are:

  1. data, information and technology are open source, rather than hidden under proprietary ownership;
  2. new applications and web sites are making the global marketplace of ideas and products open to everyone, which is allowing new businesses can be established without the huge start up funds from venture capitalists that were common in the 1990s; and
  3. these new applications and web sites are democratizing the tools of production, enabling greater diversity, allowing more customized streams of information and sales, and fostering the emergence of “a billion niche markets.”

These concepts resonate in trends that have taken place in travel and tourism, and the related term “Travel 2.0” is coming into increasing use.

Social software (sometime referred to as Social Media and New Media) are computer mediated forms of communication that can provide opportunities for collaboration, social networking, social learning, and community building. There are many different types of social software, and more are emerging all the time. Some social software is closely integrated with face-to-face socializing and professional networking, such as in a social club. The following are examples of the major types of social software currently in use:

  • Blogs and Podcasts
  • Collaborative software - Cooperative work environments / systems
  • Instant Messaging
  • Internet Relay Chat (chat rooms)
  • Internet forums (bulletin boards)
  • Folskonomy / Tagging
  • Social network services (centralized)
  • Social network search engines (decentralized)
  • Social guides (recommend real world places/services)
  • Social bookmarking (posting lists of favorites for others to see – furl, del.icio.us)
  • Social Citations (sharing article references - for academics)
  • Peer-to-peer social networks (file sharing – photos, blogs, instant messages,)
  • Virtual presence (meeting in virtual/online worlds)
  • Virtual worlds and Massively-Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)
  • Wikis / Collaborative real-time editing

It is unclear as yet what the best business models may be for using the new open source Web 2.0 technology. However, from the many examples cited above, that is not stopping people from trying. Some areas in which social software may be used to leverage long tail markets for business purposes include:

  • Listening to markets and consumers. By providing a public sounding board or forum for consumers of a company's products, a company can demonstrate its transparency and trustworthiness. Businesses need to be open to being trashed by consumers, in order to both learn from them and to build their trust.
  • Creating user communities. Social networks can be created through open source Web sites. Such a Web site would include reasons for people to feel a part of the community of other users. Users would need to feel that they are benefiting from belonging to the website.
  • Creating business alliances. This is similar to creating a user community, but involves a community of businesses who are working together either formally or informally. This approach is also known as the “distributed business model.” Most social software is not only conducive to internet-base marketing, but can also be readilyapplied to teaching tourism concepts. Social software continuously evolving in exciting ways thatoffer considerable opportunity to enhance online and hybrid classes.

The first part of this presentation will review how social software are being used in higher education teaching today. The second part of the presentation will describe my experience in using social software tools (with some focus on blogs, podcasts and wikis) for the last three semesters, culminating in a Spring 2007 course on “Sustainable Tourism Planning.” That course immersed the students in social media and sustainable tourism in a fully online class environment. Student challenges, successes and overall opinions of this experience will be discussed.


List of Articles
No. Subject Viewssort Date
162 Think Tank XII Furthering the Understanding of the Slow Travel Phenom... file 8299 Nov 06, 2013

Slow travel is a relatively new concept. Originally this was a grass root movement, which now is becoming an interest area for scholars. The first organised networks and forums started to emerge approximately a decade ago. A slow travel webs...

Author: Tina Roenhovde Tiller 

Year: 2012 

161 Think Tank V Ideas for A(u)ction: Tourism Risk Management file 8173 Dec 14, 2013

As a contribution to BEST Education Network ThinkTank V, Managing Riskand Crisis for Sustainable Tourism, the following paper has been prepared in two parts. The first part of the paper focuses on the idea that an appropriate model can be de...

Author: Scott K. Cunliffe 

Year: 2005 

OPA: Keynote Speech 

160 Think Tank X Sustainable Tourism Networks file 8105 Oct 13, 2013

This study examines the existing pattern of stakeholder relationships representing major partners of sustainable tourism development. By utilizing a network analysis lens the study also helps us understand the impact of inter relationships ...

Author: Seldjan Timur 

Year: 2010 

159 Think Tank IX Sustainable Tourism Development Plan for the Old City ... file 8085 Oct 13, 2013

This research aims to propose a sustainable tourism development plan for the City of Nan. Since the year 2000, Nan civil society leaders, national and international stakeholders have tried to develop Nan into a world heritage destination. I...

Author: Donruetai Kovathanakul 

Year: 2009 

158 Think Tank IX Courchevel, an outstanding alpine ski resort at a turn... file 8055 Oct 13, 2013

“Courchevel is first and foremost one among the founding elements of the huge touristic complex of les Trois Vallées in France. Linked to the neighbouring Allues and Belleville valleys by a 3,000 acres network area of regularly packed and ma...

Author: Daniel Tixier 

Year: 2009 

157 OPA award Slow Travellers - Who Are They, and What Motivates Them? file 7926 Nov 06, 2013

Tourism’s contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is estimated to be around 5% and is forecast to grow rapidly, to around 16% of global emissions by 2020. Future strategies for mitigation must address the levels of demand for t...

Author: Derek Robbins & Jaedong Cho 

Year: 2012 

OPA: 2012 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

156 Think Tank XII Micro-Mobility Patterns and Service Blueprints as Foun... file 7921 Nov 06, 2013

This paper proposes the use of micro-mobility patterns and service blueprints in visitor management planning. Using a nature-based conservation area and visitor attraction in Wellington, New Zealand, as a case study, micro-mobility patterns ...

Author: Julia Albrecht 

Year: 2012 

155 Think Tank VI Testing Clarkson’s Typical Corporate and Stakeholder I... file 7850 Oct 13, 2013

In today’s world of growing concern over the social and environmental effect of tourism, the responsibility for the future of our society is moving from simply relying on our political leaders and interest groups towards the concept that cor...

Author: Catrina Papaleo & Sue Beeton 

Year: 2006 

154 Think Tank VIII Community Actions to Engage Local Residents in Tourism... file 7777 Dec 19, 2013

This paper explores the residents’ knowledge of community actions to engage local members in tourism planning and development in the King Cobra Village of Thailand. The degree of participatory ability which is associated with the public atti...

Author: Kitsada Tungchawal 

Year: 2008 

» Think Tank VII The New World of Travel 2.0: Application of Social Sof... file 7749 Oct 13, 2013

"Web 2.0" is a term used to refer to the emerging new wave of innovation on the Internet. Some see it as a second high-tech wave, marking the recovery from the technology and Internet "bust" at the end of the 1990s (O'Reilly 2005). Character...

Author: Alan A. Lew 

Year: 2007 

152 Think Tank VII Destination and Enterprise Management for a Tourism Fu... file 7743 Oct 13, 2013

A key element of a successful tourism industry is the ability to recognize and deal with change across a wide range of key factors and the way they interact. Key drivers of global change can be classified as Economic, Social, Political, Tec...

Author: Larry Dwyer, Deborah Edwards, Nina Mistilis, & Carolina Roman 

Year: 2007 

151 Think Tank VI The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: CSR, Film and Tourism.... file 7741 Oct 13, 2013

This paper reports on an element of an ongoing research project undertaken since 1999 in relation to the effects of film-induced tourism on a small community based in North Yorkshire, England, namely Goathland.  Goathland is better known to ...

Author: Sue Beeton 

Year: 2006 

OPA: 2006 Runner Up 

150 OPA award Stakeholder involvement, culture and accountability in... file 7653 Oct 13, 2013

Following its historical rise and fall, America’s first industrialized polluted landscape garnered federal and local support to remedy its near destruction. Today, the Blackstone Valley is a pragmatic example of translating theory into pract...

Author: Robert Billington, Veronica Cadoppi & Natalie Carter 

Year: 2006 

OPA: 2006 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

149 Think Tank X The Managing Local Tourism Master Class: Communicating... file 7587 Oct 13, 2013

The aim of this paper is to describe an action-based research project entitled the Management Local Tourism Master Class (MLTMC) and to discuss the merits of this extension tool in building sustainable tourism management practices across loc...

Author: Dianne Dredge, Emma-Jane Ford & Michelle Whitford 

Year: 2010 

OPA: 2010 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

148 Think Tank IX How to create superior value in sustainable tourism: ... file 7470 Oct 13, 2013

Extensive research and practical implementation concerning the value of natural resources has thus far been conducted when one considers for example wildlife-, eco- and cultural tourism, however many of these values originate from industry ...

Author: Philipp E. Boksberger & Jack Carlsen 

Year: 2009 

147 Think Tank IX What do sustainable tourism researchers value? An anal... file 7404 Oct 13, 2013

Sustainable Tourism has emerged as a major field of specialisation within tourism and has been so pervasive that some have suggested that the field represents a fifth platform of tourism research, while others have argued that the field has...

Author: Pierre Benckendorff 

Year: 2009 

146 Think Tank XIV A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Sustainable Tourism... file 7326 Jun 26, 2014

In this study, I take up the task to work towards a theoretical and methodological framework that allows using sustainability as a threshold concept for critically evaluating the assumptions embedded in both tourism management theory and pra...

Author: José-Carlos García-Rosell 

Year: 2014 

145 OPA award Crisis Communications and Tourism Recovery Strategies ... file 7241 Oct 13, 2013

This paper describes the application of lessons and processes gleaned from previous crises and disasters to the tourism recovery process for the Maldives following the tsunami of December 26 th , 2004. An assessment of existing literature as...

Author: Jack Carlsen 

Year: 2005 

OPA: 2005 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

144 Think Tank VI Stakeholder involvement, culture and accountability in... file 7215 Oct 13, 2013

Following its historical rise and fall, America’s first industrialized polluted landscape garnered federal and local support to remedy its near destruction. Today, the Blackstone Valley is a pragmatic example of translating theory into pract...

Author: Robert Billington, Veronica Cadoppi & Natalie Carter 

Year: 2006 

OPA: 2006 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

143 Think Tank XIV A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Sustainab... file 7202 Jun 26, 2014

Emerging tourist destinations can challenge ecological, economic, social, and quality of life barriers. These issues draw attention towards the consequences of increasing complexity that are often found as a tourist marketing system grows an...

Author: Sarah Duffy & Larry Dwyer 

Year: 2014 

OPA: 2014 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

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