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 Views Datesort
62 Think Tank XIII Understanding Sense of Place in Tourism Development: T... file 6424 Nov 06, 2013

This paper introduces the rationale for a study which explores the relationship between sense of place and sustainability at Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park (TARP), Sabah. Sense of place encompasses an understanding of the meaning bestowed ...

Author: Paulin Wong Poh Lin & Balvinder Kaur Kler 

Year: 2013 

61 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 

60 Think Tank V Managing Risk and Crisis for Sustainable Tourism: Rese... file 5908 Dec 14, 2013

Many tourism professionals are afraid to speak about terms such as tourism security and tourism safety. There is a common feeling among tourism and travel professionals that these terms will frighten customers and that the less said the bett...

Author: Peter E. Tarlow 

Year: 2005 

OPA: Keynote Speech 

59 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 

58 Think Tank XI Broad Street Regeneration Initiative: Practical Sustai... file 16474 Dec 19, 2013

Professors of tourism management teach principles of sustainable tourism to students in the classroom. Practitioners teach by implementing sustainable tourism principles in community. The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council (Tourism Council) i...

Author: Robert Billington, Natalie Carter, Caitlin Amos & Myles Ellison 

Year: 2011 

57 Think Tank XIV Exploring Youth Perspectives on Quality of Life and To... file 2713 Jun 26, 2014

The concept of Quality of Life (QoL) is implicit in conceptualisations of tourism, especially those used to develop and guide tourism policy and planning. At the individual level it is assumed that travel offers a number of different ways to...

Author: Anna Blackman, Gianna Moscardo, Andrea Schurmann & Laurie Murphy 

Year: 2014 

56 Think Tank XIV The Emergence of Cross-border Governance Structures: t... file 5256 Jun 26, 2014

It is well recognized that the local borders of a tourism destination are not easy to delineate as they are constantly changing through complex practices and discourses due to historical, political, and economic factors. In fact, recent stud...

Author: Dani Blasco, Jaume Guia & Lluís Prats 

Year: 2014 

55 Think Tank XIV Psychological Empowerment as Good Policy for Governanc... file 5264 Jun 26, 2014

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential impact psychological empowerment can have on sustainable tourism policy objectives, including improving resident attitudes toward tourism, enhancing destination competitiveness, and maint...

Author: B. Bynum Boley & Nancy Gard McGehee 

Year: 2014 

54 Think Tank XIV The Bukit Jalil Legacy: Local Residents' Perceptions o... file 5684 Jun 26, 2014

This paper explores local population’s perceptions of the development of the Bukit Jalil area after the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games. The work on which this study is based is important because it provides a fundamental insight for th...

Author: Rui Qi Chong & Paolo Mura 

Year: 2014 

53 Think Tank XIV Stakeholder Collaboration and Contestation in Tourism ... file 3348 Jun 26, 2014

Since Timor-Leste gained its independence in 2002, tourism has been promoted by both government and NGOs as a means to create jobs, build businesses, create income for national and local economics and improve regional economic imbalances (Ti...

Author: Sara Currie & Lindsay Turner 

Year: 2014 

52 Think Tank XIV The Prospects for Sustainable Tourism in Vanuatu in th... file 3293 Jun 26, 2014

This paper explores the feasibility for Vanuatu of implementing several key international recommendations for policy-makers for the sustainable development (SD) of national tourism sectors (UNEP-WTO, 2005). It shows that the remarkable fragm...

Author: Valentina Dinica 

Year: 2014 

51 Think Tank XIV Tourism Concessions in National Parks: Neo-liberal Too... file 4803 Jun 26, 2014

For the tourism sector the government aims to “Grow the number of new business opportunities on public conservation land in order to deliver increased economic prosperity and conservation gain” (New Zealand Government, 2012: 23). In relation...

Author: Valentina Dinica 

Year: 2014 

50 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 

49 OPA award A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Sustainab... file 10007 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 

48 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 

47 Think Tank XIV Sustainability and the Politics of Place in Resort Des... file 3017 Jun 26, 2014

The nature of a resort will reflect the varying coalitions, partnerships and discourses that emerge from the relative power of actors within the dominant political regime (Gill 2007). In this paper we examine the evolving discourse around th...

Author: Alison M. Gill & Peter W. Williams 

Year: 2014 

46 Think Tank XIV Hospitality of Sustainable Tourism Encounters: Experie... file 3634 Jun 26, 2014

Global tourism is, at least to some extent, based upon to the vast inequalities between wealthy and impoverished (Cole & Morgan 2010, xv). Neglecting, or actively forgetting, the legacy of colonialism and the modern forms of economic and...

Author: Emily Höckert 

Year: 2014 

45 Think Tank XIV The Development of a National Tourism Research Agenda ... file 6543 Jun 26, 2014

A national research agenda identifies the research priorities that need to be addressed to “inform future policy and service delivery” by government and “for use by academics and practitioners to stimulate research, partnerships and collabor...

Author: Leo Jago & Margaret Deery 

Year: 2014 

44 Think Tank XIV Welcoming Chinese Visitors and the Easternization of t... file 2619 Jun 26, 2014

Tourism academics, practitioners, governments and agencies around the world are in general agreement about the future of tourism in what commentators have tagged The Asian Century. Assuming demographic and economic conditions persist, the in...

Author: Patricia C. Johnson 

Year: 2014 

43 Think Tank XIV Leadership at the Nexus: Exploring the Connection betw... file 4099 Jun 26, 2014

The development of sustainable and competitive tourism destinations is contingent upon many factors including the creation of inclusive policy (Pforr, 2006), the development and implementation of strategic plans (Jordan, Vogt, Kruger, and Gr...

Author: Whitney Knollenberg & Nancy Gard McGehee 

Year: 2014 

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