In terms of which platforms we are going
to cover in our main ‘how-to’ guides, I think it is important to stick with
sites that promote/ pertain to the travelling themes that we are hoping to
study and celebrate through our investigation. We started brainstorming ways
that we felt travel was changing and came up with these three main things…
People are travelling more:
1. Knowledgeably
2. Diversely
3. Connectedly (creating travelling networks)
And we can see these themes of travel
through the online services that are popping up. TripAdvisor is allowing people to travel with a greater knowledge
of places- where to go, where to stay, what to do. Couch Surfing is providing a new way of travel, diversifying the
travel experience. And CoLunching is
an online tool for making connections and networks with other travellers whilst
you are overseas. This is why we will include these sites.
It is important that the platforms we
choose are not only beneficial as practical guides for consumers, but also to
act as case studies for our investigation into the new travel experience (i.e.
showing these themes).
AirBnB and Thorntree are also platforms
which highlight the implementation of our investigation themes into practical
use.
It is for this reason that I believe we
should stay away from examining and including information about traditional
travel institutions that have moved online e.g. the flight centre website. This
is because they are not services that are changing the way we travel in the
ways listed above, but instead are traditional services that are being changed
by the online world.
When examining and discussing this content
however, it is important to give an as unbiased and honest analysis as
possible, in order to establish ourselves as credible and ensure that
a-not-so-lonely-planet becomes a trusted ‘tool’ for consumers. Whilst we are on
the one hand celebrating these new travel experiences, we cannot forget to also
take a critical look at the phenomenon too.
For example, we should include this
article on the dangers of airBnB, http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/31/another-airbnb-victim-tells-his-story-there-were-meth-pipes-everywhere/
. We could also discuss the way a lot of forum-type travel sites (such as
Thorntree or TripAdvisor) are at risk of spamming (particularly from
competitors) or using other dirty tactics to get ahead. The founder of
AirBnB has been accused of spamming (read article here)
This topic of spamming and manipulation of search engines relates nicely to the
lecture in Week 3- this could be something we discuss!
All our other content should be displayed
in the form of our main blog, and as we discussed it will be a combination of
interviews, articles, posts and infographics that all relate to our overall
investigative idea. Having this mixture of content forms will ensure diversity
and interest for audience.
Some ideas for inspiration for this section:
- I found an interesting article about how the internet mobile is changing travel creating a mobile, connected traveller. This topic fits out investigative themes, and I think it would be really interesting looking at the transition of internet travel ideologies to mobile devices. It's not something we have thought about but definitely worth a look! (read article here). I also found a pretty cool infographic which maps the progression of some of the online platforms we are looking at onto mobile devices, as well as some other interesting statistics
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2. Here is an article thats pretty interesting.... http://ezinearticles.com/?Online-Hotel-Reservations-Systems-Have-Changed-The-Travel-Industry&id=5093459
3. Another topic I thought of was the death of the travel agent, with sites like kayak and Wikipedia are
allowing more consumer control. This topic has been briefly discussed here
Whilst these are only suggestions I know our FABULOUS journalists will come up with a thousand more. Great job guys- lovely ideas coming along
Emily
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