Tuesday, August 14, 2007

What is Travel 3.0 ?

From the many podcasts that I listen to, I have basically heard of two definitions for Web 3.0:
  1. Web-Everywhere Technology - Always connected portable technology
  2. Total Immersion Web - Virtual worlds and MMOGs
Web 1.0 was the static, expert knowledge web. Web 2.0 is the interactive, user knowledge web. So these definitions of Web 3.0 as an always connected technology and total environment knowledge web make sense to me.

And either way, the significance for travel and tourism is enormous. An everywhere web is a traveling web. It means being connected when you travel locally to work, to the grocery store, to the gym, as well as on business trips and family holidays. The Web 2.0 tools that I review on this website are among the leaders into this everywhere web space, which I predict will move toward greater convergence in the coming decades.

I have personally not bought into the the Second Life virtual world phenomenon, which I think is far from ready for prime time. In the long run, however, I think that online virtual worlds will become an important way of communicating with other people, initially, and with distant environments, ultimately. The newly emerging Web 2.0 sites that have video tours of hotels and destination are important baby steps in this directions -- even more so than the experimental hotel building in Second Life because they are more accessible for the masses.

Travel 3.0 is clearly not here, yet. However, because we can conceptualize it -- imagine what it will be like -- it is an important force shaping the visions of todays Travel 2.0 engineers and entrepreneurs.

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UPDATE:
Check out the Sunverse.net blog, which is "All about Virtual Worlds and the Tourism Industry". The site mostly focuses on the development of real world tourism destinations in Second Life.

UPDATE: March 26, 2008: Bill Ryan, heard on Kenradio.com : "Web 2.0" was setting interoperability standards (including AJAX and web services, etc.) and creating communities and user-generated content. Web 2.0 was very exploitative of user generated content. "Web 3.0" is engaging more professionals to create user-generated data/content communities by compensating them. Also the semanitic web as the new tech-side supporting the new communities.

What would this mean for the travel and tourism industry? I am not sure. As an academic working on a couple of textbooks during my sabbatical, I think it is involving other academics who may adopt my books to create teaching and learning communities that provide value both for the teachers, students and the world at large. I had not thought about the potential role of compensation -- but am considering it now. I will be working on this over the summer.
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(Originally posted on my Web 2.0 Travel Tools Blog - Alan A. Lew)


2 comments:

vsider2 said...

I agree 100% with your comments and the phased approach you described.
I think the main interest as regards the use of virtual world for the tourism industry will be the community aspect of it as well as the ability to communicate more than text , but also emotions..
As regards second life, we have created a google map of real locations in Second life with video integrated so that people can have a preview of what it looks like in the virtual world, let's say you want to see casablanca in Second Life, you would see a marker with a you tube video and you would be able to teleport directly to the location in Second Life.
Check this out:
http://www.sunverse.net/resources.html

Alan A Lew said...

Thanks for the resource. I think you are moving in a good direction. I will check it out -- when I find some free time (ha!).