Miyuki Kokshoorn (10449688)
Travel + Technology: Our New Era of Voyage
The growing relationship between travel and technology has created new avenues for the way we travel and the way we communicate with one another.
My initial aims when approaching my topic of travel and technology was to exemplify the changes that have occurred over the years in relation to advances in technology and how this has impacted travel. Growth in technology such as the internet, software and digital cameras have changed the way we travel, starting from how we plan and book our holidays to how we stay connected with one another while travelling.
From the beginning I decided that for each of my video blogs that I wanted to keep a level of consistency so that each blog corresponded with each other in a series. I decided to achieve this by implementing a standard introduction for my videos which included consistent title and accompanying music. To ensure that this however would not feel too repetitive and stale, the content I introduced before the title was different in each video.
When I first approached the topic of travel and technology I took it at a more face value approach where I recognized the conveniences that this relationship has afforded us. We are now able to be more independent when looking at travel as we are able to take control and implement decisions for ourselves. The growth of the internet has allowed us to become well informed travelers who are able to research the gritty details of travel and receive information beyond the travel brochures and propaganda photos and information that lure us to take vacations. We are also able to stay better connected with one another than we once were, as while long distance calls have always been costly and mostly avoided, internet telephony has rectified this for us.
Once I began exploring these ideas I came across more challenging ideas that relate to whether these changes are really as positive as they seem. While advancements in technology and the internet have enabled us to do almost everything for ourselves, we are most certainly losing a more personal touch that existed before. Instead of dealing directly with people, we are now dealing with computers and automated telephone prompts, asking the question: Have we become too reliant on technology? This is a difficult notion to consider because we are becoming a more tech savvy society with other facets of our life also relying on the use of technology. It leaves a debate for convenience vs. personal touch.
There is also another side to this argument that projects that these changes are positive and for the better as it could be said that this growing relationship between travel and technology has worked to keep people closer together, and more connected than ever before. Before the rise of the internet, travel was often an isolating activity in the sense that people only kept in contact with a few people because of costs and inconvenience. With the abilities now, people are able to fill each other in on experiences as they happen, which is perhaps more personal than brief phone calls or postcards. We are now in an era of documenting and social networking, where nothing is a secret and you can share your thoughts and experiences with a multitude of people, whether you know them or not.
The difficulties I encountered during this project were mostly around the ideas of originality and trying to find original film subjects for each video blog, as the issues I explored in each video tended to overlap. I found that taking a step back and story-boarding my ideas and then spreading them over the several videos helped me get back on track. Another lesson I learnt in originality was that I had to look further than the basic iMovie sounds to accompany my video as otherwise we all end up with the same music. Once I got over my fear of copyrights I was able to find music that better suited the feel of my project which I believe made a big difference in the end.
If I were to do this again I would perhaps have taken more time in the beginning to plan and storyboard ideas not just one at a time but more generally to ensure that I have enough content to space out over each blog. As I created my videos my ideas tended to change as I recognized that what I wanted to achieve, and what my capabilities were, differed. I found that this project while time consuming, was also an interesting task as it challenged me and pushed me out of my comfort zone. I would have liked to experiment more in terms of media and software, and in the future hope that I can take up this challenge and extend my capabilities.
From doing this project I realize that now I am very interested in the new avenues for communication that technology has opened up, and I am interested in exploring not only communication in general, but also in relation to travel and how connectivity will change in the future. If were to attempt more video blogs in the future I think I would perhaps take a more personal route, or select topics that are more film friendly in terms of subject and content.
Sources cited:
Bly, Laura. “Traveler-based review sites getting more personal”. USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-06-15-review-sites_N.htm [1]
O’Neill, Sean. (October 2006) 25 Best Travel Sites. http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2006/03/travelsites.html [2]
Pae, Peter. Surfing the Internet Before You Fly Can Uncover the Best Fare. July 16th 2007. http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-fares16jul16 [3]
Travel + Leisure : Online Photo Sharing Resources http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/photography-101/sidebar/6 [4]
Urry, John.. Social Networks, Travel and Talk. British Journal of Sociology Vol. No. 54 Issue No.2 (June 2003).
The Travel Insider: Airfare wars – Internet Vs Travel Agencies. http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2002/0614.htm [5]
About Skype: http://about.skype.com/ [6]
About Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/about.phphttp://www.valleywag.com/tech/facebook/ [7]