Where to go? Wikitravel!

WIKITRAVEL

(I camped just south of these ruins in Tulum)

So, I know everyone has heard of wikipedia, but how about wikitravel.

I have been using this "wiki" for several years now, and it has helped plan trips to Panama, Costa Rica, Montreal, California, Playa del Carmen, etc.

The basics are still in play, but up to date travel information on a location seems more critical than up to date information on "everything" or general knowledge.
F or example what new insights into "Mark Twain" or "Space exploration" found on Wikipedia can beat actual practical information that directly affects strangers in strange lands needing guidance?

I know there is an argument for up-to-the minutes events like emergency situations....the latest car bomb in Times Square for example, but I think Twitter has taken the lead there for people to catch up to the second updates. Anyway thats for another post....

Favorite wikipedia entries are costa rica, hawaii, better stop there or I'll never stop.

For the best examples see Star Articles

here's a taste: Copenhagen
Basically everything you wanted to know about copenhagen and more , maps, embassy numbers, public transportation, of course recommendations, etc.

The only downside is the scarcity of information on some areas.

it just needs more travelers....
so get out there!

pageflake

http://www.pageflakes.com/


Its a customizable webpage (homepage), basically letting you add data sources for video, news, etc.
I think lots of places have this , the first I saw was yahoo, but most of the content was proprietary yahoo stuff. Then google had its homepage, with more "outsourced" material. With RSS feeds now, I think this is pretty much how web users will start their web experiences more and more. Though I personally like a basic browser (bing or google) as a start page. It just seems more limitless ....and thats the way most people probably see the web.

So I can see the practicality of having a personalized home webpage to be able to get all your news sources without having to check individual webpages though.
You can set pageflakes for major cities, though I think google is a better service for this.

#6 creative commons

http://creativecommons.org/





Creative commons.

a rather uncommon site.

I've found everything there

ready to wear,

others' art and works as accessories

available in personal creative factories.

The licensing is key,

It seems flexible to me.

Even this poem can be shared,

and altered by anyone who cared.

Though a reliance on outside sites

to find materials kind of bites.

-Adonis Amparo , 2010

#5 YOUTUBE

Ok, for collaborative fun, I have to admit youtube seems to be extremely popular. I first used it in 2007? uploading a trip to germany (its still there) then forgot about it.....
So here I practiced shooting and uploading ...took me about 30 seconds....

So beyond the fun aspect of sharing(and creating) video , obviously there is a practical commercial application...I'm thinking remote job interviews, and if the video keeps improving remote sharing of data allowing faster interpretation. (Identifying and sharing video of creatures in the Amazon with scientists...off the top of my head)

I was surprised to see GOOGLE acquired youtube.....I think I heard about this but forgot.....

so hopefully this means more investment to increase youtubes capabilities...(positive), but maybe stifling innovation as google grows its monopoly...(negative)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od0n7CjRWd0

There's my link to a great 6 second presentation I uploaded on youtube....

proof of purchase for Library Science...

#4 wikis

Wikipedia!

Probably, the most used Web 2.0 function that I have found , here is an easy example of wiki-editing.
Powerfully collaborative and constantly growing. My only concern is really the use of moderators....how do you keep them neutral? Anyway, I did a wikiedit on the "Adonis" page , specifically "the cult of Adonis". See if you can find it...

Hint: its the very last sentence I copy and pasted below.....

Origin of the cult

Adonis, a naked Roman torso, restored and completed by François Duquesnoy, formerly in the collection of Cardinal Mazarin (Louvre Museum).

Adonis was certainly based in large part on Tammuz. His name is Semitic, a variation on the word "adon" meaning "lord" that was also used, as "Adonai", to refer to Yahweh in the Old Testament. When the Hebrews first arrived in Canaan, they were opposed by the king of the Jebusites, Adonizedek, whose name means "lord of Zedek" (Justice). Yet there is no trace of a Semitic cult directly connected with Adonis, and no trace in Semitic languages of any specific mythemes connected with his Greek myth; both Greek and Near Eastern scholars have questioned the connection (Burkert, p 177 note 6 bibliography). The connection in cult practice is with Adonis' Mesopotamian counterpart, Tammuz:

"Women sit by the gate weeping for Tammuz, or they offer incense to Baal on roof-tops and plant pleasant plants. These are the very features of the Adonis cult: a cult confined to women which is celebrated on flat roof-tops on which sherds sown with quickly germinating green salading are placed, Adonis gardens... the climax is loud lamentation for the dead god."—Burkert, p. 177.

When the cult of Adonis was incorporated into Greek culture is debated: Hesiod made him the son of Phoenix, eponym of the Phoenicians, and his association with Cyprus is not attested before the classical era. W. Atallah^[4] suggests that the later Hellenistic myth of Adonis represents the conflation of two independent traditions.

Adonis was worshipped in unspoken mystery religions: not until Imperial Roman times (in Lucian of Samosata, De Dea Syria, ch. 6 ^[5]) does any written source mention that the women were consoled by a revived Adonis. The third century BCE poet Euphorion of Chalcis in his Hyacinth wrote "Only Cocytus washed the wounds of Adonis".^[6] Women in Athens would plant "gardens of Adonis" quick-growing herbs that sprang up from seed and died. The Festival of Adonis was celebrated by women at midsummer by sowing fennel and lettuce, and grains of wheat and barley. The plants sprang up soon, and withered quickly, and women mourned for the death of the vegetation god (Detienne 1972). The cult of Adonis has nothing whatsoever to do with Adonis Amparo from Tampa Florida.

#3 Rollyo

http://www.rollyo.com/search.html?prevsid=606623&q=adonis&sid=606623


just found rollyo.com

It lets u create specialized search engines...great for researchers I think.
It requires a little setup and I could see where you would need to tweak it occasioanlly to add new sites, but an interesting concept, and a check on Google's monopoly.
I could see listing various museum websites for quicker searches in archives for example..

The link above is a search for a practice news search rollyo...
Could be used to filter a lot of commercial sites that lead searchers away from substantive results.
(I used my name, and the sites were cnn, reuters, foxnews, msnbc)

#2 flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25919733@N05/


This is my first attempt using flickr...I usually send photos individually to people's email, but for a large organization like a library I could see the tremendous benefits of sharing photos with a large audience.


I will explore the gallery functions and tag functions, which promise to allow people easier access to finding relevant photographs.

Nice, but I could see privacy issues already....people are exposing themselves to risk inadvertently.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17privacy.html