Web two dot zero for urban designers and planners

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2008.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-108).The author contends that a class of new and emerging participatory Web-based tools, referred to at present as "Web 2.0," can and should be used by urban designers and planners to achieve better results in public participation exercises. A brief overview of the World Wide Web is given-how and why it came to be, where it is now, and a glimpse at where it's headed. Public participation is reviewed-reasons for it, some of the challenges faced in its practice, and a widely regarded, though seldom implemented model for achieving success with it, based on methods set forth by Christopher Alexander. Ways that Web 2.0 tools can be applied to overcome the common challenges, and ways they can be used to facilitate the model for success are identified. To show how such results can be attained in practice, a hypothetical scenario is constructed, in which a fictional planning team uses the full capabilities of Web 2.0 to facilitate public participation while authoring an area plan. The closing chapter identifies a short list of potential barriers to using the Web in public participation, and offers some ideas for dealing with each. The research draws from literature written on public participation in urban design and planning, and literature written about the World Wide Web. Interviews of experts from both areas were conducted. Existing and emerging Web 2.0 tools were analyzed, and a test of concept was constructed to prove it's easy to solicit public feedback using Web 2.0. This thesis lives on the Web, with comments enabled and welcome, at http://nmit.edu/jase/thesis. Keywords Collaborative, Design, Expertise, Internet, Knowledge, Language, Local, Making, Order, Organic, Participation, Participatory, Pattern, Place, Planning, Public, Site, Situated, Urban, Web 2.0, Web, Website, Wiki, World, WWWby Jase Wilson.M.C.P

Navigating tourism ethnographies – fieldwork embroiled in time, movement and emotion

In this paper, we reflect on the challenges of ethnographic fieldwork in tourism research. Specifically, we discuss the intense, messy and complex dynamics of doing (tourism) ethnographic fieldwork, highlighting how key challenges have affected us as researchers, our practises, relationships and experiences in the field. Our reflections are illustrated considering respectively our research experiences of mountaineering in the Himalayas, walking tourism in China, horse-riding tourism in the UK and volunteer tourism in Peru. Although these fields have very different social and geopolitical contexts, we experienced similar issues. Our most commonly experienced challenges include time limitations, having ‘enough data’, accessibility to the informants and rapport building. Through the discussion of these challenges, we unpack the often conflicting emotional contours of fieldwork which are commonly experienced but rarely spoken of. With this paper, we seek to open critical debates on the emotional aspects of tourism research which may be particularly useful for novice ethnographers and scholars constrained by the institutionalized pressures of academia

Navigating tourism ethnographies – fieldwork embroiled in time, movement and emotion

In this paper, we reflect on the challenges of ethnographic fieldwork in tourism research. Specifically, we discuss the intense, messy and complex dynamics of doing (tourism) ethnographic fieldwork, highlighting how key challenges have affected us as researchers, our practises, relationships and experiences in the field. Our reflections are illustrated considering respectively our research experiences of mountaineering in the Himalayas, walking tourism in China, horse-riding tourism in the UK and volunteer tourism in Peru. Although these fields have very different social and geopolitical contexts, we experienced similar issues. Our most commonly experienced challenges include time limitations, having ‘enough data’, accessibility to the informants and rapport building. Through the discussion of these challenges, we unpack the often conflicting emotional contours of fieldwork which are commonly experienced but rarely spoken of. With this paper, we seek to open critical debates on the emotional aspects of tourism research which may be particularly useful for novice ethnographers and scholars constrained by the institutionalized pressures of academia