Hungry for Travel? Check out tripwolf!-an online social travel guide
tripwolf is an online social travel guide and my newest client! I know I said I work with nonprofits, but these guys are so cool I couldn’t resist (and we all know I’m a sucker for traveling!).
tripwolf pairs the knowledge of a conventional travel guide with the power of social networking. The foundation of the content on the site comes from MairDumont – Europe’s largest travel guide publisher. But that is where convention and “old school” ends. tripwolf acts almost like a wiki, where the users can upload their own content- reviews, pictures, even videos! The site grabs content from wikipedia, flickr and youtube to further flush out the experience. Check out their guide to NYC to see what I mean!
But all that is basic. There are a ton of travel sites out there that do similar things. But here are a few things that for me really made me appreciate this platform: trip gurus and custom printable guides.
Trip gurus are self identified experts for a certain area: I’m a trip guru for Pondicherry in southern India – the city closest to where I lived in India. If there are multiple gurus for a specific location, a lead guru is identified. This is based on how many people that guru has helped.
What is the point of a trip guru? Who better to ask about a location than someone who has been there (more than once)? Instead of only knowing what you can find written down in a book or somewhere in the interwebs, you are given access to a real human being to answer your questions!
Next time you take a trip, ditch the heavy travel guide. With tripwolf’s printable travel guide, you can compile one of your very own using peer reviews, advice, photos and videos to inform your choices. When you come across info that is interesting to you, drag and drop it in your scrapbook. When you’ve got all the guidance you need, print it, throw it in your bag, and sigh with relief that your backpack is 5lbs lighter than your last trip!
If all that weren’t enough, tripwolf helps you get social! You can write a blog during your adventures, connect up with fellow travelers, suggest location to your friends and share your stories and advice in the forums: going to Peru? Worried about getting your stuff stolen? Check out my advice on travel safety on buses in Peru! (change this info to be something someone else wrote….)
So, check it out! (did I mention that the made it really easy to sign up?! All you need is your Facebook login info to create an account – it will even pull info from your FB account to populate your tripwolf profile!) and let me know what you think!
Fight Poverty - Blog Action Day
Today is Blog Action Day. It’s a day when “thousands of bloggers will unite to discuss a single issue - poverty. We aim to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web!”
As we all know, my passion is supporting causes, especially when new media is involved in the process. Poverty is one of those issues that strikes very close to home. As some of you know, I was raised in southern India, in one of the most rural and poorest areas in India. As a 10-year-old fresh from affluent America, malnourished and emaciated children, 8 people sleeping in a single room hut on dirt floors, and lines 2 hours long to get a single bucket of water once a day, was not something I was used to seeing — nor something I’ve ever gotten used to seeing.
But poverty isn’t just in developping countries. There are people, right here in our backyards, that cannot afford to buy shoes. They don’t know where their next meal is going to come from. And with winter right around the corner, many of them have no idea how they are going to heat their house (if they even have a house).
SM4SC (social media for social change) proved that the power of social media can be leveraged to bring people together to support one cause for one day. Last Friday, we raised $21,000 for Jane Doe, Inc.
So, today I ask you to come out in support of fighting poverty. Check out the Blog Action Day website (http://www.blogactionday.org/) to see what people are doing all over the world.
Or, check out what Jessica Smith is up to over at Jessica Knows: she has pledged all the money she makes from advertising on her blog today to support Project Peanut Butter (it helps malnourished children). Not only that, but Jessica is one of the fabulous ElevenMoms (a video contest put on by Walmart - for details follow the previous link), and Walmart has promised to match dollar-for-dollar all the money raised by the ElevenMoms today.
So, go to Jessica’s Site, click around on her ads and make some money for Project Peanut Butte!!
And Please. Please. Blog about Poverty. Blog about Blog Action Day. Pass the Message On. Take Action.
BlogHer Comes to Boston! FTW
I was really bummed this summer when I couldn’t make it out to San Francisco for the annual BlogHer Conference. Lucky for me (and you!), the Outreach Tour is coming to Boston this weekend - Saturday 10/11! As I’ve been sharing my glee with everyone who will listen, I’ve been getting a mixed bag of reactions (I find that I often get mixed reactions from people whenever I talk about an event/conference/anything that has “women” “her” “female” etc in the title. These “mixed” (read: usually negative) reactions are often, if not always, from men).
I was talking to one of my guy friends about BlogHer a few days after getting back from BlogWorld Expo in Vegas, and he said he didn’t get it — why, if I had just gone to a major conference about blogging, was a conference for women bloggers necessary? I sputtered for a moment, I mean, DUH. But then I stopped to really think about it. Why is it important?
My guy friend said he understands that women have not reached equal standing in many aspects, but that new media seems to be a field where the playing has been leveled. This made me pause again. It’s true, there are a lot of prominent women in the field. So, if the field is leveled, why does the idea of a community for women seem so darn important?!
I have been extremely fortunate in that my life has rarely been limited by my gender (I’m a girl…in case you were wondering *wink*). But, I know this isn’t true for all women. So, is this why it is important? So that women have a place to feel equal? Is it because tech is usually a sphere reserved for guys and diving in can be daunting? It is for the camaraderie?
Since I obviously don’t have the answer (I think it is a combo of a lot of things), I went a-hunting. One of the first thing I noticed while scouring the BlogHer website is that the answer wasn’t there. Their mission statement gave me a starting point
BlogHer’s mission is to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment
but somehow that isn’t enough (no offense!). I read that and think “yea! right on!” but there is something more than that that is triggering a reaction in me (and others - for good or bad).
I’m still trying to figure it out. So, in the mean time… What is your reaction (positive or negative) to BlogHer? Why do YOU think BlogHer Conferences are or aren’t important?
Regardless, I’m SUPER psyched for BlogHer Boston this Saturday. If you are there, please say hi!!
SM4SC - Social Media 4 Social Change
On October 10th a landmark event is going to take place. Under Gradon Tripp’s guidance, a group of us are going to see if for one night, social media-ites can come together to create change. To quote from the website, “Social Media for Social Change was born of the idea that the social media community, these “agents of change” can get together for one night, to support one cause.”
In essence it is a fundraiser. In actuality it is an experiment in humanity. We are all familiar with the traditional fundraising method — throw a party, invite an elite list of the rich and powerful, charge a lot of money per plate, and then hope checkbooks will make an appearance later in the evening. You schmooze, drink and feel better about yourself because you gave to a noble cause.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking it. Our world would be a far worse off place if it weren’t for the numerous nonprofits that work diligently to make this planet a better place. And without elite invites and fat checks, most would have never survived.
But times are changing.
Instead of depending on a few large donations, nonprofits are beginning to reach beyond boundaries of time and space to connect with people who, traditionally, would have been overlooked. Many small donations are becoming just as powerful.
This is what I love about the Internet — we have this power to connect because of technology.
We. Have. The. Power. To. Connect.
So, that is what we will be doing October 10th — connecting. We will be coming together to support a cause that is greater than ourselves. That night, we won’t just be supporting Jane Doe, a Boston-based nonprofit that supports survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence to whom all the proceeds will benefit, but we will be supporting a shift — perhaps even a shift in paradigm (one can always hope).
If you are free that evening, please join us. If you work for a company that cares, please consider becoming a sponsor.
If you want to know something deep and dark about me: this is it — it is for things like this that I live. It is because of an irrepressible sense of hope and belief that we can change, that the world and humanity is save-able and salvaegable that I get up every morning. It is because of these very things that I smile, each and every day.
An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube
My mom has recently discovered StumbleUpon Videos. She is enamored. And she likes to send me the videos too. Usually they are great, but long. I don’t know how she has the attention span for hour long videos. When she sent me “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube” a few nights ago I was intrigued, but then I saw the time stamp: over 55 minutes. Normally I would have watched the first 2 minutes then moved on to something else. But as she was in the other room, and badgering me to watch the whole thing, I bit the bullet and did.
Wow. This video is incredible. Its about why people Tube, the community that has developed online, the changes in communication channels.. it shows messages of hope, of connection and of change. It attempts to explain the phenomena of internet stars and the self-regulating governance of people wanting real. Being in the middle of it all, I know that there is something major going on. I truly believe that there is a shift happening–a shift in how we relate, how we communicate–a shift in our humanity. One of the lines in the film that I tweeted was “youtube = freedom to experience humanity.” What do you think?
The video is of the presentation Dr. Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University,gave to the Library of Congress on June 23rd 2008. Dr. Wesch (@mwesch on Twitter) teaches a class at KSU called Digital Ethnography. Each semester his students and he study You Tube from an ethnographical perspective. For more information about Dr. Wesch and his class visit their site: http://mediatedcultures.net
Here are some of the comments that have been left by YouTubers:
Joshlama: Watching this video has made me learn about what Web 2.0 means in todays society.
NatureLegalized: What a wonderful and encouraging presentation. Very good length as well. Quite honestly I was having a bit of trouble finding words to express how good the experience of having this video sent to me & watching it has been. I’ve got to make a point of thanking the sender.
ninjask1: what an amazing world this is, where we can transcend space to meet with people across the globe, a world where everyone is anonymous and nobody is anonymous, a world where the user controls the machine, a world where the user is the machine. What a place this is, to have everything and nothing, where the average man is stronger than corporations and governments, a world that is both endless and boundless.
I, of course, tweeted that I was watching the video and that it was great. My sister (@peckedbyducks) then responded “mom sent that to you too? Am watching it right now.” As it turns out, my mom had sent it to everyone.. literally. She had accidentally sent the link to every single contact in her address book–a fitting ending I thought…
So, here is the video. When you have 55 minutes to spare, you should check it out.
