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University of Saskatchewan, Department of Computer Science

2001-2002 Seminar Series

Exploring tourism as a collaborative activity

Barry Brown
Department of Computer Science
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, U.K.

DEPARTMENT SEMINAR
DATE: Monday, March 11, 2002
TIME: 3:30pm
PLACE: Anthropology 132
*** Everyone is welcome ***

Abstract

While tourism presents considerable potential for the use of new mobile technology, development has been hindered by an inadequate understanding of how tourists arrange their activities. In this talk I will discuss an ethnographic study of tourism in the UK looking at how tourists "organise enjoyment". In particular we looked at how tourists collaborate with those they are travelling with, other tourists, and organisations. This highlights the collaborative nature of tourism. In turn, there are a number of key resources which tourists use: maps, guidebooks, the environment and tourist information centres. I'll discuss how tourists use each of these resources, and how we might use these results to design better tourist technologies.
About the speaker

Dr. Barry Brown is a researcher currently working on the Equator project at the University of Glasgow. His research is concerned with the sociology of technology, particularly using ethnography and from an ethnomethodological position. His research has covered a broad range of topics: the off switch on telephones, the Lotus Notes groupware system, Napster and music piracy, portable hand held scanners, and mobile phones. Most recently he has edited a book along with Nicola Green and Richard Harper looking at the social aspects of mobile telephones, published by Springer Verlag.

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