Wiki and open content travel guides: past, present, future

Travel guidebooks are functional reference works
that provide critical information for people on the
road. I will discuss the importance of an Open
Content model for travel guides, and contrast this
genre of work with other references. I’ll review the
history of Open Content travel guides and discuss the
creation of the two main successful projects,
Wikitravel and World66, and the importance of wiki
technique to those projects. I’ll cover the challenges
that the two projects have faced in their 3 years of
development, focusing on the difficulties presented by
applying Open Content wiki methods to travel. I’ll
further cover the partnership between the two sites
announced in April of 2006, the commercial
development of the travel wiki space, and what that
has meant for the communities and the content they
produce. Finally, I’ll discuss what this partnership will
mean for the two sites in the future, and what
technological and community developments can be
expected for Wikitravel and World66 in the coming
year.