GEOGRAPHICAL COMMUNITIES AND VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES: the web 2.0 in the creation of tourist information (original) (raw)

2016, Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2016

The diffusion and easy access to geographic and computer equipment has revolutionized not only the models of communication, but also the techniques of production and diffusion of geographic information, combining more and more objective dimension of knowledge with that subjective and perceptive. At the same time, through the Virtual globe (Google Earth, GPS, etc.) or the so-called Volunteered Geographic Information (Wikimapia, Open street map, Google My Maps, etc.) also the spatial dimension of knowledge has found new life in the world of digital communication and Web 2.0. This paper, therefore, part from the theoretical constructs object of the Cybergeography [22], of the Geographical information science [29; 6] or of what many call " Neogeography " or " Geography from below " [44], focusing on new dynamics of interaction between technologies, territories and communities in tourism, or on how the tourist information-which is the basis of the image and attractiveness of a tourist place, and therefore of competitiveness-born more and more by the interaction between the territory and the community in the age of digital communications and social networks. The literature review on issues specifically dealt with, will be accompanied by the presentation of some experiences of Virtual Community particularly significant as a form of representation and self-representation of local tourist systems through a Tourism 2.0.