Heritage travel tales transport friends, relatives, associates and the general public out of the realm of the everyday, cutting through the constant chatter and clatter of doom and gloom.
The travelers of yesteryear had few choices for sharing their travel memories and experiences. But even when options were limited to the written or spoken word, a large number of people found a good story so spellbinding that they were willing to tune everything else out and focus just on the teller and his/her adventures.
Today,we can use multiple forms of new media to share our adventures and stories. In fact, we almost have too many choices.
Through the magic of the Internet, we can employ a variety of far-reaching tools that link us and our tales to broad international audiences.
THE HERITAGE TRAVELER is committed to bringing you the most informed information on how you can use the new tools. As time goes by, we’ll cover everything from Facebook and Twitter to Skype and UStream along with all sorts of topics in between. We’ll provide “how to” and tutorials on how to make the most of each of them.
For now, though, let’s just list a few. In no particular order:
- Multimedia Slideshows like The Crabapple Chapel.
- Audio Podcasts like this one on FACE JUGS. You can even put them on iTunes.
- Your own radio program on Blog Talk Radio.
- Your personal (written) travel Blog. Use WordPress and you can be up and running in a matter of minutes.
- Not enough time for a standard blog? Try MicroBlogging on Twitter.
- Photography. Why not put your photos on Flickr or other sharing sites? See one of my photostreams on Flickr here. It’s about the Giglio Festival in East Harlem (NYC).
- Your personal video blog or VLOG. Use the FLIP or Kodak Zi8 to capture your images. They make sharing by e-mail or uploading to the Internet quick and easy.
- Oral Histories
- Social Networking Sites
- And I’ve saved the best for last: YOU TUBE. Tell your story in video form, post the video to YouTube, and communicate your mission or message to thousands almost immediately. I did this with an educational tale I told about Cuban agriculture. Take a look at it here.
Did you know that US Internet users viewed more than 14.4 billion online videos during the month of March 2009? This according to comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world.
- Gender: 53% male, 47% female
- Median age: 33 years
- Fairly evenly distributed across the US
- Married: 44%
- College education: 69%
- Employed: 71%
- Students: 15%
- Median income: $74,000
This is a wake-up call for those of us who thought that Multimedia on the Internet was the purview of geeks and nerds. Indeed, it’s the communication channel of choice for many in the mainstream. Over the coming months, THE HERITAGE TRAVELER will supply helpful tips and how-to on how to reach this broad international audience. We hope you’ll join us on the journey.
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My name is Lisa (pronounced Liza) Wolfe. I'm a writer, photographer, political scientist, new media maven and editor/creator of The Heritage Traveler. I earned my travel stripes as a trip planner and tour leader in the Middle East, and as a "top 10" travel agent in the United States. I've also designed individualized tours to hard to reach places and established exchange linkages while working in World Heritage areas in the Caribbean. My goal now is to provide you with accurate and complete information on ethical and sustainable heritage travel. I hope you will visit The Heritage Traveler often. Meanwhile, Happy Traveling!
