Web 2.0 Awards (Exercise #19)

I decided to look at the Travel category for the Web 2.0 Awards because I wish I could go on a nice long vacation somewhere exotic right about now. I was kind of surprised by the sites they listed as #1 and #2. To me they just looked like slightly more sophisticated versions of Travelocity and Expedia. Maybe I didn't look close enough. I actually really liked the third place one called RealTravel. I liked it because it allows you to search for cheap flights and hotels, but it also gives you lots of information about places to travel. People can read and post on travel blogs, create free travel plans, look at travel photos, and ask questions in the forums. You can also click on a destination and find top spots, maps, deals, attractions, etc. I wonder why it only won third place.

I don't know if this site would be too helpful for the academic library I work at, but I can definitely see it being useful at a public library. When I worked at a public library, we often had people come in looking for travel books. One could suggest this site to a patron looking for travel information. It might also be useful for any programs a library does that center around travel. This site could give some good information, and one could also point it out during the program. I do a fair amount of traveling going to conferences and such for work. Though I usually don't have much time for sightseeing, this site might be fun to look at before I travel to a conference. For instance I'm going to Winnipeg, Canada in August for the ACRL Immersion program. I'll definitely want to check out what stuff they have on Canada.

On a side note I was happy to see Guess-the-Google win third place under games. I've been using the game in some of my instruction sessions to help students understand keyword searches better and how it can be difficult sometimes to think of just the right keyword to use. I usually have students play for a minute or two at the beginning of the session. Students really like the game.