Almost-Travel
Almost-travel is the next best thing to being there.
There are many ways to almost-travel: that is, to NOT travel, but to gain almost-all of the benefits of travel.
Almost-travel is better than travel in two main ways. First, almost-travel is almost-always faster than traveling (because real travel takes a lot of time). Second, almost-travel can happen sooner (because real travel takes a lot of preparation).
Technology is the almost-travel enabler. When you think media and technology, think almost-travel. What we call "technology" is usually that which is designed to obviate travel.
Types/Categories:
1. Download: Learning from the travel experience of others, either so that you no longer need to go there yourself right now, or so that you can better plan your trip. (E. g. books, TV, movies, word-of-mouth.)
2. Upload: If you can deliver a message electronically, or by sending snail mail (or a carrier pigeon), then travelling yourself becomes unnecessary. (E. g. a tweet, blog, ftp, or appearing on a television show.)
3. Two-way: Almost-being there. Having one, two, or more senses wired up for simultaneous two-way communication, you can actually feel like you had a "meeting." (E. g. a phone call, internet live chat, or video-conference.)
Almost-Travel around the US to Basketball Stadiums in 3D.
By Google
Almost-Travel around the world in less than an hour (below).
Tenerife - Canary Islands
Camel Racing in UAE - Robots replace children as jockeys
K2 Climbing Expedition
Hong Kong Airport
Chile
Frobisher Bay
And, if you're almost-serious about pretty-amazing almost-travel . . .
Links
| Almost-Travel Links | Comment |
| fulmediainteractive.com | Fulmedia interactive - Virtual Tour |
| www.louvre.fr | Virtual tours of the Louvre |
| www.cisco.com | Cisco TelePresence |
