The Challenge

Tourism has a severe impact on (fragile) ecosystems (for example, Australia's Great Barrier Reef). If the result of tourism is 'loving it to death' - can information technology provide the 'kiss of (sustainable) life'?

Three scenarios for the future tourist

Without a dedicated effort from both the scientific and the technological communities, as well as serious efforts to educate tourists, factor 20 cannot be achieved. The Travels to the Edge group developed three scenarios for the future, using Maxi, a tourist positioned in the fragility of the Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia.

The present -- prepare and extend Maxi is at home in Amsterdam, looking at his screen, planning his trip to the Great Barrier Reef. While surfing, he plots his experiences and books his trip, only to find that he cannot go this year because his name starts with M. However, his name comes up for next year. In the meantime he plays SIM-REEF.

After the actual trip, Maxi arrives home, and immediately reconnects with the Internet and links in to his Reef discussion group and shares his experiences, extending the touristic event. He accesses real-time images from the site he has visited, continuing his involvement with the great Barrier Reef.

2040 - preserve and enhance While travelling, Maxi is using PILGRIM, the Personal Integrated Learning Guide and Reflexive Information Machine, a device with a multitude of useful functions, including a global positioning system, global connectivity, and eco-smart guide, a factor 20 calculator, a digital scrapbook and a language translator. PILGRIM enriches Maxi's experience at the Reef by providing information about the Reef's unique ecosystem, and it warns Maxi about potentially dangerous or destructive behaviours.

All tourists are required to travel with digi-visas. These have replaced the paper visas common in the 20th century. Tourists submit their itineraries electronically, which are approved or altered by local eco/cultural communities, depending on current local conditions. Numbers of people, duration of visit, consumption of scarce resources are all taken into account in granting digi-visas. Digi-visas can be arranged through PILGRIM.

2095 - simulate and re-create Maxi's new trip: the Great Virtual Barrier Reef. At home, Maxi jumps onto the energy cycle to charge the luxury battery long enough to generate sufficient power to explore the new trip. Maxi puts on her Interskin diving suit and switches on the trip's starting image on the wall . To activate its 3D portal, Maxi says, "Let's Go!" At once, the area occupied by the image seems to become a gateway. From this gateway, virtual water crashes over Maxi and fills the room. The virtual reef rears up like a huge wall before Maxi, who steers herself through the nearest breach in the coral. She spends her morning at the coral touch garden. She `communicates' with cuttlefish - changing the colour of her virtual body when they do. Her Interskin diving suit has stored all the sensations of the trip in its memory, ready for playback at any time. She decides that she wants to learn more about the Reef and plans a Reef Simulation Run for the next time to 'grow' her own virtual reef.

Participants

• Jonathan Arnowitz, User Interface Designer, the Netherlands
• Wendy Brawer, Eco Designer, Modern World Design, New York City, USA
• Robert Flynn, Publisher, Lonely Planet Publications, Australia
• Marc van Grootel, Student, Dept. of Architecture at the Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands
• Jennifer Hocking, Architect, Dept. of Architecture, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
• Joseph Nechvatal, Artist, Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany
• Linda R. Santhagens, Policy Official, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Directorate-General for Environmental Management, the Netherlands
• Markus Schnabel, Student, Hochschüle für Gestaltung, Germany
• Jill Scott, Artist, Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany (moderator)
• Jane Szita, Journalist, Holland Herald, the Netherlands
• Frank Talbot, Scientist and Barrier Reef Expert, Australia
• Jacques Vink, Architect, the Netherlands

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