i wanna go there
by Jim Jacoby on Feb.18, 2009, under convergence, manifest
as a personal interest, i wanted to share a beta site that i have had the pleasure of reviewing for the past few months. it’s called iwannagothere.net (they’re currently picking up the shorter iwgt.com for official release). i find it an interesting experience with lots of promise. as a ‘travel guide created by you’ it looks to have the fundamentals in place to become a more current, vibrant travel community than many of the others i’ve seen. interested in any comments here if you happen to sign up for it and try it out.
in additional to personal travel interests, i’m also working with the creators of the site and two sister agencies–the cocktail in madrid and inuse in malmo, sweden. as like-minded, user-centered design companies of about the same size, we are finding our way through collaboration that will benefit us all in the long run. large agency networks claim to do international work, but often throw acquired agencies into an unfamiliar mix in order to achieve international results. in the same way we’ve grown our agencies independently and carefully to this point, we have agreed to grow carefully into an international collaborative, rallying around a shared interest first: iwanna. once we get some steam going, who knows? maybe we’ll begin offering this capability to shared clients. how’s that for transparent integrity? figuring something out before you go selling it. what a concept!
btw, i highly recommend following the iwanna’s on flickr. the photography is beautiful…
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Jim Jacoby
Jim Jacoby is a business strategist, seasoned user experience specialist, and entrepreneur. He applies his extensive background to build fully-integrated online solutions that create market advantage. Looking for Design in the Moment?
February 18th, 2009 on 8:47 am
Jim -
How does IWGT differ from Dopplr? Seems to be quite similar, if not in execution then in overall strategy. I loooove Dopplr, but I’d always be willing to check out something new.
- Clay
February 18th, 2009 on 9:00 am
great question. i’ve asked the ceo to respond to this thread in order to give us the full story. for my own part, there are subtle differences worth noting. dopplr is very careful with how you expand your network. iwgt is a little more open in this regard, vis-a-vis a twitter following model. the editorial model behind the businesses is what i think will ultimately differentiate them. i can’t speak for dopplr’s because i haven’t used it enough to intuit how they’re handling it. i’d like maria (iwgt’s ceo) to comment on its editorial approach and goals. beyond those, i see some tools in the staging area (not yet available on this beta) that will further distance iwgt from dopplr. so, my perspective is probably a bit skewed by the information i have that’s a bit beyond what’s publicly available now. i’ll get more released here and share related press releases as they come out as well.
February 18th, 2009 on 8:47 am
Jim -
How does IWGT differ from Dopplr? Seems to be quite similar, if not in execution then in overall strategy. I loooove Dopplr, but I’d always be willing to check out something new.
- Clay
February 18th, 2009 on 9:00 am
great question. i’ve asked the ceo to respond to this thread in order to give us the full story. for my own part, there are subtle differences worth noting. dopplr is very careful with how you expand your network. iwgt is a little more open in this regard, vis-a-vis a twitter following model. the editorial model behind the businesses is what i think will ultimately differentiate them. i can’t speak for dopplr’s because i haven’t used it enough to intuit how they’re handling it. i’d like maria (iwgt’s ceo) to comment on its editorial approach and goals. beyond those, i see some tools in the staging area (not yet available on this beta) that will further distance iwgt from dopplr. so, my perspective is probably a bit skewed by the information i have that’s a bit beyond what’s publicly available now. i’ll get more released here and share related press releases as they come out as well.
February 18th, 2009 on 9:17 am
hi Clay! hi Jim!
I think the only thing Dopplr and IWGT have in common is that both are about travelling :)
I love Dopplr too but they have different objetives.
Dopplr is centered on tracking your trips and finding people wherever you go.
IWGT is about discovering new places for your upcoming trips, special places that you will never find on a traditional travel guide and of course share the ones you discover.
If you have 5 minutes to try IWGT I would love to know the impressions or suggestions you have about it :)
February 18th, 2009 on 9:17 am
hi Clay! hi Jim!
I think the only thing Dopplr and IWGT have in common is that both are about travelling :)
I love Dopplr too but they have different objetives.
Dopplr is centered on tracking your trips and finding people wherever you go.
IWGT is about discovering new places for your upcoming trips, special places that you will never find on a traditional travel guide and of course share the ones you discover.
If you have 5 minutes to try IWGT I would love to know the impressions or suggestions you have about it :)
February 18th, 2009 on 11:27 am
Jim – Agreed, from a surface level it’s tough to discern the differences between similar applications that are ostensibly for the same purpose. That’s the tough thing about designing/architecting usable home pages; the balance between displaying the active/dynamic content (which makes these apps so great) and explaining the purpose/benefit (visually/textually/other) is a tough one to get right the first time.
I didn’t immediately get the “editorial” thrust of IWGT, but now that you mention it, it makes a whole heck of a lot of sense.
Maria -
Thanks for jumping on this thread! One thing that might be helpful for other commenters (at least, it is for me) would be a link from your name in your comment to the IWGT blog.
In any case, it’s interesting for me to compare the following (public) pages:
http://iwannagothere.net/us/chicago
http://www.dopplr.com/place/us/chicago
For a passer-by, internet loiterer, etc., the pages are largely similar in terms of “usefulness” – a map, some photos, some recommendations from fellow travelers.
Certainly the logged-in experience for Dopplr has been an eye-opener for me, so I’ll have to sign up for IWGT and take a deeper look at IWGT. I’ll report back.
February 18th, 2009 on 11:27 am
Jim – Agreed, from a surface level it’s tough to discern the differences between similar applications that are ostensibly for the same purpose. That’s the tough thing about designing/architecting usable home pages; the balance between displaying the active/dynamic content (which makes these apps so great) and explaining the purpose/benefit (visually/textually/other) is a tough one to get right the first time.
I didn’t immediately get the “editorial” thrust of IWGT, but now that you mention it, it makes a whole heck of a lot of sense.
Maria -
Thanks for jumping on this thread! One thing that might be helpful for other commenters (at least, it is for me) would be a link from your name in your comment to the IWGT blog.
In any case, it’s interesting for me to compare the following (public) pages:
http://iwannagothere.net/us/chicago
http://www.dopplr.com/place/us/chicago
For a passer-by, internet loiterer, etc., the pages are largely similar in terms of “usefulness” – a map, some photos, some recommendations from fellow travelers.
Certainly the logged-in experience for Dopplr has been an eye-opener for me, so I’ll have to sign up for IWGT and take a deeper look at IWGT. I’ll report back.
February 18th, 2009 on 1:25 pm
this is hugely valuable. thank you, clay! once spain comes back around from the moon, i’m sure we’ll hear more from maria.
February 18th, 2009 on 1:25 pm
this is hugely valuable. thank you, clay! once spain comes back around from the moon, i’m sure we’ll hear more from maria.
February 19th, 2009 on 3:33 am
hi again! :)
I know there are similarities between IWGT and Dopplr but to me the biggest different is that IWGT will be the online travel guide to travel anywhere in the world.
It’s not about a list of nice restaurants or clubs but a place where you will find tips and places to visit only locals know.
In Dopplr those city pages are an added value to their service, for us is the center of the application.
Of course, We still have a lot to do, we just launched it, and we want to add a lot of editorial and valuable content from people who lives in each city.
For example if you compare these two pages:
http://iwannagothere.net/de/berlin
http://www.dopplr.com/place/de/berlin
On my opinion ours is a lot more helpfull.
The idea of doing IWGT came from loving travelling and discovering new places and not be able to find good online information. Even more important IWGT goal is to provide valuable user generate information about places that you don’t have a clue how they’ll turn up.
We would love to know your opinions about IWGT.
thanks a lot!
February 19th, 2009 on 3:33 am
hi again! :)
I know there are similarities between IWGT and Dopplr but to me the biggest different is that IWGT will be the online travel guide to travel anywhere in the world.
It’s not about a list of nice restaurants or clubs but a place where you will find tips and places to visit only locals know.
In Dopplr those city pages are an added value to their service, for us is the center of the application.
Of course, We still have a lot to do, we just launched it, and we want to add a lot of editorial and valuable content from people who lives in each city.
For example if you compare these two pages:
http://iwannagothere.net/de/berlin
http://www.dopplr.com/place/de/berlin
On my opinion ours is a lot more helpfull.
The idea of doing IWGT came from loving travelling and discovering new places and not be able to find good online information. Even more important IWGT goal is to provide valuable user generate information about places that you don’t have a clue how they’ll turn up.
We would love to know your opinions about IWGT.
thanks a lot!
February 19th, 2009 on 3:40 pm
My good friend in New York (whom I met through my blog) wrote a piece recently about location-based services.
You can read it, too, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johannaonvideo/2733141628/sizes/l/
The interesting thing (and the evolution of all these services) will be how they transition to the mobile environment, and what they provide to people who are in the middle of traveling and are outside of the “planning”–AKA lazy web surfing–mode of research.
If I think back to my travel planning experiences before the web, and the ones to which my father still adheres, it was heavy with AAA books, Travel Food books, and TripTiks, with emergency diversions coming at the recommendation of a helpful local. That’s where I see these sites existing in the most helpful, welcome way possible, in terms of integration into people’s actual lives. One of the things I like least about the proliferation of online tools (take that with a grain of salt, because generally I love them) is that they force me into new behaviors.
A couple other posts that might be relevant, and might spark some ideas in terms of how a travel site can truly be helpful and wonderful are here:
http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/geotility.html
http://www.houseofnaked.com/2009/02/12/see-the-full-picture-multi-level-partnerships/
http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2009/02/more-playful-utilities.html
I love the idea of “Playful Utility” … where a good travel guide might be able to help on a local/mobile level is “Emergency Utility”, which might be a great “hook” to draw people in to a long-term membership to the site.
Thoughts?
I’ll sign up for IWGT and probably write a post about all of this, if that’s cool.
- Clay
February 19th, 2009 on 3:40 pm
My good friend in New York (whom I met through my blog) wrote a piece recently about location-based services.
You can read it, too, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johannaonvideo/2733141628/sizes/l/
The interesting thing (and the evolution of all these services) will be how they transition to the mobile environment, and what they provide to people who are in the middle of traveling and are outside of the “planning”–AKA lazy web surfing–mode of research.
If I think back to my travel planning experiences before the web, and the ones to which my father still adheres, it was heavy with AAA books, Travel Food books, and TripTiks, with emergency diversions coming at the recommendation of a helpful local. That’s where I see these sites existing in the most helpful, welcome way possible, in terms of integration into people’s actual lives. One of the things I like least about the proliferation of online tools (take that with a grain of salt, because generally I love them) is that they force me into new behaviors.
A couple other posts that might be relevant, and might spark some ideas in terms of how a travel site can truly be helpful and wonderful are here:
http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/geotility.html
http://www.houseofnaked.com/2009/02/12/see-the-full-picture-multi-level-partnerships/
http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2009/02/more-playful-utilities.html
I love the idea of “Playful Utility” … where a good travel guide might be able to help on a local/mobile level is “Emergency Utility”, which might be a great “hook” to draw people in to a long-term membership to the site.
Thoughts?
I’ll sign up for IWGT and probably write a post about all of this, if that’s cool.
- Clay
February 20th, 2009 on 10:15 am
this is great additional background and definitely helps to fill in some of the instinctual gaps iwgt is working toward. thanks for sharing such detail.
i completely agree with the point that the best tools don’t change our behaviors. i believe the early tools we’ve seen take off cover an aspect of interaction that is not well defined and celebrated: Life Transactions. if we think about it for a moment, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook (just to name the usual suspects) all support simple ‘life transactions.’ specifically, and in the same order, they cover sharing pictures, moments/emotions, video/audio, and interests. none of them are perfect, but the insight here is that they are all working off of a base human instinct–to share and converse.
i think you’re exactly right that the next big thing that can pop through in travel is going to integrate seamlessly with the on-the-fly traveler. it seems that’s what maria is working toward here. so far, i haven’t seen one really work this way… where we can be at an intersection in a foreign city and know where to take the next turn for our greatest interest, even though we hadn’t though of it till just then. i’m hopeful that iwgt is heading in that direction. key to its success will be its proactive editorial efforts in order to make the experience rich enough in the right cities at the right times…
February 20th, 2009 on 10:15 am
this is great additional background and definitely helps to fill in some of the instinctual gaps iwgt is working toward. thanks for sharing such detail.
i completely agree with the point that the best tools don’t change our behaviors. i believe the early tools we’ve seen take off cover an aspect of interaction that is not well defined and celebrated: Life Transactions. if we think about it for a moment, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook (just to name the usual suspects) all support simple ‘life transactions.’ specifically, and in the same order, they cover sharing pictures, moments/emotions, video/audio, and interests. none of them are perfect, but the insight here is that they are all working off of a base human instinct–to share and converse.
i think you’re exactly right that the next big thing that can pop through in travel is going to integrate seamlessly with the on-the-fly traveler. it seems that’s what maria is working toward here. so far, i haven’t seen one really work this way… where we can be at an intersection in a foreign city and know where to take the next turn for our greatest interest, even though we hadn’t though of it till just then. i’m hopeful that iwgt is heading in that direction. key to its success will be its proactive editorial efforts in order to make the experience rich enough in the right cities at the right times…
February 23rd, 2009 on 2:32 am
Thanks a lot Clay, your comments are really helpful.
We are starting to work on iwgt’s mobile application, hopefully we’ll launch it soon :)
The posts you shared with us looks great.
I would love to know any other comments you have when you start using iwgt.
thanks a lot!
February 23rd, 2009 on 2:32 am
Thanks a lot Clay, your comments are really helpful.
We are starting to work on iwgt’s mobile application, hopefully we’ll launch it soon :)
The posts you shared with us looks great.
I would love to know any other comments you have when you start using iwgt.
thanks a lot!
March 1st, 2009 on 2:50 pm
A couple of links to share:
http://duffelup.com/ – a new travel site that promises “roll your own” travel guides.
http://www.jackcheng.com/passion-projects the story behind it.
Sorta cool. Still haven’t been able to meaningfully check out IWGT, but I’ll clear some time soon.
March 1st, 2009 on 2:50 pm
A couple of links to share:
http://duffelup.com/ – a new travel site that promises “roll your own” travel guides.
http://www.jackcheng.com/passion-projects the story behind it.
Sorta cool. Still haven’t been able to meaningfully check out IWGT, but I’ll clear some time soon.
March 2nd, 2009 on 2:31 am
thanks Clay!
March 2nd, 2009 on 2:31 am
thanks Clay!