Ron Mader

Consultation and Nonsultation in Cape York, Australia

ronmader — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:32:02 +0000

One of my favorite buzzwords is ‘Nonsultation’ = A specious public consultation on decisions that have already been made.

The word came to mind as I was reading the latest news from the Facebook group Cape York People United in which this was posted as a criticism of a proposed World Heritage Site in the area:

“I think we need a big discussion, nationally, of what ‘consultation’ should really entail. Here’s some thoughts as far as World Heritage goes:

1. Everyone living on Cape York should have a chance to know BOTH sides of the story. Without this they cannot make an informed decision. This means that all groups – including those opposing World Heritage – should have access to funds so they too can disseminate information, and provide balance with the glossy brochures and government department ‘workshops’ where only the government agenda is being pushed.
2. Everyone living on Cape York should be listened to and have the chance to say ‘No’. All Aboriginal people – both Traditional Owners and historical people – and all non-Indigenous people. These are the real stakeholders. For the Qld Government to now be asking all Queenslanders which areas should be nominated, is outrageous. Most Queenslanders have never set foot in Cape York, nor do they understand the issues and the environment as the people who live there do.
3. At the moment NO-ONE is listening! There is no two-way discussion. If you’re overtly against it, then the consultants doing the ‘consulting’ don’t want to talk to you. Let alone listen! They don’t want a debate, they want to fill up their quotas with a quick consent so focus on the easy targets.

If the government is serious about “consulting” rather than forcing their own agenda, then why not a series of public meetings & debates all around Cape York Peninsula, where BOTH sides are invited and have a chance to put their point of view and answer questions?”

Some Background

Cape York is located in Far North Queensland, Australia and is the home of the ITBW Winner Guurrbi Tours. I wish I could say that I’ve set foot here, but my travels in Australia have been limited. That said, I pay attention to the region via ABC Radio National and the abundance of social media friends using Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.

I’d like to explore how consultation does and does not work via ABC’s Pool and perhaps get the folks I’m chatting with (via email, Twitter and Facebook) to look at one another’s circumstances and share with the world how consultation is or is not working for them. The complaints raised in Cape York are not limited to Queensland or to Australia and we should rise to the challenge of making consultation more trustworthy for all. Otherwise the goal of creating something with an appeal for visitors will fall flat as travelers learn that locals have been left out of the conversation, or should I say ‘nonversation.’

Gameification On: Responsible Tourism Week Contests

ronmader — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:08:18 +0000

In three weeks we launch Responsible Tourism Week, our free, five-day unconference exploring down-to-earth applications of noble concepts including responsible tourism, conscious travel, the local travel movement and ecotourism with effective and inexpensive social media.

What’s new in 2012? Contests!

We are preparing contests for travel companies and language schools featured on Planeta.com. Operations will be acknowledged and the favorites will win bragging rights (and an extension of the Planeta.com listing for three months).
Another contest — with rules being sorted out — encourages collaboration within countries. We will recognize the countries which generate the most buzz about responsible tourism. Ideally, we will see regional and national tourism promotion identify and talk up local operations and local operations connecting with authorities. Winners receive bragging rights and a placed on the Planeta Wiki’s revised Top 10 List.
There’s also a poster contest. Again, the winner or winners receive bragging rights and a certificate. Check out the gallery for the nominees.

Gameification on!

Aichi Targets

ronmader — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:59:53 +0000

A few weeks ago Steve McCool wrote a terrific response to my post about the Q&A with Leo Hickman. Steve wrote:

Of particular significance is management of tourism and visitation in protected areas — a cornerstone of both conservation and economic development. Now when we look at Target 11 of the Aichi agreement from the 2010 Conference of the Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity, we see an enormous task ahead of us.

Target 11 raises the proportion of the terrestrial surface in nationally designated terrestrial protected areas from 12.7% to 17% by 2020. This is, if my math is correct, an area nearly the size of Australia to be added to the globe’s protected area network. Think of it this way, using the average size of protected areas in the World Database on Protected Areas, this requires adding over 55,000 new areas in eight years.

Think of the institutional and political commitment to this. Think of the number of managers and rangers that will be needed to be educated and trained. Think of the stress on current educational institutions to provide the courses and offerings needed for the thousands of people working there. Think of the tourism development challenges and opportunities that tens of thousands of new protected areas offer.

The tourism industry needs to not just engage a discussion here, but also how to lead an authentic critical discussion, which will not only strengthen their industry and its capabilities to be a socially progressive one, but also greatly assist in making it a more desirable working place.

So this made me curious … why haven’t we heard more about the Aichi Targets? Also, what needs to happen to move Steve’s vision forward?

Strategic Goals

Address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society

Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use

Improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity

Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services

Enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity building

Preview: Responsible Tourism Week 2012

ronmader — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:12:36 +0000

Responsible Tourism Week is an online unconference exploring down-to-earth applications of noble concepts including responsible tourism, conscious travel, local travel and ecotourism with practical and inexpensive social media. Everyone’s invited.

2012 is the fourth year for Responsible Tourism Week and we expect the conversations to take a great leap forward thanks to inspired participation and Planeta.com’s 12th year of online conferencing.

Join us! Responsible tourism is free and with Responsible Tourism Week, there’s no jet lag! It’s a great opportunity to learn about new initiatives and it’s an even better venue for networking — collaborating with old friends and colleagues and making new contacts.

Simply put, this online unconference is an excellent way to broaden and deepen our dialogue about sustainable practice and tourism. Responsible Tourism Week encourages participants to articulate their core values and the way they put noble ideas into practice. We spotlight living, breathing examples of responsible tourism. Here is an opportunity to introduce new events, tours and research projects as well as an avenue to summarize the outcomes from recent events. Yes, it’s a high-tech, but we also promote lo-fi media, including the foamboard and social events including carrotmobs, green drinks and photo safaris.

One of the key objectives of Responsible Tourism Week is to create incentives for continuity. We would really like to hear summaries from recent tourism conferences and previews of upcoming events that touch upon the core values of responsible tourism. Another key objective is to strengthen relationships with existing contacts and make new friends!

You can start the preparations now by documenting the stories you’d like to share and by registering on the social media channels you’d like to master in 2012. Share examples of responsible tourism that you have personally experienced. Be generous. Talk about other people’s work that you respect.

We will highlight the most interesting tweets on Twitter, photos on Flickr, videos on YouTube and recommended blogs and wikis. Keep an eye on this blog for further updates! Your comments, questions, retweets and likes are most appreciated.

Kind regards, Ron Mader

2011 wiki stats

ronmader — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:03:43 +0000

The term ‘wiki’ is derived from a Polynesian word meaning ‘quick.’ This is an apt descriptor since changes can be made immediately by editors.

Think of a wiki as a collaborative mural. Artists come together and prepare something in a public space. There’s more than one ‘wiki’ as certainly as there are more than one wall.

Why wiki? Working together we can put information where others can more easily access it, edit it and improve it. Wikis require active participation, top-down and bottom-up buy-in, commitment from multiple parties and frequently face-to-face training.

That said, here are the 100 most viewed pages of the Planeta Wiki in 2011

home 41668
auckland 28574
copyright 24553
ecotourismnz 18314
mexico 13330
audio 13319
germany 12123
rss 11451
rtweek2011 9449
itbw 9203
google 9103
newzealand 8521
otago 8230
flickr 7486
twitter 7152
southafrica 6956
rugby 6764
bushtelegraph 6407
colibri 6263
alaska 6070
youtube 5991
climate 5987
ecuador 5829
buzzwordbingo 5647
australia 5569
mxnatour 5469
wiki 5414
usa 5306
capetown 5242
forum 5209
facebook 5190
rtcities 5116
durban 5067
web2 4941
web2workshop 4859
lasvegas 4772
slideshare 4722
workshops 4708
playlist 4593
food 4397
responsibletourism 4227
biodiversity 4176
storytelling 4046
estonia 4039
baseball 3996
science 3958
blogs 3932
parksweb2 3838
editors 3812
rugby2011 3799
ecotourism 3720
parks 3572
maori 3534
videos 3524
delicious 3516
london 3507
indigenousweek 3491
df 3449
googlearth 3400
canada 3375
maya 3183
maoriproverbs 3128
city 3058
indigenous 3032
volunteer 3002
flickrgroups 2964
communication 2925
ronmader 2821
queensland 2818
play 2765
queenstown 2710
chiapas 2673
awards 2644
2011 2610
wikipedia 2568
oregon 2545
spotlightaward 2538
livestreaming 2536
energy 2524
quotes 2524
ruraltourism2009 2506
victoria 2480
southafricaslang 2461
ireland 2453
sweden 2438
cycling 2436
ozslang 2403
top10 2401
panama 2389
wtd 2385
workshop21 2380
photosafari 2374
wishlist 2335
fun 2295
ecoconference 2285
austria 2282
peru 2275
tourismportals 2274
football2010 2263
aboriginal 2260
Q&A about the Top 100 Pages

How do you explain the Auckland peak?

The rise of this page surprised me as well. Three big factors contributed to the rise of Auckland wiki views in 2011

1) I participated from afar in the NetHui event – http://nethui.org.nz – and through tweets and retweets, struck up an online conversation with a number of people. This also bolstered the traffic on the ‘copyright’ page on the Planeta Wiki

2) Auckland wiki has been edited by our ITBW winners Time Unlimited. The content is quite rich.

3) Auckland became well known thanks to the World Rugby Cup. I think this developed some of the traffic.

The 2011 stats show a big jump in Feb 2011. Was that the Responsible Tourism week?

I believe that the February 2011 jump was caused by Responsible Tourism Week

The germanwho is not listed. wouldnt it than be better to include into the national pages?

I would rather keep the pages separate so that the nerdy, detailed tourism insider info is on a single page. The Germany page should remain an intro guide. It’s also quite popular.

I’d really like to find a few more wiki editors who are familiar with Deutschland and tourism. The info we get on the far side of the Atlantic about Germany is rarely that interesting or informative.

Any surprises?

Some of my favorites didn’t make this list. There were a lot of edits to Sami. It’s not all about the number of views. My hope for 2012 is that we see more editors being more active and that friends continue to tweet, share, tag and curate their favorite pages.

2011 on the blog

ronmader — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:07:14 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,900 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

2011 in Review

ronmader — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:22:21 +0000

Some of my favorite moments (aka posters) from 2011

01.2012

ronmader — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:30:38 +0000

January 2012: Free Calendar

Wiki
Events
January

Evaluating the World Rugby Cup 2011: Report from Auckland

ronmader — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:27:41 +0000

Auckland - It’s too soon to tell about the lasting legacies of the World Rugby Cup, but the Auckland Council has published its Rugby World Cup Evaluation Report.

Key quote
“Interim results show that while interest amongst Auckland businesses in RWC 2011 was extremely high at 87.4 per cent, fewer than a quarter of businesses felt a sense of involvement in the events. A survey of 500 businesses in December 2010 found 83 per cent believed RWC 2011 would have a positive impact on their business. Over half of the respondents thought they were well prepared. Yet post-event data shows only a small proportion (8.9%) of Auckland businesses believed RWC 2011 had benefited them.”

My personal observation – developed across the Pacific – is that the games offered little in terms of generating awareness about local tourism offerings. Mind you, the pageantry and sport were fantastic, but what did we learn about New Zealand? That locals in Auckland perceived such little benefit should serve as a wake-up call to locals and leaders alike. Were the expectations wildly out of reach or is there still time to deliver?

Read the news release about the Auckland report here
www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Download:
PDF

FYI: This blog is crossposted online the New Zealand Tourism Industry Blog

2011 Buzzwords

ronmader — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:22:52 +0000

If there are 50 Words for Snow, there are nearly double that for 2011′s choice buzzwords. Here are my favorites in alphabetical order. The lingo is defined online the Planeta Wiki. Do you have any additions?

#WIKIWEDNESDAY
3D PRINTING
ÁNIMO
ANTHROPOCENE
ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING
ASSEMBLE
BLUE SKY THINKING
BUZZWORD BINGO
CITIZEN SCIENCE
CONCURSO
CONSCIOUS
CONSCIOUS TRAVEL
COUCHSURFING
CRINGEWORTHY
CURATE
DELICIOUS
DIGITAL LITERACY
EMPATHY
EXOPLANET
FAIL
FLICKR
FOAMBOARD
FRIENDS
FRUGAL
FUTURE FIT
GAMEIFICATION
GOOD ENOUGH
GOYO GAKUSHA
GUELAGUETZA
HASHTAG
KITCHEN HOPPING
LINGO STICKS
LIVE STREAMING
MATURE
MICROEDIT
MICROPHILANTHROPY
NARRATIVE
NEW SCHOOL
NOW
OCCUPY
OLD SCHOOL
OPEN GOVERNMENT
OPEN SOURCE
OPEN SPACE
PHOTO SAFARI
PHOTOSTREAMING
PIVOT
PLANETA
PLATINUM RULE
POP-UP MUSEUM
POSTCARDS
QR CODE
READ WRITE CULTURE
ROUTE
SITOPIA
SLIDESHARE
SLOW ADVENTURES
SOUNDSCAPE
STORIFY
TRANSITION
TRUST
VIBE
VOLUNTEER
WAKING UP
WIKI
WILLFUL IGNORANCE
WORLD
ZIPCAST