Travel bits continued
As I was reading up for tomorrow's Online Journ exam, I stumbled on this wonderful
website, showcasing true stories of brain tumour survivors. It isn't the content of the website that I am raving about but rather the presentation of the stories.
Before I get to my point, here's some background. Yesterday I happened to go to Washington Post's website, clicked on the travel section and got attracted to a write up on one of the three British Virgins - St. Croix. It had a very attractive lead, because it got me interested to click to read more. I was so engaged, anytime I would have booked a flight halfway round the globe, sign up for Open Water and Advanced Diving courses so that I could do "wall diving" at Cane Bay Drop-Off, the North Star wall and Salt River Canyon, which is what the island boasts. For someone, who's a little scared of the sea because of it's potential wrath, and my occasional sea-sickness, there must have been sufficient motivation for me to feel so driven.
There was. Plenty in fact.
Maybe it's the whole idea of scaling the wall. Ask me to climb a rock wall I'm all game, in fact, anything land-based I'm rather keen, but when it comes to the sea, I'll always have second thoughts.
But this is different.
Even as I sit here typing this entry, my heart is pumping with excitement at the thought of ( in the words of a source in the article), "swimming in an enchanted forest, but instead of the animals being lions and tigers and bears, they're sea creatures like sea horses, frogfish, batfish, and squid and octopus that change colors, from red to electric blue, when we shine flashlights on them."
My veins are exploding with adrenalin! Okay, I have decided, this shall go to my list of "Top 10 Honeymoon Destinations".
I did have a little complain about the write up though. First, there is no flight information, not even for the US residents, and since there's obviously no direct flight from Singapore, I have no idea how to get there even if I want to. Second, as much as the descriptions were detailed and vivid, I wished there were more accompanying pictures than just a simple landscape shot of the beach. Which brings me to the point about the wonderful brain-tumour-survivors-website I mentioned in the first paragraph.
In line with my fabulous (haha!) idea of an Asian travel portal, I think it'll be great to present the write ups in the same manner as that website. Yes, the content is different, but the style is pretty much the same.
See, the website is about brain tumour survivors, and their account of their experience. Most of these travel articles are similarly presented in the first person voice.
So now, imagine, the same website presentation, but instead of pictures of the brain tumour survivors, we have pictures of the place of interest, say for example Angkor Wat. The reader who enters the site will be greeted with a high resolution picture of the ancient temple, with accompanying caption. The story begins when the reader clicks on the audio button and the writer will talk about her travel experience at Angkor Wat. As the story progresses, more pictures come on to further validate the writer's account. Of course accompanying text from the verbal account can surface here and there, but they should be kept sharp and crisp. I wouldn't want readers to get too caught up with listening and reading that he or she loses the focus of the story.
I do not advocate doing away with the print article altogether, because information could be derived from quotes of other sources. Ideally, this should come as a link at the end of the story. Other information (also in links) that should be present at the end of the tour: how to get there, cost of airfare, hotel stay, what to pack, climate conditions and so on, that can realistically help a reader plan a holiday to Cambodia during his or her next long weekend.
I think the day I quit showbiz, and have sufficient capital, I am going to start such a travel portal, regardless of whether or not we have an Asian equivalent of NY Times. It will solely be a travel website for avid travellers around the region and foreign visitors looking at using Singapore as a stepping board to other exotic Asian destinations.
Till then, it's back to earth and Online Journalism revision.
*sigh*
What a beautiful Sunday.
Related article:
Rommy, With a View | The Washington Post | Sunday, October 23, 2005
website, showcasing true stories of brain tumour survivors. It isn't the content of the website that I am raving about but rather the presentation of the stories.
Before I get to my point, here's some background. Yesterday I happened to go to Washington Post's website, clicked on the travel section and got attracted to a write up on one of the three British Virgins - St. Croix. It had a very attractive lead, because it got me interested to click to read more. I was so engaged, anytime I would have booked a flight halfway round the globe, sign up for Open Water and Advanced Diving courses so that I could do "wall diving" at Cane Bay Drop-Off, the North Star wall and Salt River Canyon, which is what the island boasts. For someone, who's a little scared of the sea because of it's potential wrath, and my occasional sea-sickness, there must have been sufficient motivation for me to feel so driven.
There was. Plenty in fact.
Maybe it's the whole idea of scaling the wall. Ask me to climb a rock wall I'm all game, in fact, anything land-based I'm rather keen, but when it comes to the sea, I'll always have second thoughts.
But this is different.
Even as I sit here typing this entry, my heart is pumping with excitement at the thought of ( in the words of a source in the article), "swimming in an enchanted forest, but instead of the animals being lions and tigers and bears, they're sea creatures like sea horses, frogfish, batfish, and squid and octopus that change colors, from red to electric blue, when we shine flashlights on them."
My veins are exploding with adrenalin! Okay, I have decided, this shall go to my list of "Top 10 Honeymoon Destinations".
I did have a little complain about the write up though. First, there is no flight information, not even for the US residents, and since there's obviously no direct flight from Singapore, I have no idea how to get there even if I want to. Second, as much as the descriptions were detailed and vivid, I wished there were more accompanying pictures than just a simple landscape shot of the beach. Which brings me to the point about the wonderful brain-tumour-survivors-website I mentioned in the first paragraph.
In line with my fabulous (haha!) idea of an Asian travel portal, I think it'll be great to present the write ups in the same manner as that website. Yes, the content is different, but the style is pretty much the same.
See, the website is about brain tumour survivors, and their account of their experience. Most of these travel articles are similarly presented in the first person voice.
So now, imagine, the same website presentation, but instead of pictures of the brain tumour survivors, we have pictures of the place of interest, say for example Angkor Wat. The reader who enters the site will be greeted with a high resolution picture of the ancient temple, with accompanying caption. The story begins when the reader clicks on the audio button and the writer will talk about her travel experience at Angkor Wat. As the story progresses, more pictures come on to further validate the writer's account. Of course accompanying text from the verbal account can surface here and there, but they should be kept sharp and crisp. I wouldn't want readers to get too caught up with listening and reading that he or she loses the focus of the story.
I do not advocate doing away with the print article altogether, because information could be derived from quotes of other sources. Ideally, this should come as a link at the end of the story. Other information (also in links) that should be present at the end of the tour: how to get there, cost of airfare, hotel stay, what to pack, climate conditions and so on, that can realistically help a reader plan a holiday to Cambodia during his or her next long weekend.
I think the day I quit showbiz, and have sufficient capital, I am going to start such a travel portal, regardless of whether or not we have an Asian equivalent of NY Times. It will solely be a travel website for avid travellers around the region and foreign visitors looking at using Singapore as a stepping board to other exotic Asian destinations.
Till then, it's back to earth and Online Journalism revision.
*sigh*
What a beautiful Sunday.
Related article:
Rommy, With a View | The Washington Post | Sunday, October 23, 2005
posted by Me at 11:23 am
1 Comments:
Diving is great. I highly recommend it!
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