Village Voyage

Monday, July 6, 2009

Village Voyage is now the Wiki City Project

Please visit http://www.wikicity.com/, or our blog at http://wikicity.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Today's Featured Town: Hilo, Hawaii

Hilo is a coastal town in the State of Hawai. It is the largest settlement on the island of Hawaii, and the second largest settlement in the state. The population was 40,759 at the 2000 census. Hilo is the county seat of Hawaii County, Hawaii, and is situated in the South Hilo District. The town overlooks Hilo Bay, and is near two shield volcanoes, Mauna Loa, considered active, and Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano upon which some of the best ground-based astronomical observatories are placed.
Hilo is also home to Sarah Palin's first college, the University of Hawaii At Hilo, as well as the Merrie Monarch Festival, a week-long celebration of ancient and modern hula, which takes place annually after Easter. It is also home to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation, one of the world's leading producers of macadamia nuts. It is served by Hilo International Airport.

http://www.wikicity.com/wiki/Category:Places_in_Hilo,_Hawaii

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Expanding the Realtor Reach – Five (Free) Building Blocks to Fast Forward Future Sales

Realtors don’t need to be reminded how competitive it is to gain new clients, nor do they need to be reminded how the recent economic turmoil affects local transaction activity. Instead, well-healed Realtors are better served focusing on the future and how they can progressively promote their skill sets to attract and retain new clients. Below are five free building blocks to expand the Realtor’s reach and gain new clients:

Website – Okay, this may be a bit obvious, but let this be your core – your foundation for the building blocks that follow. Make sure it presents well, personifies your abilities, showcases your listings, and conveys confidence.

Blog – Consider the website your formal business card and your blog is the less formal conversation you have as you exchange business cards. Make sure you have something good to say. Chronicle a unique experience. Feature timely information about the local market that only you know best. Feel free to provide tasteful links to your listings, but don’t dilute your blog with that (admittedly important) content. Instead, let that content reside on your website. If your reader likes what you share in your blog, then they will find you and your listings on your website.
Facebook – A nifty profile with lots of friends just isn’t enough. Instead, create a fan page and encourage all your friends and past clients to “fan” you. Using this platform, broadcast recent listings (with links, of course), sales, recent blog posts, open houses, and all other meaningful activity.

Twitter – Twitter is now the medium where news breaks first. Think of it as your personal news room. Create an account, follow only those who interest you most (not the whole planet), and encourage your clients and prospective clients to follow you. After all, this is the platform you will use to broadcast the latest listings – in most cases before they surface anywhere else. This is your chance to get a leg-up on the competition. Do not underestimate the power of this free resource!

Village Voyage – The Internet is an abyss of information and you’ve worked hard to build your brand. Tie it all together with Village Voyage. Similar to Wikipedia, Village Voyage is a wiki and anyone can participate. Think of it as your on-line cocktail party with many different conversations all centered around your community, your target audience, your clients. Create a Village Voyage page to further expand your online presence, while at the same time, taking advantage of the opportunity to add valuable back-links to your website, blog, and other online pages. Beyond that, be bold. Use Village Voyage to meet new clients, build credibility, and differentiate yourself by demonstrating your local market knowledge and expertise. Find your targeted markets today on Village Voyage: http://www.villagevoyage.com/wiki/Category:States

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

E-Learning in a 2.0 Wiki World – Spotlighting Village Voyage City Wikis

Educators have relied upon on-line “E-Learning” for years, but now a new phenomenon is emerging, which some are calling “E-Learning 2.0”. E-Learning 2.0 relies upon a variety of increasingly popular web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, and other social mediums to provide both the educator and the student with an interactive learning experience.

The most popular of these tools is Wikipedia, yet a new project called Village Voyage is growing in popularity. Much like Wikipedia, Village Voyage is a free wiki, and anyone can contribute. However, Village Voyage is different from Wikipedia because it is designed to promote local community, commerce, tourism, and everyday life within the 22,000 towns it serves.

Because of this, local content that typically would not be allowed on Wikipedia is welcomed on Village Voyage. As such, many educators have found that the progression of this project fits well within an academic setting; albeit for the journalism student recapping Friday night’s game, or the history student chronicling the community’s historical relevance. In true wiki spirit, even the Village Voyage lesson plans take the shape of a wiki article, where a number of educators have collaborated to develop and expand the student project plan: http://www.villagevoyage.com/wiki/Village_Voyage:Project_Plan

Regardless of the subject, instructors can closely monitor each student’s contributions, and all changes are tracked and time-stamped for added accountability. Best of all, the assignments themselves are never complete. Instead, they are inherited by the local community, thus allowing others to progress their quality, content, and accuracy.