TripTie est un site communautaire de voyages Travel 2.0 qui permet de construire et planifier son prochain voyage en "remixant" les voyages réalisés par des autres personnes !

Chaque "TripTie Planer" sert d'agent de voyages aux membres de la communauté du site Internet.

C'est simple, rapide et très interactif.

Andrew M. Lin, Foundateur et CEO de TripTie nous en dit plus dans cet interview.

>Andrew, can you tell some information about you?

Technically, I am an Interaction Designer working in New York City but I like to tell people about my art (I design packaging for Amai Tea & Bake House - ), my technical experience (I enjoy getting into the thick of development too), as well as my usability background - I have a masters degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University. Oh, and I love to travel and explore new places, which is why I started TripTie.

>You manage a great travel site, TripTie, Can you tell us the story and some fact about it?

TripTie really started in the fall of 2005, when I was planning a trip to Japan. I had always dreamed of going there and since I quit my full-time job a month earlier, I finally had a chance. My girlfriend and I started planning a one-month journey but realized that we were having difficulties. We bought a Rough Guides book and went to the Japanese Tourism office here in NYC but were inundated with too much information. Numerous sites on the Internet were also helpful, but they didn't seem to help me narrow down destinations either. Even though Japan is a relatively small country, there are so many things to do and see. I remembered that my cousin had visited Japan a year earlier so I gave her a call. As luck would have it, she found an e-mailed itinerary for her trip that she made for herself before traveling. She sent it to me. I built my itinerary off of hers - it was so easy. She had a bunch of places on it that I knew I wanted to go to and some that I didn't. I rearranged it, added to it (since my trip was longer), and that's when the idea behind TripTie hit me. Itineraries should be shared.

>Can you give us some higlights about your goals with TripTie!

The goal for TripTie is quite simple: to help people travel. I believe that the best travel agents are people just like you: who share similar travel interests and who have (or want) to go to the same place you want to go to (or who already live there!). TripTie wants to connect like-travelers and be the common place where people can share their Trip Plans.




>Internet is going faster and we talk now about Web 2.0 and Travel 2.0. What do you think about this evolution in the tourism & hotel market place ?
Word-of-mouth marketing and User Generated Content are the big trends for Travel 2.0 ?

Yes, everyone is into user-generated content nowadays. However, it's really nothing new. Forums and message boards have been around pre-World Wide Web days, when Bulletin Board Systems were around and we had to connect with our 300 baud modems. What has really changed is broadband penetration and the pervasiveness of the Internet in our homes. This allows user-generated content to be good, constant, and sticky. The story has always been the same: get good members and get good content, and make it easy for users to find and manipulate this content. In many ways, I think the successful Travel 2.0 sites will be the ones that can stick around - through the Web 2.0 hype. Something that I also think will be transforming will be sites that enable users to structure themselves into "groups". Something like how Meetup.com enables users to create their own meetups. The Lonely Planet Forums are fantastic, but I would like to create my own forum.

>We see important impact of news technologies (RSS, AJAX, podcast, blog, socialnetworking tools, Google mashup,Vidéo etc), what is your point of view?

All these new technologies are important because they allow people to interact with content in any way that they choose. Web 2.0 is important in that finally data is interoperable. Users can mash content up in new ways that uncovers meanings otherwise hidden. It's all very fascinating stuff. The important thing though, in my opinion, is not to get caught up with the technology. Sure, it's important and it's what underlies our systems, but paying attention to user needs is key. So is good content. Don't use AJAX just to use it. Use it where it's beneficial to the user-experience.

>What about your developpment in Europe. Are you looking for more User Reviews in this area ?

TripTie's focus is on the world (as broad as this may be). We are always looking and encouraging users who go to and live in Europe to please share their trips with our members. Surprisingly, I've only travelled to Europe once in my life and for a short time. I visited London and Paris. Next time I go to Europe, I would love to go back to Paris, exploring the city more and taking trips to Southern France. I would also love to see Italy, Sweden (TripTie's main developer is from Sweden), and a few of the Eastern European countries that I hear so much about. I hope by that time there will be plenty of trip plans to remix on TripTie!

Any advise for new peoples who want to use TripTie ?

My advice would be to just start a trip plan. Don't worry about having everything complete, just start with names of places you want to go to. Then, fill it out over time. You'll be surprised that other members will actually help you fill out the information for you (trip items in TripTie are wiki-like, anyone can add descriptions, tips, etc.)

>What are your taste for:

>Travel:

I like to travel inexpensively and explore in depth - spend a lot of time in one area and really get to know what life there is like.

>Travel destination:

I like all destinations. Cities are wonderful to explore, seeing the gamut of human activity. The countryside and nature is equally interesting and pleasurable, seeing the beauty that Mother Nature creates. In other words, I don't mind looking out over the Parisian rooftops from my high-story balcony of the Prince de Galles hotel. But I also enjoy sleeping under the stars in a tent.

>Hotel :

I love hotels with character. For example, old hotels that have been renovated but still have the old-world charm.

>Business:

I'd rather travel for pleasure!

Thanks so much Claude for the opportunity to share with you my views on TripTie and the travel space.

...

Andrew M. Lin
Founder and CEO of TripTie, Inc.

http://www.triptie.com