Reflections: My Dream Holiday

Part 1: Evaluate Tourism Website

I chose Australia as my dream holiday location. After visited the official Australia.com webpage, I found that most of the information is all available on the website. I did a quick analysis on the homepage of Australia.com.

Purposes: This website provides all the information and events in Australia. From the website, users can links media site, track events and search for travel destination from Tourism Australia.

Coverage: Whenever visitor wants to visit different cities and territories in Australia, they can find out more on this website. The website display information range from famous Australia travel destination to popular events being held in Australia. Besides that, user can use the guide provided on the website to plan their holiday before they visit Australia.

Authority: The website was released by authoritative source, Tourism Australia. Although no specific author of the website was stated, but I believe that the information on website is true and facts.

Accuracy: The information on this website is accurate and precise. The information on this website is presented in good faith and on the basis that Tourism Australia, nor their agents or employees, are liable (whether by reason of error, omission, negligence, lack of care or otherwise) to any person for any damage or loss whatsoever which has occurred or may occur in relation to that person taking or not taking (as the case may be) action in respect of any statement, information or advice given in this website. Tourism Australia wishes to advise people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent that this website may contain images of persons now deceased.

Currency: All the information is under the property of Tourism Australia made 2010. This is because most likely the author(s) of the website only upload the information once per year.

Accessibility: Generally the accessibility for the webpage is easy and simple. No registration is required while browsing the webpage. All links are available in one click. The information on the webpage are all free for readers to access.

Presentations and arrangement: The presentation of the website is nice and attractive. Changing wallpaper was the main point of the website, whereby users can view different screenshot of the best tourist attraction in Australia. The overall layout of the website is also quite decent and nice. This is because the information and tabs are clearly separated and properly arranged in a grid format.

Usability: The website is user friendly and uses colourful and attractive images for the background. The fonts used are also easily readable and not causing any distraction to readers. The information bar on top also allows users to navigate around different page of Australia.com easily. Language bar on the top right corner enables user to switch to the major language being used world widely. Search feature allows user to search for places, events, etc that is related to Australia.

Overall: From a perspective of a website user, I think this website is very attractive and nice. Nice layout and colour schemes used, allows users to have enjoyable feeling and relax while browsing the website. The option of “Plan your holiday” also is a big mention as the function allow tourists to check out the places and destination virtually before they visit them. Other special functions and events also help visitor to find out more other than travel destination.

Part 2: Travelling Experience In Second life

While in SecondLife, I decided to travel to Las Vegas, the city of gambling. This is not because I like to gamble (I don’t like gambling actually), but wanted to find out how the Linden Lab create the virtual map of Las Vegas. Other than visiting the city, I would like to see and explore more on SecondLife. For instance, the costumes and the way the people behave over there. Attractive lightings and buildings in real life is another reason why I wanted to visit the virtual Las Vegas in SecondLife.

Teleported to Las Vegas

Walking around Las Vegas USA

The main island on Las Vegas USA

Last visitor will be recorder on this screen

Different screenshot of the gambling machine on Las Vegas USA

Japanese hut style resorts on the other side of island

In SecondLife, no attractive lightings, no casino-like buildings, the virtual life is totally different from what I expected from real life. The Las Vegas USA is located on an island whereby users have to teleport to the exact location.  I didn’t saw any users playing on the island by the time I visits the island. But different types of gambling machines are all available for users to play around. Countless gambling machines allow different users to use them at one go. Another great mention is the Japanese hut style resorts. The resorts are nicely build and a great place to walk around. The overall experience is awesome and great.