Tracking the (Tourists’) Gaze: Using Technology in Visual Analysis of Identificational Strategies - Tourism and Visual Culture: Theories and Concepts - page 96

less) collective memory - making sure that the
person in mind is added to the institutionalized
construction of space and meaning for a specifi c
place, even if he/she is not or will never be pres-
ent there. A relational concept of space helps
understanding these phenomena. Analytically,
the meaning of what is constituted as space is
brought up by the semantic gaze - the linking of
photos attached with a certain meaning.
There are quite a few areas of application
for this way to create virtual cities from photos
using the semantic gaze: from an artistic, collage-
like approach, it can be used in education to
work with digital media (informatics or art) in
combination with a subject like history or social
studies to present interactive pieces of art (or of
social research) at the schools festival.
It could be used in tourism to show the
(short) way to the beach from the intended
accommodation, the way from the nearest train
station to a hotel or different walks around a
historical or religious site to become acquainted
with before going there (or even as part of a
virtual pilgrimage - MacWilliams, 2002 - for
handicapped people).
The imaginary provided supports the
impression of the non-professional background

and therefore has more credibility in terms of
authenticity than photos in glossy brochures or
otherwise professionally generated and distri-
buted images.
Moreover, there are fascinating possibilities
for visualization and research as this 3D model
for virtual cities offers a low-budget and grass-
roots approach to building digital cities without
any need for programming. This can be taken
up again by local interest groups or individuals
to show their neighbourhood, their community -
this has happened in the Asian region so far, but
references to Europe are very rare. In fact, this
software is nearly unknown here.
Building a collage as a network of photos
with semantic links between pictures and places,
the students participating were able to build
their subjective image of the city as a digital city
existing in a medial space - like the offi cial image
production using ordinary Web pages. Showing
fragments of the city's space with a specifi c
importance, these iconographs (a semantic net-
work of photographic essences of places) can
be analysed following a 'semantic gaze' in order
to examine the processes by which identity is
bound to places by repetition, memory or imag-
ination and social networks.

References

Albers, P. and James, W.R. (1988) Travel photography: a methodological approach. Annals of Tourism Research
15, 134-158.
Chalfen, R.M. (1979) Photography's role in tourism: some unexplored relationships. Annals of Tourism
Research 6, 435-447.
Dann, G.M.S. (1988) Images of Cyprus. Problems of Tourism 11, 43-70.
Dann, G.M.S. (1996a) Tourists' images of a destination - an alternative analysis. Journal of Travel and Tourism
Marketing 5, 41-55.
Dann, G.M.S. (1996b) The people of tourist brochures. In: T. Selwyn (ed.) The Tourist Image: Myths and Myth
Making in Tourism . John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, pp. 61-81.
Dann, G.M.S. (1996c) The Language of Tourism . CAB International, Wallingford.
Edwards, E. (1992) The tourist icon: four Australian postcards. Tourism in Focus 6, 4-5.
Fächergruppe Designwissenschaft (ed.) (1988) Objektalltag, Alltagsobjekte: Bekleidung u. Möbel d. Familie K .
Schriftenreihe der Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, 1/1988.
Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration . Polity Press, Cambridge.
Griffi th, R. (1998) Making Sameness: Place Marketing and the New Urban Entrepreneurialism. Cities, Economic
Competition and Urban Policy . N. Oatley, London, pp. 41-57.
Hassenpfl ug, D. (1999) Citytainment. Die Neuerfi ndung der Stadt im Zeichen des Imagineering. In: Praxisreport
Industriebau. Kreative Beweglichkeit - Offene Grenzen . Neue Partner. D. Sommer, Vienna, pp. 86-105.
Jenkins, O.H. (1999) Understanding and measuring tourist destination images. International Journal of Tourism
Research 1, 1-15.
Kamada, T. and Kawai, S. (1989) An algorithm for drawing general undirected graphs. Information Processing
Letters 31, 7-15.