ALICANTE. New perspectives for tourismthinking about attracting c generation z and the challenge of ensuring access for all people texts and important information clear and adapted to the difficulties. These are some of the topics that were put on the table and discussed among experts, representatives of companies in the province of Alicante and other public participants at an event organized by the Center for Digital Intelligence (Cenid) in Alicante. with Zhanna’s tower.
The event was opened by Manuel Palomardirector of Cenid, who highlighted the two projects that were presented at this meeting and also emphasized the importance of creating innovative proposals from the province of Alicante and the importance of public and private collaboration.
In addition, Aransas Calzadasecretary of the Public Council of the University of Alicante (UA), outlined some areas of work at the university, such as the importance given to research programs to revive tourism after the pandemic, as well as issues related to digitalization and the metaverse. .
For his part, Christina Rodasvice-president of the Public Council of the UA and Mrgeneral director AC Hotel Alicante by Marriott emphasized that “tourism is always innovative. Our future customers will be generation Z and their shopping methods are different. The meta-universe will be their new way of communicating and experiencing”. In this sense, he contributed to the fact that “our part is to be the tip and see the possibilities of the future.”
A double fate in the metaverse
Is the metaverse a place for tourism? For Joaquin Pedreño, founder and CEO of Meta Software Factory, yes. In his presentation, he presented case studies and examples of companies such as hotels that have already implemented realistic digital doubles of their properties, from which you can see each room, hotel or landscape, in addition to being able to book with them from this “digital parallel universe”. . ” These examples are given internationally and include other gamification projects to “play” objects or even places like Singapore Wanderland.
But there are also local projects in Benidorm, Alicante and other parts of the province of Alicante and the country that sell, above all, destinations and experiences.
On the other hand, complexity location in the meta-universe in today’s search engines – but also an opportunity for companies to start coming first and getting noticed. Monetization and the ability to create another sales channel In this meta universe, connecting payment systems or creating profitable virtual events are other possibilities available.
In this sense, personalized attention in real time can be another plus by creating a destination or digital counterpart in the metaverse, and young people can find natural interaction in these digital spaces. “Video games are part of their daily lives,” explains Pedrenho.and it can become a gateway to tourism for them.” In addition to the presentation, participants were able to ask and discuss the possibilities of creating spaces in companies, as well as ask questions about data security or tools for creating these second virtual worlds.
Simplify texts to make them accessible
About one of the conversations Sautomatic text caption, responsible for Paloma MoredaProfessor at the Department of Computer Languages and Systems of the University of Alicante (UA) and researcher in charge of the project Clear text.
In this presentation, he delved into automatic text simplification and the projects he is working on to advance this into digital content. In 2022, they promoted the ATS project to achieve such accessibility of texts in public administration, and it became clear that “The administrations knew that there was a very large percentage of people who did not understand some electronic procedures’.
For this reason, they raised the question of the need to develop a mechanism that facilitates the access, understanding and implementation of documents or procedures by citizens with or without reading and writing difficulties.
“Being short and simple, using readily available non-technical or legal words or legal terms when they are not essential, avoiding ambiguity or providing relevant information at the outset are some of the keys to achieving this.”
After realizing this need, Cleartext was born as a completion of the aforementioned project, the application for which was approved in 2023 and funded by central government and Next Generation funds for two years. There is an end teach the computer to automatically perform a adapting texts for easy reading so that they are accessible and understandable by all citizens, regardless of their limitations.
Using natural language processing (NLP), they transform the original texts to produce easier-to-read versions by simplifying them. In addition, they work with APSA Association users with disabilities who are already experts in accessible texts and how to access them. At the end of this month they plan launch the first version of the text simplification platform in which they work.
In addition, they held a conference with the main associations in Alicante to confront and adjust the needs of the administration; they promoted cooperation between universities and associations; They created a decalogue of actions to create understandable texts and, on this occasion, the day called on companies to present these tools and, above all, to adjust the needs identified compared to the capabilities of this tool in companies.
