Travel in the Metaverse: Opportunities and Challenges for Recommender Systems
by Ulrike Gretzel (University of Southern California, USA)
[Slides]
Abstract
The Metaverse, also sometimes referred to as the Spatial Internet, envisions an alternate reality in which digital experiences are pervasive, tangible, shared and experienced through multiple interfaces. Virtual and real experiences blur, creating a dynamic and complex information space. The Metaverse therefore changes the context in which recommendations are presented and processed, with tremendous implications for context-awareness and visualization. It also requires recommender systems to be embedded into virtual or augmented reality experiences. This talk discusses what the Metaverse means for travelers and what theoretical and design implications it has for recommender systems.
About the speaker
Dr. Ulrike Gretzel is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Public Relations, University of Southern California. Dr. Gretzel’s research spans the design and evaluation of intelligent systems, as well as the development and implications of artificial intelligence. Her work in tourism addresses ways in which tourists engage with each other and with tourism organizations through websites, mobile apps and social media, and has analyzed how tourism experiences are represented and marketed online. She studies social media marketing, influencer marketing and the emerging reputation economy. She has also researched smart tourism development, technology adoption and non-adoption in tourism organizations and the quest for digital detox experiences. Dr. Gretzel has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. She is frequently acknowledged as one of the most cited authors in the fields of tourism and persuasion and is a fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism.