Technology and tourism fuse in nationwide student competition

Dublin Tourism today, Wednesday 20th January, launched the iWalk Dublin Podcasting Competition, a nationwide initiative that will encourage transition year students throughout Ireland to produce their own podcast. Students will learn how to showcase some of Dublin’s most impressive visitor attractions with cutting edge technology. The competition is supported by Apple Regional Training Centres, Songschool and Eurocreator.

The competition will allow schools to understand the technologies behind a podcast. Complimentary visits to the featured Dublin visitor attractions and a one-day course will be provided to participating students. Students will learn how different media such as video, audio, pictures and PDF files can be presented as a podcast and distributed for use by an international audience.

The winning school will win an iMac and the team behind the winning podcast will win an Apple iTouch for each member.

Students will produce a podcast on one of the five visitor attractions operated by Dublin Tourism:

Malahide Castle, Malahide
Dublin Writers Museum, Parnell Square
The James Joyce Museum, Sandy Cove
The George Bernard Shaw Birthplace, Synge Street
The Fry Model Railway, Malahide Castle Demesne

Dublin Tourism was the first tourism agency in the world to use podcasting as part of their international marketing programme in 2005.  Since then, the 'iWalk Dublin' section of www.visitdublin.com has been one of the most visited sections, with an annual average of 100,000 downloads to date.

Speaking at the launch Mr. Frank Magee, Chief Executive of Dublin Tourism, said: 'since we launched iWalks in 2005, we have pioneered the use of technology in promoting tourism to Dublin. This pilot initiative allows us to bring a new awareness of our visitor attractions, as well as a deeper understanding of how technology can be used in the tourism industry to a much wider audience.'

The winning podcast will be announced on Friday 7th May 2010 and will feature on www.visitdublin.com.