DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR E-TOURISM

The course falls within the area of ICT technologies. Specifically, it covers the foundational notions of computer science technologies at the core of the digitalisation processes in the management of the hospitality sector, including the use of social media, online booking and travel portals.

1) Knowledge and understanding: students will develop knowledge and will understand the main digital technologies for the digitalization of processes in the hospitality sector, including the use of social media and online reservation systems.

2) Applying knowledge and understanding: the students will be able to apply algorithmic and quantitative methods for the analysis of data collected by a company or on the social media.

3) Making judgements: student will be able to choose the most appropriate method to a given problem and to evaluate its performance.

4) Communication skills: reporting a sound and comprehensive comparative analysis among different data analysis methods

5) Learning skills: being able to autonomously adopt new techniques and methods.

The student will acquire the necessary skills to:
- master the basic terminology of computer science and ICT
- understand the importance of ICT in the tourism sector
- acquire knowledge about databases and data-warehouses for the management of touristic data
- acquire the basic notions on networks, distributed systems and services, including the Web, Web search engines and social networks.

No prerequisite is required

- Digital data representation, binary encoding
- Computational thinking: problem solving, algorithms, data structures
- Operating systems (file system and directory)
- Information systems and databases
- Basics of networking and cyber-security
- The world wide web
- Social networks, web search engines, cloud platforms
- E-tourism applications.

Teaching material made available by the teacher.
Computer Science Illuminated (7e), Nell Dale, John Lewis. Jones & Barlet Learning, 2019

Optional readings:
Computational Thinking: First Algorithms, Then Code. By P. Ferragina and F. Luccio. Springer, 2018.
Zeldman, Jeffrey; Marcotte, Ethan (2009). Designing with Web Standards (3rd ed.). Berkeley: New Riders. ISBN 978-0-321-61695-1.
Computing Essentials 2021, by Timothy O'Leary, Linda O'Leary, Daniel O'Leary. McGraw Hill, ISBN10: 1260323994, ISBN13: 9781260323993, 2021.

Learning outcomes are verified by a written exam and a the discussion of a lab project.

The written exam consists in questions and short exercises regarding the theory of the subjects discussed during the course. The written exam evaluates the achievement of the learning outcomes 1, 2 and 3.

The lab project requires to implement a data analysis algorithm. Students must motivate their implementations and deliver a report, to be discussed with the teacher. The project work evaluates the achievement of learning outcomes 3, 4 and 5

The final grade is calculated as a weighted combination of the exam (70%) and project work (30%).

Frontal lectures, laboratories, and seminars

English

written