Wikitravel Press launches first printed Wikitravel guidebooks
Guides Printed on Demand Will Allow Travelers to Bring Wikitravel Anywhere
Montreal, February 2, 2008 Wikitravel Press (www.wikitravelpress.com) today announced the publication of their first titles, Wikitravel Chicago and Wikitravel Singapore. The titles are the first in a series of printed guidebooks created using a revolutionary combination of Wiki technology coupled with on-demand printing.
Wikitravel (www.wikitravel.org), the Webby Award-winning online travel guide, uses the wiki-based collaborative editing technology made popular by Wikipedia. Wikitravel guides are built on the principle that travelers often get their best information from other travelers. The website offers over 30,000 travel guides in eighteen languages, with over 10,000 editorial contributions per week. Wikitravel won the Best Travel Website category in the 2007 Webby Awards.
Wikitravel Press builds upon this extraordinary community participation to create continually updated, reliable guidebooks. Carefully selected local editors polish and fact-check before publishing them through the one-click Yucca engine, with new editions of all guides released every month. Wikitravel Press books are sold online and available for shipping to over 200 countries. The books will use the same Creative Commons license as Wikitravel Web pages, so they can be copied and reused freely.
"Making printed guidebooks has been one of the aims of Wikitravel since day one," said Evan Prodromou, Wikitravel co-founder. "Guidebooks from Wikitravel Press combine the convenience of books with the up-to-date freshness of the Web."
The next titles scheduled in the Wikitravel series include Paris, Toronto and Sydney. The initial titles will be in English, with other Wikitravel languages launched soon after. Wikitravel Press will also provide "ad hoc" books, so travellers can roll their own from their choice of destinations.
"This day marks the beginning of a new era for guidebooks," said Jani Patokallio, managing editor. "No longer will travelers be limited to hopelessly outdated editions mouldering on dusty bookshop shelves: with Wikitravel Press, what you see on your screen is what you will get in your book."
CONTACT: Jani Patokallio, +65-91859331, jani(at)wikitravelpress.com
