The 8 in the freaking morning blog

Technology has taken over just about every aspect in our lives. Everything we do on a daily basis is aided by technoilogy and the tourism industry is no exception. There are many advantages to technology in tourism. One is in the form of navigation systems. These have become crucial to travelers. They help provide fast, easy and direct direction that help people get to their destionation quickly. Another benefit is that there are so many travel sites, that people are able to find the best deals. Some drawbacks include the absence of adventure. No longer do people just want to drive and discover something new. Technology has had a negative effect on people’s imaginations.

Movitas is a company that develops a program to help hotels stay in contact with guests while on the property. Guests can send emails, and receive updates to their phones or other wireless devices in order improve their stay.  The Movitas platform acts as a remote control for the guest’s hotel experience. The portal gives guests a quick dial to hotel services such as front-desk, room service, and housekeeping.

This is a very convenient thing for hotel guests.

-Guests can have things like room service waiting for them.

-if something is not right, guests can have it fixed immediately

-Guests can request services before they even get to the hotel

-There is no charge for this service

-Hotel may run into the problem of spam.

http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2010/11/travel-innovator-review-movitas.html

When talking about the fieldhouse, there are a number of various concepts that come to mind. Since it is a multipurpose facility, the courts/playing surfaces need to be multipurpose as well. The basketball courts in the field house are all wooden with the exception for one, and they are used for basketball, tennis, and volleyball. The non-wooden court is actually a type of composite material. While wood is ideal for basketball and volleyball, it might not suitable for tennis. According to chapter 10, most indoor tennis courts are synthetic. Another area where the fieldhouse doesn’t meet suggestions provided by the book is the bleachers. The bleachers in the track room are suitable for small crowds, but not for a major event. The fact that they are temporary bleachers allow for a quick tear down and a quick conversion of the room, but I have been to an even in the track rook, and the 500 seats filled up fast. Also, there is no room for bleachers in the track room, nor is there enough space to safely set any up in the case of an event.

There are areas in which the fieldhouse does a good job however. Ancillary areas in the fieldhouse are  very good. The locker rooms and bathrooms provide ample room for numerous teams and athletes to use, and they are also capable of serving people with disabilities. There is also ample storage space in the field house. Since there are so many events that go on there, it is important that equipment can be stored out of the way and behind closed doors so that patrons do not get injured, or are inconvenienced .

For my assignment, I went to the football spring game. I actually work for the athletic communications office so I was up in the press box. The football stadium is one facility that we have not taken a tour of this semester, and it is a very interesting facility. Since it is rather old, alot of features that are common place now, are not found in the football stadium. One area that comes to mind is ADA regulations. In the press box, it would be very difficult for members of the media to get around. Each one of the separate broadcast booths are 2 tiered, meaning that if someone with a disability were to need to use the pressbox, they would have to remain on the top level where the views are not good. There is a working elevator however it is old and outdated and often times takes a while.

Another area of concern is general seating. There really is no handicapable seating area. Should someone in a wheel chair want to attend the game, they are relegated to the corner of the endzone, a place with horrible sight lines.

Evaluating the Quality of Recreation Facilities:

Development of an Assessment Tool

Cavnar, M. M., Kirtland, K. A., Evans, M. H., Wilson, D. K., Williams, J. E., Mixon, G. M., & Henderson, K. A. (2004). Evaluating the Quality of Recreation Facilities: Development of an Assessment Tool. Journal of Park & Recreation Administration, 22(1), 96-114. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

This was a study that documented the quality of various recreation centers. The authors of this study developed a tool to get feedback from the public about the quality of recreation facilities in their area.

This was a very informative study, and the methods they used were simple, yet effective. The authors administered surveys to residents of an unspecified county in the southeastern portion of the United States, consisting of questions about actual recreation centers, as well as city parks, playgrounds, softball/baseball diamonds, and soccer fields. They took into account cleanliness, safety, the accessibility of restroom facilities/drinking fountains, the condition of the equipment in the facility (playground equipment, soccer nets, hoops etc…) and scored each one on a yes/no basis. The results showed that there was substantial agreement in the categories of condition, maintenance, and safety. Even small things like weeds, cracks in equipment, chipped paint or loose screws or nails in tables and benches were evaluated in the survey, and each area scored high. People in this community really felt like the facilities and parks were in stellar condition and very user friendly.

One of the strongest points of this article was the fact that there were so many categories that were evaluated. Details large and small were judged, and it was a comprehensive look in to this community’s parks and recreation department.  In a society where more emphasis is put on a healthy lifestyle, it is important to make sure that recreation centers and city parks are easily accessible, user friendly and attractive to prospective patrons, and this assessment tool is a critical piece to this puzzle. The authors also conducted an extensive literature review, where they looked at the opinions and views of others who have researched and done other reports on this topic, and used that to add insight to their own article.

This study is extremely meaningful study, and should really be implemented in other areas. In order to adequately serve the public, and provide the best services possible, the views and opinions of the community members and others who will be using the facilities are a must. It is also important to address the answers of the survey. It is one thing to say that equipment is breaking down, or that the facilities are subpar, but the facility has to make the necessary adjustments to insure that the facility is beneficial to the community.

I chose an article about the winter games last year in Vancouver, in particular the hockey aspect. Canada hockey place (also known as General Motors Place) was the sight for 28 of the men’s hockey games as well as the semi-finals and gold and bronze medal games on the women’s side. A city proud of its hockey tradition, Vancouver benefited tremendously from the Olympic games. This is a very beautiful area, but since it is located in southwest Canada, many people outside of Canada are not aware of it. There were also plenty of spaces in which visitors and participants could stay. As a result, the Olympic village was not as big as it was during the Salt Lake City games. One pitfall was that the effect zone was larger. Many of the events during the Olympics were held in the mountains which were an hour or more outside of town. It was difficult for people to get there and for the athletes to get back and forth to Vancouver.

As you can see from above, this is what a clean bathroom should look like. It is important to ensure that in a locker room, the bathrooms are and shower areas are clean and safe for participants to use. As a facility manager, you have be sure that:

-The floors and other surfaces are mold and mildew resistant

-There is enough space to accomidate multiple people to ensure that they can get the whole team in and out in a timely manner

-All drainage systems must work properly to minimize the risk of flooding

When it comes to the actual locker room, a lot of factors need to be considered

-Enough space to handle multiple teams (especially if it is a multipurpose arena such as hockey/basketball or baseball/football) as you can tell by the picture above

-Big enough lockers so players can have enough space to put clothes and equipment

-Moisture absorbent floors so players walking with bare feet do not slip and fall and injure themselves

While this locker room is fairly clean, it is rather small

-Teams cannot fit comfortably in to the space

-Shower facilities are too small and compact

-The wood surfaces could rot easily

I felt that the new flooring, and various other surfaces in the ice arena are very efficent based on their projected use. Looking at the loby and all of the othere areas around there , the rubber flooring leeds ut to the pro-shop and to the locker room facilities, and allows for skaters to walk freely throughout the lobby and locker room. Once in the locker room, the bathroom flooring really caught my eve. It is mildew/mold resistant, therefore it will remain sanitary and safe for people who need to take showers at the rink.

Overall, even though the ice arena is an older facility, I feel that it meets the needs of the community, but only barely. Alot of events are held in the ice arena including BGSU varsity games, BGSU club hockey games, various high schools, and other community events, and it seems that the rink is streched to its limit. The addition of the second ice sheet helps, however it is so small. What would really help would be the addidtion of another full size ice sheet however, as Jamie stated, that takes alot of money, and the ice arena just doesnt have the funds to add it right now.

Personally, I feel that there was no negligence in the Steinbach article. Even though there was harm (and in some cases death) caused, an athlete assumes the risk of all sporth and activities that they participate in. The school or other entity didn’t cause the injury or death. These are just instances of freak accidents (again, just my opinion)

In order to prevent more of these from occuring there are a few things that could be done. First, more supervision could be provided to help warn participants when disks or javelins etc. are airborne. Secondly, there should be more protective materials around pole vaulting areas, and other places in which people could be airborne. Finally, and perhaps most important, the pedestrian patterns (in terms of whrere and when athletes go and retrieve their materials) should be re-examined. Threre is no reason why, a person should be in a position where they could be hit or impaled by a flying disk or javelin.

BGSU has done a great job coming into compliance to ADA standards. Here is a list of what BGSU has done well, and what they need to work on.

POSITIVES
-Every building has some type of handicapable entrance way (i.e. ramp)
-Newer buildings, such as the union, have wide hallways and doorways that can accomodate wheelcharis
-Push pads on doors
-Handicapable accessible restroom facilities
-Every academic building on campus has a working elevator
-Many restrooms and other doors have braille
-Eppler has alot of ramps in its hallways
-The computer labs on campus are easily accessible for people in wheelchairs

Negatives
-Anderson Arena has no elevator or handicap access to second level
-Disibility services is located on the 4th floor of South Hall
-Although there are wheelchair ramps on all buidings, places like the library and west hall have round-about ways to get inside
-The Ice Arena have no habdicap access to the pressbox
Many of the on campus busses have no handicap access
-There are only a few number of handicapable dorm rooms
-Although the elevators mentioned above are in working order, many are not big enough to handle a wheelchair and other people at the same time
-There is no visible handicap seating area at the football stadium
-Many of the older buildings have handicap entrances in the back of the building or in other inconvenient spots