A Social Networking Strategy for Improving Knowledge Management and Communication in the Travel Industry

In today’s technology-driven marketplace, the adoption and management of corporate and customer-facing Social Networking Sites (SNs) is often viewed as a key success factor for Travel Industry (TI) organisations. Knowledge management and the sharing of expertise and experiences through communication between internal and external stakeholders via social networks is an activity which TI organisations are aiming to exploit in order to improve the open sharing, retrieval, organisation and leveraging of knowledge. Through a study of currently-available literature relating to social networking adoption within the TI and a case study analysis of corporate social networking practices at three multi-national TI organisations (British Airways, Thomas Cook and Marriott Hotels), it may be observed that correlations exist between the development of social networking and the processes TI organisations now use to manage knowledge. We explore how these companies are currently utilizing SNs to improve knowledge management practices inside and outside of their organisational boundaries. From our analysis, lessons may emerge as to how TI companies are gaining competitive advantage through the use of social networking; a proposed strategy is identified to determine how TI organisations may make best use of social networks.

Studying French-Origin Middle English Lexis Using the Bilingual Thesaurus of Medieval England: A Comparison of the Vocabulary of Two Occupational Domains

This paper investigates how far it is possible to assess the degree of penetration of French-origin lexis into Middle English by means of the structures and data of the Bilingual Thesaurus of Medieval England. It begins with an outline of the aim and scope of the project, describing some of the methodological decisions behind the creation of the Bilingual Thesaurus, such as the use of the Middle English Dictionary and the Anglo Norman Dictionary as sources. Some provisional findings relating to Middle English words of French-origin in the semantic domains of Manufacture, in particular the sub-domains of Metal-working and Woodworking, and Travel by Water are then presented.