文献信息：文献标题：Conceptual foundations for understanding smart tourism ecosystems（理解智慧旅游生态系统的概念基础）国外作者：Ulrike Gretzel, Hannes Werthner, Chulmo Koo, Carlos Lamsfus 文献出处：《Computers in Human Behavior》,2015,50(C):558-563字数统计：英文2250单词，13270字符；中文4336汉字外文文献：Conceptual foundations for understanding smart tourismecosystemsAbstract Using digital ecosystems and smart business networks as conceptual building blocks, this paper defines, describes and illustrates the idea of a smart tourism ecosystem (STE). It further draws on conceptualizations of smart technologies, smart cities and smart tourism to envision new ways in which value is created, exchanged and consumed in the STE. Technologies essential to the functioning of an STE are described and it is argued that data emerging from these technologies are the driver for new business models, interaction paradigms and even new species. Critical questions regarding the need for regulatory intervention and innovative research are raised.Key words:Smart tourism; Value creation; Smart technologies; Open innovation; Sharing economy; Tourism experienceTouristic EcosystemEcosystems are generally defined as communities of interacting organisms and their environments (TheFreeDictionary, 2015), and are typically described as complex networks formed because of resource interdependencies. McCormack (2011) explains that ecosystems, like other kinds of systems, are comprised of elements,interconnections and a function/purpose, but are special types of systems in that their elements are intelligent, autonomous, adaptive agents that often form communities and also because of the way they adapt to elements being added or removed. Boley and Chang (2007) list four critical elements of ecosystems: (1) interaction/engagement; (2) balance; (3) loosely coupled actors with shared goals; and, (4) self-organization. This means that in ecosystems individual agents or groups of agents proactively form symbiotic relationships to increase individual benefits and to achieve shared goals; that local interactions determine the global behavior or state of the system; and, that balance is needed to prevent system collapse. The relationships and interdependencies ensure that resources are consumed effectively and sustainably. Considering ecosystems in their entirety rather than centering on specific actors/elements allows for more holistic perspectives, recognizes that small changes can have substantial effects, encourages a focus on complex relationships, emphasizes dynamic change, and acknowledges the importance of the physical environment or infrastructure that supports the system.Applied to the business world, the term ‘‘ecosystem’’ is used to describe the relationships among economic entities (producers, distributors, consumers, government agencies, etc.) that, through competition and/or cooperation, facilitate the creation and distribution of a product or service (Investopedia, 2015). There isa general understanding that the environment in which these entities operate, i.e. in and through which they produce, exchange and consume value, is rapidly changing and requires their relationships to co-evolve. Moore (1993) stressed that such an economic community often faces the arrival of new species, which requires realignment and redefinition of the relationshipsthatunderpin the system. While such new species can emerge out of nowhere through genetic mutations, it is more often the environmental changes that cause or at least facilitate dramatic shifts in power over resources.The idea of a touristic ecosystem is nothing new as the production of these touristic experiences has always required extensive coordination and collaboration among different industry players and government agencies (Mill & Morrison, 2002). How loosely coupled these agents typically are can be exemplified by the difficulty indefining what players actually belong to the tourism industry and in measuring the economic value contributed by tourism. The extensive reliance on digital infrastructure of such tourism systems has also been long acknowledged(Sheldon,1997). The both disruptive and creative power of technological innovation within tourism ecosystems has been discussed for both Web 1.0 (Werthner & Klein, 1999) and Web 2.0 (Benckendorff, Sheldon, & Fesenmaier, 2014). Information and communication technologies have been essential in tourism ecosystems for connecting the different players that add value to the experience. Werthner and Klein (1999) illustrated the fundamental technology-supported tourism value chain and its components (Fig. 1), with the Internet making it possible to completely circumvent traditional distribution channels.Fig. 1. The tourism system as a technology-supported value chain (Werthner & Klein, 1999).A special characteristic of a tourism ecosystem is the immense number of microorganisms (small or micro, often family owned and/or owner operated businesses). It is also often geographically defined but usually requires connections and interactions beyond the core area. Indeed,theterm ‘‘destination’’ pract ically refersto a tourism-based ecosystem. Destinations overlap with other ecosystems (e.g.residential) and have connections to their feeder markets. Further, tourism businesses are often embedded incomplex franchise systems or chains and tourism distribution channels involve a multitude of actors residing at the destination, the origin markets or somewhere completely different, which can make it difficult to delineate the system boundaries. Tourism ecosystems are also especially dynamic and on a global scale have witnessed the emergence of several completely new species within just the last ten years, with online travel agencies such as and Expedia, Google Flights, TripAdvisor (Sigala, 2015) and AirBnB being prominent examples. Changes are also occurring on the consumer side as new technologies change consumer behaviors, increase market transparency and facilitate social commerce. Tourism consumers have always been recognized as active contributors to the experience but are now formally conceptualized as value co-creators within tourism ecosystems (Vargo & Lusch, 2008). As such, Fig. 1 clearly shows a past generic tourism ecosystem based on the technology landscape at the turn of the millennium and it becomes very clear that it fails to mirror the complexities, nuances and blurred lines of contemporary tourism systems.Smart City‘‘Smart’’ is often applied as a pre fix to technological terms to indicate special capabilities, intelligence and/or connectivity, as in smart phone or smart card. Derzko (2006) identifies six aspects or levels of smartness for technology: (1) Adapting: modifying behavior to fit the environment; (2) Sensing: bringing awareness to everyday things;(3)Inferring: drawing conclusions from rules and observations;(4)Learning: using experience to improve performance;(5)Anticipating: thinking and reasoning about what to do next;(6)Self-organizing: self-generating and self-sustaining at the cellular or nano-technology level.Smart is increasingly also used to signify resource optimization through the use of advanced technologies (Gretzel, Koo, Sigala & Xiang, 2015b). Höjer and Wangel (2015) argue that it is notso much the individual technological advances but rather the interconnection, synchronization and concerted use of different technologies thatconstitutes smartness. The concept has been prominently applied to urban areas and summarized under the term ‘‘smart cities’’. A smart city then is a city that uses advanced information and communication technology (ICT) to optimize resource production and consumption.Piro et al. (2014:169) defi ne smart city as ‘‘an urban environment which, supported by pervasive ICT systems, is able to offer advanced and innovative services to citizens in order to improve the overall quality of their life’’. According to Harrison et al. (2010), a smart city connects its physical infrastructure with its ICT, social and business infrastructures to leverage the collective intelligence of the city. A healthy digital ecosystem that includes information-centric ICT platforms, sensor networks and wireless communication systems forms the fundamental base for such integration and data exchange (Piro et al., 2014). Properinformation dissemination is the key to smart city success. Smart cities use ICTs to collect, integrate and exploit data to allow for optimal use of physical infrastructure and other resources (Koo, Gretzel, Hunter & Chung, 2015). Sensor technology plays a critical role in delivering the real-time data and big data analytics is essential for processing, modeling and visualizing data so that it can be used to inform operational decisions. A critical component of the smart city is also support of intelligent interactions between the city and its inhabitants (Harrison et al., 2010). In the context of cities, several sub-areas or application domains of smartness have emerged, such as smart living, smart mobility, smart governance and smart economy (Höjer & Wangel, 2015). These concepts canbe directly applied to touristic destinations that often are indeed urban areas. In parts of the smart city literature tourism is actually seen as a service provided by the smart city and smart tourism is thus conceptualized as a goal for the smart city(TuandLiu,2014; Guo, Liu & Chai, 2014).Smart Tourism EcosystemSmart tourism then encompasses touristic activities that are informed and supported by smart technology (Gretzel, Sigala, Xiang & Koo, 2015a). A smart tourism ecosystem (STE) consequently can be defined as a tourism system that takesadvantage of smart technology in creating, managing and delivering intelligent touristic services/experiences and is characterized by intensive information sharing and value co-creation. Collecting, processing and exchanging tourism-relevant data is a core function within the STE (Zhang, 2012). Guo et al. (2014) refer to this phenomenon as informatization of tourism as a result of smart technology integration. Rather than being a tourism business-centric ecosystem, the STE includes a variety of ‘‘species’’ such as touristic and res idential consumers, tourism suppliers, tourism intermediaries (travel operators and travel agents), support services (telecommunications, banking/payment services), platforms and media (Facebook, TripAdvisor, AirBnB, etc.), regulatory bodies and NGOs, transportation carriers, travel technology and data companies (Amadeus, Sabre, etc.), consulting services, touristic and residential infrastructure (pools, parks, museums, etc.) and companies typically assigned to other industries (medical services, retailing, etc.).In the literature, STEs are typically thought about as smart destinations because of the conceptual roots in smart cities. Lopez de Avila (2015) defined the smart destination as ‘‘an innovative tourist destination, built on an infrastructure of state-of-the-art technology guaranteeing the sustainable development of tourist areas, accessible to everyone, which facilitates the visitor’s interaction with and integration into his or her surroundings, increases the quality of the experience at the destination, and improves residents’ quality of life.’’Fig. 2 provides a schematic representation of an STE, although it is difficult to capture its complexity. What becomes very obvious is its stark contrast to Fig. 1 in which consumers, producers and intermediaries can be clearly distinguished and a hierarchical ‘‘food chain’’ is visible. It is also very different from previous conceptualizations of STEs (Zhu et al., 2014) that only identified tourists, attractions, government, businesses and IT infrastructure as clearly distinguishable players tapping in various ways into the information the system produces. In the STE portrayed in Fig. 2, touristic consumers (TC) have resources and because of their ability to tap into the digital ecosystem can organize among themselves or mingle with the closely related residential consumer species (RC) and act like producers (aphenomenon often referred to as the sharing economy). Touristic and residential consumers produce data through social media activities or the use of location-based services and consume data produced by other species or the physical environment, often made palatable through mobile apps.Fig. 2. Smart tourism ecosystem. Note: TC = touristic consumer; RC = resident consumer; TS = tourism supplier; OS = other industry supplier; DMO = Destination Marketing Organization.Tourism suppliers (TS) or other business-focused species can connect through smart technology and create new service offerings. Data/information is the main food source for STE speciesand effectively and efficiently turning it into enriched tourismexperiences ensures longevity. Data aggregators are particularly supported by the digital ecosystem and process data to create resources of value to other species. New players such as Couchsurfing emerge, which represents a new species of a platform that supports interactions among touristic and residential consumers through reputation mechanisms and communication tools. It is also clear that the system is open, with players from other industries/ecosystems being able to tap into resources or form beneficial relationships (for instance in the case of medical tourism). Also, the roles different actors take on are fluid and might change depending on the experience or situation, with lines becoming increasingly blurred (e.g. touristic and residentconsumers marketing destinations through their social media entries, resident consumers acting as producers by renting out resources to tourists, or companies from other industries suddenly taking on core tourism services). Indeed, telecommunicationscompaniesand banking/payment support services represent suppliers from other industries (OS) and are important predators in the STE but also feed the system with critical information and offer opportunities for enhanced value creation. Government agencies play a role in the STE not only with respect to their typical tourism-related agendas but also in regards to ensuring data openness while atthe same time regulating data privacy (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2014), although the shared-value economy proposed byPorterand Kramer (2011) hints at opportunities for STEs to be self-regulating in this respect. Traditional and non-traditionalmedia sources (e.g. bloggers) also serve as regulating agents and contribute valuable information to the STE. Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) fulfil traditional information brokerage, marketing and quality control functionswhileintermediaries of all kinds facilitate transactions through innovative usesofdata and devices.It is important to recognize that an STE cannot be created but the necessary technological and regulatory foundations canbeand have to be available for the tourism ecosystem to become smart. The review of the literature has indicated that some technologies seem to be instrumental to STE success. Mobile and wireless technologies play an important role in an STE due to thehigh mobility of its consumer species (Lamsfus et al., 2015). Social media are also prominent (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010) in that consumer species are highly motivated to produce, share and consume social contents (Hunter, Chung, Gretzel & Koo, 2015). Intelligent systems are also needed to support the complex interactions in an STE which surpass human processing capacities (Gretzel, 2011) and location-based and sensor technology provide important data to make these systems context-aware (Lamsfus et al., 2013).中文译文：理解智慧旅游生态系统的概念基础摘要本文以数字生态系统和智能商务网络为概念构建模块，定义、描述和阐述了智慧旅游生态系统（智慧旅游生态系统）的概念。