iNaturalist: Understanding Biodiversity Through a Digital Medium
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Date
2018-01-23
Authors
Anderson, Stuart
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
Much of the current excitement about citizen science is due to the innovative use of internet-based media platforms. These are designed to enable data production while seeking to be instructive or even entertaining for its users. The present thesis demonstrates how these two distinct uses can be in a tension, and how users seek to resolve it. It draws on an ethnography of uses of iNaturalist, a digital platform promoted to document biodiversity by BioBlitz Canada, at the Ontario BioBlitz at Rouge National Urban Park in Toronto, and the rare Community BioBlitz in Cambridge. Through interactions with the diverse members of these events, I have found that the opinions surrounding new media and citizen science vary significantly and that users adopt specific techniques to circumvent the challenges they experience with a given medium.
Description
Keywords
iNaturalist, media, medium, BioBlitz, biodiversity, citizen science