Biodiversity data as public environmental media: Citizen science projects, national databases and data visualizations

dc.contributor.authorWhitelaw, Mitchell
dc.contributor.authorSmaill, Belinda
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-11T03:59:01Z
dc.date.issued2021-03-01
dc.date.updated2021-11-28T07:27:16Z
dc.description.abstractThrough a combination of scientific and community activity, our environment is increasingly registered and documented as data. Given the expanding breadth of this digital domain, it is crucial that scholars consider the problems it presents as well as its affirmative potential. This article, arising from collaboration between a practitioner and theorist in digital design and a film and screen scholar with expertise in documentary and environmental studies, critically examines biodiversity data through an ecocritical reading of public-facing databases, citizen science platforms and data visualizations. We examine the Atlas of Living Australia; Canberra Nature Map; the City of Melbourne's Insects; and the experimental visualization Local Kin. Integrating perspectives from screen studies, design and the environmental humanities, including multispecies studies approaches in anthropology, we examine how digital representations reflect the way biodiversity data is produced and structured. Critically analysing design choices ‐ what is shown, and how it is shown ‐ we argue that biodiversity data on-screen provides specific affordances: allowing, encouraging or discouraging certain insights and possibilities that condition our knowledge of and engagement with living things. An interdisciplinary approach allows us to ask new questions about how users might experience multispecies worlds in digital form, and how biodiversity data might convey the complexities of an entangled biosphere, amplifying understanding, connection and attention amongst interested publics. We examine the visual rhetorics of digital biodiversity in order to better understand how these forms operate as environmental media: designed representations of the living world.en_AU
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.citationWhitelaw, Mitchell and Smaill, Belinda (2021), ‘Biodiversity data as public environmental media: Citizen science projects, national databases and data visualizations’, Journal of Environmental Media, 2:1, pp. 79–99, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/jem_00027_1en_AU
dc.identifier.issn2632-2463en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/262006
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.provenancehttps://www.intellectbooks.com/open-access..."Contributors to all Intellect journals can deposit their accepted manuscript (post-print) in institutional repositories or on a personal website...This is subject to an embargo period of 12 months." from publisher site (as at 31.3.2022)
dc.publisherIntellect Ltd.en_AU
dc.rights© 2021 Intellect Ltd Articleen_AU
dc.sourceJournal of Environmental Mediaen_AU
dc.subjectbiodiversityen_AU
dc.subjectdataen_AU
dc.subjectvisualizationen_AU
dc.subjectmultispeciesen_AU
dc.subjectAustraliaen_AU
dc.subjectcitizen scienceen_AU
dc.titleBiodiversity data as public environmental media: Citizen science projects, national databases and data visualizationsen_AU
dc.typeJournal articleen_AU
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.dateAccepted2020-09-10
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage99en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage79en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationWhitelaw, Mitchell, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationSmaill, Belinda, Monash Universityen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu1821432@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidWhitelaw, Mitchell, u1821432en_AU
local.description.notesImported from ARIESen_AU
local.identifier.absfor330301 - Data visualisation and computational (incl. parametric and generative) designen_AU
local.identifier.absfor360505 - Screen mediaen_AU
local.identifier.absseo190203 - Environmental education and awarenessen_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB21862en_AU
local.identifier.citationvolume2en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.1386/jem_00041_1en_AU
local.identifier.essn2632-2471en_AU
local.identifier.uidSubmittedBya383154en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttps://www.intellectbooks.com/en_AU
local.type.statusAccepted Versionen_AU

Downloads

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
biodiversity-data-enviro-media-preprint.pdf
Size:
20.36 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Back to topicon-arrow-up-solid
 
APRU
IARU
 
edX
Group of Eight Member

Acknowledgement of Country

The Australian National University acknowledges, celebrates and pays our respects to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people of the Canberra region and to all First Nations Australians on whose traditional lands we meet and work, and whose cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.


Contact ANUCopyrightDisclaimerPrivacyFreedom of Information

+61 2 6125 5111 The Australian National University, Canberra

TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University) CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C ABN: 52 234 063 906