Project Info

“What Would Whitman #hashtag?”

This project seeks to understand the role of digital/social media platforms in the experience and representation of nature. The international faculty involved in this project ask: How are images of “nature” curated by users of social media platforms through the use of perspective, filters, and other visual editing tools and for what purpose? Does the very action of taking, curating, and posting an image foster a heightened awareness of nature (or plants, or trees) or does it distance us from the natural world? Does digital/social media create access or barriers to experiencing nature?

We are looking for a student with some coding experience to help us analyze the most-used plant-related hashtags across social media sites, focusing on Instagram and Twitter. The student will also help us develop an image database for a citizen-science project on a public platform such as Zooniverse. We will also explore with the student ways to assess the images across a range of critical categories (aesthetic, ecological, geographical, etc.) .

The goals of this project tie into a larger web-based research project that has been funded by the Swedish government meant to encourage participation in citizen environmental humanities.

More Information

This research project emerges from a web-based project: www.herbaria3.org.

For citizen science projects, see: www.zooniverse.org

For Geotagging, Instagram, and Natural spaces: Holson, Laura M. “Is Geotagging on Instagram Ruining Natural Wonders? Some Say Yes.” The New York Times. 29 November 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/travel/instagram- geotagging-environment.html

For knowledge of nature: Belkin, Douglas. “Rhododendron? Hydrangea? America Doesn’t Know Anymore.” The Wall Street Journal. 14 August 2018. < https://www.wsj.com/articles/rhododendron-hydrangea-america-doesnt-know-anymore-1534259849>

For citizen or engaged humanities: Jay, Gregory. “The Engaged Humanities: Principles and Practices for Public Scholarship and Teaching.” Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship. June 19, 2012. http://jces.ua.edu/the-engaged-humanities-principles-and-practices-for-public-scholarship-and-teaching/.

Grand Engineering Challenge: Not applicable

Student Preparation

Qualifications

The student should have some experience with coding, with social media platforms, and with web-based citizen science projects (as a participant is fine). Ideally, the student would have an interest in nature/environment and/or art/photography/storytelling.

Time Commitment

15-20 hours/month

Skills/Techniques Gained

The student will:
~gain coding experience and experience designing citizen science / data project;
~help shape the contours of the project from the beginning and will gain experience working with a group to frame analytical/research questions;
~have an opportunity to work with international interdisciplinary team
~have co-authorship in eventual publication;
~gain an ability to “read” images on social media (i.e., How is an image curated and for what kind of consumption?)

Mentoring Plan

I will meet with the student weekly to develop work schedule and project outcomes, and to monitor progress. Monthly or bimonthly Skype (etc.) meetings with international team. Field trips to Denver Botanic Gardens, etc. to meet with curators. The student will also participate in writing workshops (in person and digital) and gain experience writing and publishing research outputs. NB: We have also applied for funding to enable our undergraduate researcher to travel to Sweden to participate in a research writing workshop.