Connecting to nature through tech? The case of the iNaturalist app

Bibliographic Data

ID8093815
AuthorsSoledad Altrudi (0000-0001-5303-2207, University of Southern California, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume27
Issue1
Pages124-141
Publication date2020-06-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueConvergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-8565 • E-ISSN: 1748-7382
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1354856520933064
OpenAlexW3037261014
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited21

Self-defined as ‘an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature’, iNaturalist is a mobile application whose primary goal is ‘to connect people to nature’, closely followed by the secondary goal of ‘generating scientifically valuable biodiversity data from these personal encounters’, which the founders believe can be achieved simultaneously with the primary goal in a self-reinforcing logic. Following an approach informed by media studies on wildlife photography and film, and science and technology studies as well as insights from interviews with users and participant observation in the Los Angeles area, this article makes the case that mobile applications such as iNaturalist sit at a tension because while they can ignite interest in the natural environment, they also prescriptively describe and normalize a ‘nature’ and an epistemology that are particular to the natural sciences

Data science · Geography · Internet privacy · Mobile apps · Mobile device · Natural (archaeology · Sociology · World Wide Web · Animal and Plant Science Education · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Computer Science · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Psychology