Abstracts for Session 1

 Re-creating destinations as storyscapes 

 

 

Title: Storyscapes of Cultural Heritage in Tourism using participatory GIS and Story-Maps 

Authors: Lara Leuschen, Patrick Laube, Florian Eitzenberger, and Tatjana Timm

Affiliation: HTWG Konstanz

 

The Lake Constance region is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in Europe and considered a popular leisure and tourism destination. As a three-country area the region's diverse cultural heritage and wide range of cultural offerings attract residents and tourists alike and represent an important location factor for other stakeholders such as regionally based companies, cultural institutions or regional planning and tourism and city marketing. This paper displays the mapping of differing perceptions as storyscapes on culture by digitizing cultural mapping using participatory GIS and by visualizing regional cultural heritage using story-maps, an innovative geodata-based form of storytelling.

According to Duxbury et al. (2015), cultural mapping is a method that uses different techniques to capture not only cultural resources but also local histories, memories and rituals, among other things, and is used in the fields of urban planning, sustainable tourism development and community development. The digitization boost sparked by the Covid-19 crisis offers new opportunities for the capture, collection, analysis and dissemination of such data, most of which has a spatial dimension.

This paper is based on two core ideas: First, the authors propose “participatory cultural mapping” as a novel digital strategy of strengthening relationships with key stakeholders in regional cultural development and sustainable tourism. Second, the authors integrate all that gained (spatial) information and immediately mirror it back to the key stakeholders using story-maps, a browser-based combination of interactive maps with various forms of digital content (text, images, videos).

 

Keywords: GIS, (digital) cultural mapping, participatory mapping, story-maps, cultural heritage, storyscapes, Lake Constance region 

 

 

Title:  Destination development through collaborative methods 

Authors: Lotta Braunerhielm, Fredrik Hoppstadius, Laila Gibson, and Linda Ryan Bengtsson 

Affiliation: Geomedia research group, Karlstad university

 

In this session, we demonstrate how collaborative methods can be conducted to develop sustainable place-based digital visitor experiences. For the past five years, we have involved entrepreneurs, stakeholders, potential users, the local community and designers in our research, developing collaborative innovation processes at tourism destinations (Braunerhielm & Ryan Bengtsson (forthcoming); Ryan Bengtsson et al, forthcoming).

Crucial in understanding tourism destinations is working with them as a place and the actors with local knowledge. Therefore, there is an increased demand for collaborative processes that foster co-creation in tourism development (Ren et al, 2017; Liburd & Edwards, 2018). In this session, we present a collaborative tourism research method for the development of place-based digital visitor experiences. Our method is based on a geomedia perspective, which combines theories and practices from human geography as well as media and communication studies (Braunerhielm et al, 2015; Fast et al, 2017). The collaborative method is used as a research tool to let various groups of actors make sense of local places and their history in relation to destination development and innovation of location-based applications.  

The process consisted of three steps, where knowledge and new perspectives create an input and form the base for each step. By combining in-depth studies of local places and their history and culture, with digital representation, we can create new perspectives of places. The end results are not only new digital solutions adding value to the actors and visitors, but also ideas and insights after each step, for both researchers and practitioners. 

 

 

Title: Storytagging: Connecting storyscapes across the digital North 

Authors:  Peter Reid and Rachael Ironside 

Affiliation: Robert Gordon University

 

Much depends upon the manner in which a story is told (Miller, 1852). The potent allure of the North transcends political boundaries, it is a region rich with stories which have the power to engage, inspire and to move people. In the North, the essence of a story and the way it is told connects communities across geographical and cultural spaces but can also communicate the distinctive quality of local places. Digital connectivity has enabled the sharing and dissemination, across the North, of stories in new ways that can enhance community participation and value (Roued-Cunliffe and Copeland, 2017). In this paper we reflect on the opportunities and challenges presented by collaborative international projects that are developing digital story content using Storytagging (Northword) as a case study. This project connects academic institutions and public organisations across the Northern Periphery Region with small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and creative practitioners to bring local stories to life, by creating products and experiences which will be promoted through a digital platform. Using this lens, we explore collaborative practice across countries and digital technology to connect storyscapes and reimagine destinations across geographical boundaries. We also reflect on challenges in the collection, curation and sharing of story content in the digital domain across linguistic and cultural traditions, and questions about technical and accessibility requirements. In bringing together technology, creative practitioners and traditional stories of the North this paper considers how co-creation and collaborative digital representations of place can join disparate yet interconnected storyscapes.

 

 

Title: The heritage site as storyscape – heritage interpretation and knowledge mediation 

Author:  Maria Persson

Affiliation: University of Gothenburg

 

Most people experience heritage sites in the role of the tourist. A large part of heritage tourism activities consists of visiting heritage sites and taking part of knowledge mediation through different medias such as guided tours or information panels. Learning about and experiencing heritage as a tourist can create meaning in different ways; it can increase the awareness of heritage and contribute to personal development for the individual. The latter refers to heritage´s social significances, which includes feelings of context and belonging in time and space. Heritage tourism is a resource for communicating knowledge about heritage and for social sustainability and development. But to accomplish this heritage management must tell narratives that engage the visitor and provokes their curiosity.  

In this presentation the heritage site is regarded as a (possible) Storyscape, facilitated by adding knowledge, experiences and narratives. The concept and methods of Heritage interpretation is put forward as a means to enable Storyscapes that connects people and places. Heritage interpretation concerns how heritage sites, artefacts or landscapes are communicated to an audience and includes all the ways in which information and knowledge about heritage is communicated. The goal is to make heritage meaningful and relevant on a personal and emotional level. It is a structured approach to non-formal learning specialized in communicating significant ideas about a place to people on leisure. One vital aspect is the importance of organization. Heritage interpretation is a form of storytelling connecting people and places, through narratives.  

 

 

Keywords: enclavic space, placemaking , mobilities, thickening, taxi drivers. 

 

 

Title: Melrakkaslétta the meeting-ground 

Author:  Þórný Barðadóttir

Affiliation: Icelandic Tourism Research Centre

 

Melrakkaslétta peninsula, is a sparsely populated peninsula on the northeast cost of Iceland. The natural richness of the area once provided the settings for the peninsula´s wealthy farms and a growing village, while natural, societal, and technical changes later resulted in vast depopulation. The area however still possesses its wealth through its history, natural environment, the everyday life of those living there as well as through the memories of all those who have spent their time there. Also, although situated north of the beaten Icelandic tourism track, the area is far from immobile. 

This presentation introduces an ongoing tourism research conducted in Melrakkaslétta through ethnographic research methods, making use of post Actor-Network Theory. Therein the narratives of Melrakkaslétta are collected through interviews with current and former residents and guests as well as through observations and walking. The aim is to investigate the interconnected links of placemaking, mobilities and tourism on the margin through the narratives of an area. The aim is furthermore to evaluate how these narratives are – or could be – performed in the everyday tourism practices of Melrakkaslétta. Thereby the research will provide tourism-related insights into the everyday doings and opportunities of a small sub-Arctic place, mostly bypassed by the recent global tourism boom al awhile conducted amid global pandemic and travel restrictions, conditions by some perceived as an opportunity to rethink the global tourism sector.