Abstracts for Session 7

 Influence of Equipment and Technology on Outdoor Pursuits

 

 

Title: “Do you trust all you see?”: The influence of social media on people’s perception of packrafting and risks involved in the activity.

Authors: Konstantin Gridnevskiy

Affiliation: NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences

 

There are different reasons why people turn to social media. It could be to communicate with others or to express themselves. In other cases, social media can provide channels to find information related to various topics people are interested in. Whether this information (both visual or verbal) is reliable or not can be argued.

In our ongoing research, we are trying to see how people are influenced by visual information (pictures) in relation to their perception what gear is required for packrafting, a relatively new outdoor activity that is experiencing fast growth in recent years, also due to social media. In packrafting one has to use a small lightweight raft that can be easily packed into a rucksack and carried to any river/lake with you (thus a packraft). At the same time, this activity is relatively unknown to the broader public. In our research, we have conducted an experiment with several groups of people (not familiar with packrafting), who were shown different sets of pictures from social media and, later, asked about their expectation from and perception of this activity. Even though it is an ongoing research and it uses packrafting as its subject, the outcomes can be interesting for broader audience as they illustrate how portrayals of an outdoor activity on social media can have an influence on how people perceive this activity.

 

 

Title: Co-creating platform driven tourism: Optimizing the nexus between public sector, industry and the knowledge sector

Authors: Veronica Blumenthal, Merethe Lerfald, Stine Kvamme, and Kristine Blekastad Sagheim

Affiliation: Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences

 

In this ongoing research project, aiming to identify the potential the platform economy may represent for the tourism industry in a peripheral region, we take an innovative, action research inspired approach to develop a platform driven cycling product through facilitating co-creation in the nexus between public sector, tourism industry, and the knowledge sector. As a part of this project, we explore the opportunities that lay in using an “innovation camp” among students as a tool to facilitate the co-creation of a platform-based cycling experience product in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway.

The process consists of three phases. The first phase consists of gathering relevant data through secondary data, a survey, and in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders. In the second phase, this data will be used as background material for an “innovation camp” organized among innovation and tourism students in both tertiary and secondary education. An innovation camp is an event where students work intensely in cross-disciplinary groups within a limited time frame, usually less than 48 hours, to develop new ideas and/or propose innovative solutions to a clearly formulated problem (Bager, 2009). The event engages industry as well as government representatives who contribute as mentors and jury members ultimately names a winning solution/idea. The third phase, which will be conducted by industry partners, consists of implementation based on ideas generated through the innovation camp.

Organizing an innovation camp is an innovative approach to engaging various local stakeholders in a co-creative product development process. This paper provides a presentation of the employed research design, as well as reflections on the use of students as a source of innovation and innovation camp as a tool for facilitating co-creation. 

 

 

Title: Tourist information behaviour on site: smartphones and planned serendipity

Authors: Micol Mieli

Affiliation: Lund University

 

Smartphones have become one of the main tools for travel information search, especially on site, during the trip. The use of mobile technologies and ubiquitous internet connectivity do not only allow tourists to access information anywhere, at any time, but have deep impacts on tourists’ behaviours and on their whole tourist experience. 

The study suggests an interpretation of tourists’ information behaviour on site through the concept of “planned serendipity”, which offers a view of tourist behaviour that overcomes the dry juxtaposition of spontaneity and planning. The concept is developed through an empirical investigation on tourists’ behaviour on site. In a qualitative research design, experience sampling method (ESM) was used to collect tourists’ behaviour and emotions during the trip, and a follow-up interview expanded on the ESM results. 

Through the concept of planned serendipity, this study shows that it has become difficult to distinguish between planned and unplanned behaviour. The constant access to, and search for, information have created a condition for the tourist where their experience is both planned and serendipitous at the same time. Mobile information technologies allow a degree of spontaneity even in structured plans, and vice-versa: even in spontaneous behaviour, there is often a degree of information search and planning carried out on site. Moreover, while previous research suggested that the boundaries between the different stages of travel are becoming blurred, I argue that such phases are still clearly and logically distinguishable, but the information needs and behaviours traditionally associated with pre- and post- trip phases are now concentrated in the on-site phase. It is therefore important to understand tourists’ information behaviour during the trip, and possibly identify further micro-phases in the during-trip stage. 

 

 

Title: Engaging with tourism through Virtual Reality

Authors: Claire Raftery, Danny O’Toole, Michelle Killeen, Joan Condell, Skuli Björn Gunnarsson, and Alan Miller

Affiliation: STRATUS

 

Our view is that connecting with emergent digital tech and changing digital literacies is key to re-energising our towns, villages and communities. We use disruptive VR technologies to enable exploration of the Past, Present and Future, maximising societal benefits from natural and cultural heritage. We are using VR to enhance the visitor experience and to help direct the flows of visitors and inform policy. We are pushing the limits of VR today with the goal of enabling its potential to be realised in the future. We are developing VR solutions that enhance and integrate exploration of cultural and natural heritage. This brings together real-world media (aerial, 360, 3D and stereoscopic) with virtual world media enabling new perspectives on natural and cultural heritage to enrich onsite experiences and inform digital narratives. We design collaborative heritage VR where multiple users communicate within the same Virtual Environment, mixing onsite and offsite participants and using VR to connect together cultural and natural heritage sites both enhancing experience and managing flows of visitors (Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland). We are using a practice-based approach developing solutions within use cases in doing so we push the limits of VR. Our Narratives connect with history, science and myth, we address climate change and threats to heritage and address how VR can enrich both informal and formal educational scenarios. We make it easy for domain specialists to contribute to VR solutions by developing toolkits as well as encouraging technology transfer and spread as transnational knowledge exchange.

 

Within STRATUS, which is a NPA project, we develope models and solutions which enable the development of innovative virtual reality solutions in the heritage sector. This builds upon the abundant resources in the region's strengths of cultural and natural heritage. We contribute to expanding the region’s horizons by developing workflows and technologies which enable VR innovation to be harnessed expanding the capacity and increasing the sustainability of communities in the region.