Images of Nature through Platforms

Abstract

Contemporarily, digital images are produced and shared ubiquitously. By taking stock of this phenomenon through the lens of the DEH, this chapter will consider such images and pictures as cultural products. It will illustrate that digital photographs offer an opportunity to study cultural practices and how people interact with nature and focus on how research is being shaped and enacted through web platforms. A key issue in DEH debates is the notion of “field” and the use of images for online research on “nature,” which can be framed by science and technology studies literature on the scholarly deployment of digital tools. Firstly, this chapter will provide a historical review of the relationship between the production and use of images involving nature and environments. Secondly, it will provide a description of the changes that digitalisation (first) and datafication (afterwards) have brought to society and the social sciences. Digital platforms have provided a reshuffle of previous practices and new configurations. Less featured in DEH debates is a focus on platforms for citizen science projects, where non-professionals contribute to scientific activities, often based on collecting specimens and pictures of nature and wildlife online. By investigating this emerging “field,” the epistemic value of studying images of nature and environments in the context of “digital citizen science” practices can be highlighted.