Photo-sharing Website Flickr Research Articles

Passive citizen science: The role of social media in wildlife observations.

Citizen science plays an important role in observing the natural environment. While conventional citizen science consists of organized campaigns to observe a particular phenomenon or species there are also many ad hoc observations of the environment in social media. These data constitute a valuable resource for 'passive citizen science'-the use of social media that are unconnected to any particular citizen science program, but represent an untapped dataset of ecological value. We explore the value of passive citizen science, by evaluating species distributions using the photo sharing site Flickr. The data are evaluated relative to those submitted to the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas, the largest collection of species distribution data in the UK. Our study focuses on the 1500 best represented species on NBN, and common invasive species within UK, and compares the spatial and temporal distribution with NBN data. We also introduce an innovative image verification technique that uses the Google Cloud Vision API in combination with species taxonomic data to determine the likelihood that a mention of a species on Flickr represents a given species. The spatial and temporal analyses for our case studies suggest that the Flickr dataset best reflects the NBN dataset when considering a purely spatial distribution with no time constraints. The best represented species on Flickr in comparison to NBN are diurnal garden birds as around 70% of the Flickr posts for them are valid observations relative to the NBN. Passive citizen science could offer a rich source of observation data for certain taxonomic groups, and/or as a repository for dedicated projects. Our novel method of validating Flickr records is suited to verifying more extensive collections, including less well-known species, and when used in combination with citizen science projects could offer a platform for accurate identification of species and their location.

Selfies, Digital Self-Portraits, and the Politicization of Intimacy

This text explores the representation of one’s intimate images, namely selfies, and the possibility of their political implications. It focuses on the photo-sharing website Flickr, partly because this platform enables its users to sort their photographs into albums, which in turn allows them to bring their self-portraits to the forefront, if they wish. Empowerment, that is to say taking back control over one’s representation, is a sign of the politicization of selfies and digital self-portraits. Can selfies be a means of empowerment when, shot in a museum, the image itself posits that the photographer’s very being is a work of art? Can they change our relationship to writing by encouraging neologisms and by creating the conditions for the writing of first-person, hybrid narratives mixing text and photography? The paradox of the politicization of selfies is that photographers use the lever of their intimacy to convey political messages. This can take the form of depicting a gender-reassignment process, or health issues, for example. At the origin of the articulation of a photographer’s politicization of their intimacy is a need for validation of the intimate self through audience response. On the audience’s side, each intimate self-portrait gives the possibility of a cathartic identification between photographer and viewer, which breaks the isolation of both protagonists in the relationship. Thus, selfies and self-portraits can re-empower photographers and viewers who consider that they belong to a misrepresented minority. We will question in what measure selfies and self-portraits can be an infrapolitical way of fighting against erasure.

Describing and mapping where people experience tranquillity. An exploration based on interviews and Flickr photographs

ABSTRACT Protecting tranquil areas is becoming an important objective for landscape planning and management. In order to identify where people experience tranquillity, we developed a hybrid approach combining field-based interviews with an analysis of social media content in the form of photographs with associated tags and coordinates from the photo-sharing website Flickr. In a case study in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in Scotland, interviewed respondents reported high tranquillity ratings even when relatively close to roads and traffic noise. Mapping the distribution of Flickr photographs revealed that many people took photographs and tagged them with words related to tranquillity in easily accessible areas, often close to water bodies. Our results indicate that people find tranquillity in certain landscapes despite the presence of other people or traffic noise, which highlights the importance of taking into account tranquillity ‘as experienced’ for the purposes of planning and policy-making.

A case of silent invasion: Citizen science confirms the presence of Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) in Central America.

Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) is a globally invasive ladybird. It has been intentionally introduced in many countries as a biological control agent, whereas it has been unintentionally released in many others. Climatic factors are important in limiting the spread of H. axyridis. For example, very few records are known from tropical or desert regions. Currently, no published reports are known from Central America. Here, we report H. axyridis from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Puerto Rico. Specimens were either observed by the authors, discovered in dried insect collections, or retrieved from searching through online photographs available from the citizen science project iNaturalist and the photo-sharing website Flickr. These new records and the wide distribution of H. axyridis in Latin America suggest several invasion events, which have gone unnoticed until now. We stress the need for further, large-scale monitoring and show the advantage of citizen science to assess the presence of invasive alien species.

Using social media, machine learning and natural language processing to map multiple recreational beneficiaries

Information and numbers on the use and appreciation of nature are valuable information for protected area (PA) managers. A promising direction is the utilisation of social media, such as the photo-sharing website Flickr. Here we demonstrate a novel approach, borrowing techniques from machine learning (image analysis), natural language processing (Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA)) and self-organising maps (SOM), to collect and interpret >20,000 photos from the Camargue region in Southern France. From the perspective of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES), we assessed the relationship between the use of the Camargue delta and the presence of natural elements by consulting local managers. Clustering algorithms applied to results of the LSA data revealed six distinct user groups, which included those interested in nature, ornithology, religious pilgrimage, general tourists and aviation enthusiasts. For each group, we produced high-resolution spatial and seasonal maps, which matched known recreational attractions and annual festivals in the Camargue. The accuracy of the group identification, and the spatial and temporal patterns of photo activity, in the Camargue delta were evaluated by local managers of the Camargue regional park. This study demonstrates how PA managers can harness social-media to monitor recreation and improve their management decision making.

The roles of tagging in the online curation of photographs

This paper explores the variety of uses people make of the tagging feature on the photo-sharing site Flickr. The site developers intended uses are primarily to build a taxonomy to make the images on the site easily searchable. Data from examples of Flickr tags and interviews with selected users reveal that some tagging fits with this aim, whilst other uses challenge and subvert the intended uses. Tagging is used to do at least the following: identifying existing information in a photo; adding relevant new information; expressing affective stance towards the images; addressing specific audiences; making unrelated ‘asides’; and for creative play. The discussion is then broadened by examining a dispute between Flickr and its users about changes being made to the site: this act as a ‘telling case’ (Mitchell, 1984) as people articulate what the site enables them to do and what it hinders. The dispute generated a thread of more than 29,000 comments, making a corpus of 1,774,401 words. Using corpus linguistics tools the paper demonstrates how users contribute to curating this site, including their uses of tagging. Steps involved in curating the site are identified, including a focus on verbs of curation. Overall, the paper contributes to the analysis of a set of ‘new’ literacy practices and to understanding digital curation. The methods of the two studies reported here productively combine detailed methods of qualitative research with the breadth of quantitative analysis.

Spatial and Temporal Dynamics and Value of Nature-Based Recreation, Estimated via Social Media.

Conserved lands provide multiple ecosystem services, including opportunities for nature-based recreation. Managing this service requires understanding the landscape attributes underpinning its provision, and how changes in land management affect its contribution to human wellbeing over time. However, evidence from both spatially explicit and temporally dynamic analyses is scarce, often due to data limitations. In this study, we investigated nature-based recreation within conserved lands in Vermont, USA. We used geotagged photographs uploaded to the photo-sharing website Flickr to quantify visits by in-state and out-of-state visitors, and we multiplied visits by mean trip expenditures to show that conserved lands contributed US $1.8 billion (US $0.18–20.2 at 95% confidence) to Vermont’s tourism industry between 2007 and 2014. We found eight landscape attributes explained the pattern of visits to conserved lands; visits were higher in larger conserved lands, with less forest cover, greater trail density and more opportunities for snow sports. Some of these attributes differed from those found in other locations, but all aligned with our understanding of recreation in Vermont. We also found that using temporally static models to inform conservation decisions may have perverse outcomes for nature-based recreation. For example, static models suggest conserved land with less forest cover receive more visits, but temporally dynamic models suggest clearing forests decreases, rather than increases, visits to these sites. Our results illustrate the importance of understanding both the spatial and temporal dynamics of ecosystem services for conservation decision-making.

Tracking Protests Using Geotagged Flickr Photographs.

Recent years have witnessed waves of protests sweeping across countries and continents, in some cases resulting in political and governmental change. Much media attention has been focused on the increasing usage of social media to coordinate and provide instantly available reports on these protests. Here, we investigate whether it is possible to identify protest outbreaks through quantitative analysis of activity on the photo sharing site Flickr. We analyse 25 million photos uploaded to Flickr in 2013 across 244 countries and regions, and determine for each week in each country and region what proportion of the photographs are tagged with the word “protest” in 34 different languages. We find that higher proportions of “protest”-tagged photographs in a given country and region in a given week correspond to greater numbers of reports of protests in that country and region and week in the newspaper The Guardian. Our findings underline the potential value of photographs uploaded to the Internet as a source of global, cheap and rapidly available measurements of human behaviour in the real world.

Quantifying International Travel Flows Using Flickr.

Online social media platforms are opening up new opportunities to analyse human behaviour on an unprecedented scale. In some cases, the fast, cheap measurements of human behaviour gained from these platforms may offer an alternative to gathering such measurements using traditional, time consuming and expensive surveys. Here, we use geotagged photographs uploaded to the photo-sharing website Flickr to quantify international travel flows, by extracting the location of users and inferring trajectories to track their movement across time. We find that Flickr based estimates of the number of visitors to the United Kingdom significantly correlate with the official estimates released by the UK Office for National Statistics, for 28 countries for which official estimates are calculated. Our findings underline the potential for indicators of key aspects of human behaviour, such as mobility, to be generated from data attached to the vast volumes of photographs posted online.

Pro-Anorexia and Pro-Recovery Photo Sharing: A Tale of Two Warring Tribes

BackgroundThere is widespread use of the Internet to promote anorexia as a lifestyle choice. Pro-anorexia content can be harmful for people affected or at risk of having anorexia. That movement is actively engaged in sharing photos on social networks such as Flickr.ObjectiveTo study the characteristics of the online communities engaged in disseminating content that encourages eating disorders (known as “pro-anorexia”) and to investigate if the posting of such content is discouraged by the posting of recovery-oriented content.MethodsThe extraction of pro-anorexia and pro-recovery photographs from the photo sharing site Flickr pertaining to 242,710 photos from 491 users and analyzing four separate social networks therein.ResultsPro-anorexia and pro-recovery communities interact to a much higher degree among themselves than what is expected from the distribution of contacts (only 59-72% of contacts but 74-83% of comments are made to members inside the community). Pro-recovery users employ similar words to those used by pro-anorexia users to describe their photographs, possibly in order to ensure that their content appears when pro-anorexia users search for images. Pro-anorexia users who are exposed to comments from the opposite camp are less likely to cease posting pro-anorexia photographs than those who do not receive such comments (46% versus 61%), and if they cease, they do so approximately three months later. Our observations show two highly active communities, where most interaction is within each community. However, the pro-recovery community takes steps to ensure that their content is visible to the pro-anorexia community, both by using textual descriptions of their photographs that are similar to those used by the pro-anorexia group and by commenting to pro-anorexia content. The latter activity is, however, counterproductive, as it entrenches pro-anorexia users in their stance.ConclusionsOur results highlight the nature of pro-anorexia and pro-recovery photo sharing and accentuate the need for clinicians to be aware of such content and its effect on their patients. Our findings suggest that some currently used interventions are not useful in helping pro-anorexia users recover. Thus, future work should focus on new intervention methods, possibly tailored to individual characteristics.

Participation, deliberate learning and discourses of learning online

This paper uses a study of the photo-sharing website Flickr to examine new online spaces for writing. On this site, people write titles and descriptions for their photos, they annotate their photos with semantic tags, they provide profiles of themselves and they comment on other people's photos. In these activities, people are engaging in new forms of writing and are extending their vernacular practices into new areas. This paper reports on a study which has analysed more than 100 Flickr sites and carried out interviews with 20 multilingual users of Flickr about their online practices. The paper investigates how people learn to participate in these new vernacular writing practices and contributes to theories of situated learning by developing them to take account of learning in online spaces. It focuses in particular on the ways in which Web 2.0 sites provide new spaces for learning and how people undertake deliberate projects of learning. The paper examines the ways in which people talk about the learning they are involved in and the specific discourses of learning they commonly draw upon. This changes over time as people identify new possibilities for themselves on Flickr.

The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification: Putting the Public back into Publication

The process of identifying nature has come a long way from the late 1800’s, when George Washington Carver was an inquisitive child: generations of naturalists have written field guides, recorded and compared vocalizations, and created new mobile applications to allow naturalists to recognize the diversity of birds, beasts, flowers, and stones routinely encountered in North America. Most insects, however, have been left behind on this journey towards an easily recognized flora and fauna. With the exception of butterflies, larger moths, dragonflies, damselflies, and a couple of popular beetle families, insects and related arthropods have until recently remained largely unidentifiable to all but “professional” entomologists with access to major collections of pinned insects and technical literature. That is now changing with blinding speed, thanks in part to the appearance of new technologies and in part to the emergence of Web-enabled citizen science. With macrophotography equipment affordable and available to photographers of all skill levels and a proliferation of online photosharing Web sites (Flickr, Picasa, personal Web sites, and blogs), now it is not only the “professional” entomologists who can access major collections of insects. A simple image search on the popular photo-sharing Web site Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) returns more than 1.5 million images tagged with the term “insect” or “insects” on a global scale, creating a digital collection which may be more diverse than many actual university insect collections. The synergy between users of, or contributors to, this global digital collection and the taxonomic community is rapidly leading to a “democratization” of taxonomy (Marshall 2008) and an invigorating explosion of interest in insect identification.

Mining Geospatial Knowledge on the Social Web

Up-to-date geospatial information can help crisis management community to coordinate its response. In addition to data that is created and curated by experts, there is an abundance of user-generated, user-curated data on Social Web sites such as Flickr, Twitter, and Google Earth. User-generated data and metadata can be used to harvest knowledge, including geospatial knowledge that will help solve real-world problems including information discovery, geospatial information integration and data management. This paper proposes a method for acquiring geospatial knowledge in the form of places and relations between them from the user-generated data and metadata on the Social Web. The key to acquiring geospatial knowledge from social metadata is the ability to accurately represent places. The authors describe a simple, efficient algorithm for finding a non-convex boundary of a region from a sample of points from that region. Used within a procedure that learns part-of relations between places from real-world data extracted from the social photo-sharing site Flickr, the proposed algorithm leads to more precise relations than the earlier method and helps uncover knowledge not contained in expert-curated geospatial knowledge bases.

'Every group carries the flavour of the admins': leadership on Flickr

Although leadership in many types of online community has been recognised as important, relatively little has been written about its nature in informal communities, particularly in the context of Web 2.0. This study explores the role played by admins on the photo sharing site Flickr. Semi-structured interviews with six admins investigated roles and motivation in some depth. A content analysis was conducted to explore the character of admins' activities on discussion boards in four types of group. The interviews revealed the dedication that admins gave to the role. They saw their activities as one of the main critical success factors for any group. Groups were heavily shaped by admins. The content analysis revealed that admins play a wide range of roles in groups, with markedly varying emphasis between different group types.

Hypergraph topological quantities for tagged social networks

Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a new class of social networks, which require us to move beyond previously employed representations of complex graph structures. A notable example is that of the folksonomy, an online process where users collaboratively employ tags to resources to impart structure to an otherwise undifferentiated database. In a recent paper, we proposed a mathematical model that represents these structures as tripartite hypergraphs and defined basic topological quantities of interest. In this paper, we extend our model by defining additional quantities such as edge distributions, vertex similarity and correlations as well as clustering. We then empirically measure these quantities on two real life folksonomies, the popular online photo sharing site Flickr and the bookmarking site CiteULike. We find that these systems share similar qualitative features with the majority of complex networks that have been previously studied. We propose that the quantities and methodology described here can be used as a standard tool in measuring the structure of tagged networks.

Digital Footprinting: Uncovering Tourists with User-Generated Content

Novel methods and tools are being developed to explore the significance of the new types of user-related spatiotemporal data. This approach helps uncover the presence and movements of tourists from cell phone network data and the georeferenced photos they generate. A city's visitors have many ways of leaving voluntary or involuntary electronic trails: prior to their visits, tourists generate server log entries when they consult digital maps or travel Web sites; during their visit, they leave traces on wireless networks whenever they use their mobile phones; and after their visit, they might add online reviews and photos. Broadly speaking then, there are two types of footprint: active and passive. Passive tracks are left through interaction with an infrastructure, such as a mobile phone network, that produces entries in locational logs; active prints come from the users themselves when they expose locational data in photos, messages, and sensor measurements. In this article, we consider two types of digital traces from Rome, Italy: georeferenced photos made publicly available on the photo-sharing Web site Flickr and aggregate records of wireless network events generated by mobile phone users making calls and sending text messages on the Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) system.