Birdwatching in the digital age: how technologies shape relationships to birds.

Abstract

Advances in technologies have affected birdwatching and its popularization through time. To better understand how, we expose ways by which today's digital technology-typically taken for granted-shapes the social practices of birdwatching, which shifts human-bird relationships and has consequences for birds themselves. Starting in the transition from analogue to digital, we highlight how technologies have functioned to enhance human abilities and create connections among people, organizations, and places. We then analyze contemporary digital technologies (e.g., digital cameras, social media, and online biodiversity monitoring platforms), demonstrating how their entry into birdwatching practices reformulates the interests and power of various actors. Such processes affect the experience of birdwatching, its perceived benefits, the organization of birdwatching communities, and how birds are seen. To conclude, we address societal and ethical implications of digital technologies in birdwatching, focusing on their democratizing potential, as well as concerns over privacy, data ownership, and uneven digital engagement.