Slovenian anthropologists spearheading research into digital intrusion into nature

The study, dubbed the Digital Aestheticisation of Fragile Environments (DigiFREN), was launched in 2022 by the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts in cooperation with international partners.

It looks at the phenomenon of mountains, forests, river banks and sea shores that are riddled with people typing away on their smart phones, flying drones, using cameras and other digital appliances for recording and augmenting their experience.

The STA joined anthropologists Blaž Bajič and Sandi Abram as they accompanied nature lover Peter Weixler on one of his hikes that he documents on his YouTube Channel To the Nature.

Weixler allows viewers to tap into some of the experience from his trips to mountains and canyons, to waterfalls and other natural and cultural sights in Slovenia.

He said that it is key for him that the digital technologies he uses are convenient and seamless. He uses a mobile phone and a small camera with image stabilisation. He creates video content for as wide an audience as possible, documenting both challenging trails in the high mountains and less demanding, family trips.

As the group made its way to the picturesque Zajamniki alpine pasture on the Pokljuka plateau west of Lake Bled, Bajič, the main coordinator of the project, explained that the use of digital technologies during leisure time in nature had increased significantly, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown.

"Many were looking for places where they could get away from it all and provide their with some respite, if only for a short time. It became clear what this precious moment outdoors means to them, how they experience and perceive nature. They often documented their activities and experiences and shared them with their followers on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram," he said.

This was one of the key reasons why Bajič and his colleagues started DigiFREN: "When we go on trips with video content creators, we are interested in the direct experience of the individual on the spot, on the one hand, and on the other hand, in how all these impressions or experiences that the individual is trying to capture with digital technologies are then shared online, either with a wider audience, or with close friends and family."

The researchers moreover want to find our more about the impact or ramifications in this context of "some of the more visual media, whose apparent features include the aestheticisation and spectacularisation of experiences and environments".

Weixler is just one of many digital content creators being followed by researchers in the DigiFREN project. The research does not only take place in Slovenia, which is the project's lead partner, but also in Croatia, Poland, Finland and Norway.

Bajič said the study locations were chosen to reflect the cultural and ecological diversity of Europe, including the Alpine valleys of Solčava and Bohinj in Slovenia.

Thus, across different European locations, researchers are looking at some of the cultural similarities and differences in people's perceptions of what and how something is considered beautiful, interesting, picturesque, to see if there might be a wider process that they have called digital aestheticisation.

Bajič pointed out that new aesthetic categories are emerging along with typical key western categories like beautiful or sublime, for instance interesting, goofy, cute etc.

"We are interested in finding out whether there may be other categories, mainly related to the environment or nature, that will come to light in the course of the research," he said.

Last but not least, the research also aims to find out whether the various aesthetic categories that emerge in everyday life through the use of digital technologies could have any impact on the perception of climate and environmental change, and whether they can contribute to more critical thinking or understanding of such issues.

According to Bajič, this is the first ethnographic project to undertake a large-scale comparative study of digital aestheticisation in a digitising and environmentally changing Europe.

The project, which will be completed in 2025, is part of the CHANSE programme, which is co-funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe 2020 research and innovation programme.