Affective Encounters with More-than-humans: Digital Platforms in a Time of Environmental Loss

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, participatory digital platforms have emerged where observations of more-than-humans are shared. Such citizen science initiatives are considered important for science and policy. This research article draws on affect theory to bring to the fore the affective side of encounters between humans and more-than-humans that comes with this practice. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with Dutch observers, we analyse how observers experience the mediation of the digital observation platform Waarneming.nl, specifically in the context of environmental loss. Based on observations of and conversations with observers, we found that bodily and sensory attentiveness of observers is important in establishing encounters with more-than-humans whilst mediated by Waarneming.nl. We propose that sharing an observation on such platforms is an affective act in itself. Observers show deep care about the more-than-humans they encounter, expressing love as well as worry over their decline. The (not) sharing of these encounters is a way for them to care for more-than-humans. We end this analysis by calling for further reflection on the contrast between the data points on the platform and the affective experiences in the field.