Archiving (lost) nature: Hybrid experiences and memorization through participatory digital archives

Abstract

A growing group of nature enthusiasts share observations of flora and fauna through participatory online platforms. These ‘citizen science’ data are valuable for research and policy, but the value of these platforms goes beyond this: they provide opportunities to stimulate experiences with nature and remember nature that has been lost. Waarneming.nl is the largest nature observation platform in the Netherlands, with over 70,000 users contributing data on biodiversity through their website and mobile applications. Using Waarneming.nl as an example, the theoretical exploration in this article offers a new lens to look at platforms for nature observations. Users of Waarneming.nl read and write digital traces of encounters with other species, creating a ‘hybrid experience’ of nature, where digital and physical information are intertwined. As physical experiences become scarcer in threatening times of species endangerment and extinction, Waarneming.nl should additionally be understood as a place to memorialize lost nature. By conceptualizing Waarneming.nl as a digital lieu de mémoire (‘place of memories’) and a place where hybrid experiences of nature are inspired, this article reflects on the positive and negative consequences of such platforms for humans and their multispecies relationships.