Opportunities in Conflict on the Trail

Estimating encounter probabilities among recreational trail user groups

“…Maintaining the option to vary the spatial and temporal component in the probability formulas ( Table 1 ) allows researchers to address various issues or circumstances relevant to their recreational systems. These issues include crowding and congestion ( Arnberger & Brandenburg, 2007 ; Sever et al, 2018 ), learning more about trail use dynamics ( Kotut, Horning, & McCrickard, 2020 ), and better understanding human and wildlife encounters ( Waldron, Welch, Holloway, & Mousseau, 2013 ). Many studies that focus on crowding are based on trail counters, surveys, and interviews ( Arnberger & Brandenburg, 2007 ; Lindsey & Nguyen, 2004 ; Needham, Rollins, & Wodd, 2004 ).…”

“…Understanding trail use dynamics is not only important for mitigating conflicts, but also for improving the sense of community on the trail and to increase trail user satisfaction ( Kotut et al, 2020 ). Incorporating occupancy and encounter probabilities into studies on any recreational trail system will help improve the understanding of user group interactions.…”

“…Incorporating occupancy and encounter probabilities into studies on any recreational trail system will help improve the understanding of user group interactions. Information about user group interactions could provide an opportunity to integrate appropriate trail management strategies ( Kotut et al, 2020 ). Some tested strategies include designating trails for different types of visitor use, informing visitors about congested areas, signage, meeting with user groups, and encouraging off-season use and use of less popular access points ( Marion, Roggenbuck, & Manning, 1993 ).…”

No More “Solutionism” or “Saviourism” in Futuring African HCI: A Manyfesto

“…Although conceived differently in other disciplines, some HCI researchers have argued that design futuring is not future-oriented in any serious sense, but rather a continual process of critique, dialogue, and storytelling of new possibilities of history [167]. This contingent activity of exploring the temporality of the past and the present has made different foresight approaches to futuring (e.g., future-facing forecasting and back-casting or past-facing recasting and past-casting [33] and methods of conducting futuring exercises (e.g., design fiction, design speculation, storytelling, storyboarding [65,96,199]) familiar to HCI researchers and practitioners. The adoption of these approaches has led to a range of studies that view design futuring as a critical lens for drawing attention to neglected design themes (e.g.…”