Media and conservation

asks the question of how our increasingly digital civilisation will persist beyond our lifetimes. The authors focus on the preservation of new media art as a case study in new media's broader challenge to social memory. Rinehart and Ippolito are well-known names in the field of media art preservation; both have respectively worked in the field as curators, teachers and initiators of various documentation models. Recollection has been in the making for quite some time and can be seen as a collection of their previous writings supplemented by futurological perspectives and practical guidelines as 'a recipe for cultural permanence' (p. 29). In this sense the book resembles a manifesto or a polemic essay. This is not to say that it lacks argumentation, but that it provides a single narrative. Better said, a dual narrative, because not only do the two authors alternate the chapters they also at times insert comments in each other's texts. Although this is not an uncommon practice and could be said to vaguely mimic today's digital culture of commenting, in this case it works well as the comments exemplify a multiplicity of perspectives that is also in the nature of the works that they discuss. However, at times the comments function more as alternative notes to upcoming sections and they loose their strength as complementary and critical observations.

Flagship species, common components of conservation programs, are frequently implicated in social confl icts. Th is article examines the multiple roles of fl agships in confl icts including their part in human-wildlife confl icts and as symbols of broader sociopolitical disputes. Th e article shows that the relationship between the co-occurrence of confl ict and fl agship species, while complex, illuminates important patterns and lessons that require further attention. Th e article focuses on the most iconic fl agships globally and discusses why they are commonly shrouded in controversy in which their meaning, value, and place are contested. It argues that the process of socially constructing animals as iconic symbols oft en entangles them in confl ict, and saturates them with confl ict agency. Th e article recommends that any program that involves the deployment of fl agships should institutionalize analyses of their symbolic meaning as an essential confl ict-management approach.

This study examines the human-elephant conflict in the context of environmental journalism in Sri Lanka. The paper is based on empirical study and reviews of the relevant literature in environmental sociology and political ecology. The changing political economic policies and development activities have affected the reciprocal interaction between society and nature resulting many socio-environmental crises such as the human-elephant conflict which has become a threat to the elephant population as well as to human beings. The main objective of the paper is to assess the human-elephant conflict in the context of environmental journalism in Sri Lanka. The paper draws relevant literature from archives and print media. Content analysis of newspaper articles of Sunday Lankadeepa, Sunday Observer and Sunday Thinakaran published from 2009 to 2013 was carried out based on stratified sampling. The qualitative information with regard to environmental journalism on the humanelephant conflict was collected from 15 in-depth interviews based on purposive sampling. The findings revealed the main cause for the human-elephant conflict is rapid increase in human population, deforestation in the name of development, conspicuous consumption and socioeconomic agricultural policies. The increase of rural habitation has resulted in invading the

Purpose: This paper aims to reflect on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in works of art, examining its impact on the creative process, aesthetics, and audience reception, then provide a critical reflection on the use of AI in works of art, examining its potential benefits and drawbacks and exploring the ethical considerations involved. The paper examines the use of AI in works of art, with a focus on the methodologies and case studies that demonstrate the potential and challenges of this emerging field. Research methods: The paper presents case studies of notable artworks that utilize AI, discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI in art, and explores the ethical considerations involved. Through a review of the literature and analysis of six case studies, we explore the aesthetic, technical, and social dimensions of AI-generated art, as well as the ethical and critical debates surrounding its production and reception. Findings: The paper concludes by emphasizing the...

The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) has been engaged in a collaborative and interdepartmental approach to the development and implementation of time-based art (TBA) collection management over the last six years. During this time the TBA conservation department has overseen, contributed to and composed documentation formats, such as questionnaires, artwork Pro Forma, iteration and iteration history reports, touring and artwork loan guides and analogue/digital media condition reports to support the conservation of non-traditional and changeable artworks from the Gallery's collection. This paper provides practical TBA resources developed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales with the goal to support staff at other institutions and organisations working with TBA collections. The purpose, formation, practical application and value of the resources are discussed in the paper, along with sample templates provided as supplemental materials, for further use by museum professionals...

81-94The communication of climate change from scientists, policy-makers and stakeholders to the public through the mass media has been a subject of interest in the research field. It is so because of its implications for creating public understanding of climate change and related issues. India is one of the major emerging economies, and so being one of the major greenhouse gas emitters, India is a key factor in the climate change story. On the other hand, USA one of the world's most developed and technologically advanced countries, has high energy consumption needs and therefore it is also one of the world's leading greenhouse gas emitters. Being politically strong at the world forum it holds an upper hand in global policy making about climate change issues. Hence it will be important to note how these two countries perceive climate change and subsequently sensitize, inform and interpret it through their mass media. In this study we analyse how climate change has been commun...

The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) has been engaged in a collaborative and interdepartmental approach to the development and implementation of time-based art (TBA) collection management over the last six years. During this time the TBA conservation department has overseen, contributed to and composed documentation formats, such as questionnaires, artwork Pro Forma, iteration and iteration history reports, touring and artwork loan guides and analogue/digital media condition reports to support the conservation of non-traditional and changeable artworks from the Gallery’s collection. This paper provides practical TBA resources developed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales with the goal to support staff at other institutions and organisations working with TBA collections. The purpose, formation, practical application and value of the resources are discussed in the paper, along with sample templates provided as supplemental materials, for further use by museum professionals who manage and care for TBA works.

Since the early 1990s Tate has been working to establish standards of care for the conservation of artworks which incorporate film, video and audio. In this paper I discuss the strategies we are developing and the approach to the conservation of time-based media with reference to a particularly complex installation, Gary Hill's Between Cinema and a Hard Place 1991. 'Time-based media' is a useful term to describe installations which have a duration and therefore have to be experienced in the context of the passing of a period of time. Fundamental to Tate's approach to the conservation of contemporary art is the notion that the artist's intent should guide our practice. Since most of the artists represented by this part of the collection are living, it is possible to interview them about the details of the installation, attitudes to changing technology, parameters of acceptable change and their views about what aspects of the installation are essential to preserve....

SUMMARYFlagship species are among key marketing tools used by conservation organizations to motivate public support, but are often selected in an ad hoc, rather than systematic, manner. Furthermore, it is unclear whether selected flagship species do motivate public support. This paper describes a multi-method exploratory study, carried out in Switzerland, which aimed to determine the selection criteria for flagship species and measure whether a species selected according to these criteria was able to motivate support. Fourteen representatives of international, regional and local conservation organizations were interviewed and the selection criteria for their flagship species were identified. A charismatic species (the great spotted woodpecker) that meets these criteria and an apparently less charismatic species (the clover stem weevil) were selected as treatments in a quantitative experiment with 900 respondents. Using conjoint analysis, it was found that both charismatic and unchar...

This article reflects upon certain expressions triggered by machinic technologies with an artistic aim. I will explain how these types of machines allow us to access a conceptual and communicative domain, demarcated by the interplay between art and technology. Moreover, this domain is embodied by mechanisms that are based on movement and dynamism in real time.

An investigation into the ecological impact of Planet Earth II, and asking whether it can be used as a model for future natural history programming. Featuring an interview from Planet Earth II producer Elizabeth White, a survey of the public, and a literature review from contemporary media - the essay argues that we must look beyond mainstream productions in a truly ecological future.

Have you ever considered, or been challenged by, recent heritage and artistic production based on film, video and computer code, the so-called non-traditional media? These media are, in a sense, nothing really new, since they are already a part of our increasingly mediatized culture. Indubitably, digital media cast their shadow on every aspect of modern life; they both form our culture and are being formed by it. Changeable by nature, digital media question established views considering what an artwork is, or might be, and what is being exhibited and preserved, as well as what enters the realm of cultural memory, and in which configuration. Being in the process of continuous reformulation and in and rescription, these artworks move between formats and platforms, seemingly unconcerned with the gravity of their physical carriage—media as vehicles, as it were, of the concept, a floating synthesis of an artist’s mind and all those engaged in the work’s genesis. But beware: the future of ever-expanding digital memory comes upon us, an immortalization gesture of sorts, directed against forgetting and oblivion.

For a full version of this review, follow this link to JStore: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/movingimage.17.1.0163?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

For millennia, top predators are admired and respected-depicted as powerful, majestic, mysterious, beautiful, elusive, dangerous, rare, fierce, and secretive. Conservation biologists have capitalized on such appeal and have used these species to lever public support for biodiversity preservation, raise funds, protect and restore ecosystem, prioritizing reserve sites, and plan the size and configuration of protected areas. The assumption behind all these objectives is usually that the conservation of top predator automatically implies the preservation of the whole biological diversity of its supporting ecosystem (Ray, 2005).

Tec h n è n° 37, 2013 Art contemporain et obsolescence technologique 36 Time-based media conservation is a relatively new field within fine art conservation and includes works of art which use film, video, 35mm transparencies, audio, software or performance as their primary artistic medium. This paper considers the institutional models that have emerged in response to the conservation needs of time-based media artworks in museum collections and offers an explanation as to why time-based media artworks have not been easily absorbed into existing conservation specialities. At the heart of this short history are different institutional responses to changing artistic practice.

Flagship species are among key marketing tools used by conservation organizations to motivate public support, but are often selected in an ad hoc, rather than systematic, manner. Furthermore, it is unclear whether selected flagship species do motivate public support. This paper describes a multi-method exploratory study, carried out in Switzerland, which aimed to determine the selection criteria for flagship species and measure whether a species selected according to these criteria was able to motivate support. Fourteen representatives of international, regional and local conservation organizations were interviewed and the selection criteria for their flagship species were identified. A charismatic species (the great spotted woodpecker) that meets these criteria and an apparently less charismatic species (the clover stem weevil) were selected as treatments in a quantitative experiment with 900 respondents. Using conjoint analysis, it was found that both charismatic and uncharismatic species have the ability to positively influence public preferences for habitat variables that encourage biodiversity in urban landscapes. These results may be used by conservation organizations to assist in the selection of flagship species, and in particular for flagship species that are intended to perform a specific conservation function.

In this paper we explore the concept of 'natural disasters' as opportunities for influencing public perceptions of the environment through the media. We provide a critical analysis of the discourse in a selection of newspaper articles and identify the way in which various actors have utilised UK national newspaper coverage of the Asian tsunami to promote particular agendas and to legitimise policies and actions. A systematic and iterative sampling approach was developed that allowed us to combine quantitative and qualitative methods to search for articles that contained content directly related to the environmental aspects of the tsunami. Three main themes emerged; coastal ecosystems, the fisheries sector, and redevelopment. The discourse within these areas was markedly different. While the coastal ecosystems discourse was hegemonic in terms of narratives and actor coalitions, the fisheries and redevelopment discourse incorporated a more diverse set of actors and storylines that perhaps reflects the lack of consensus on the best way of achieving sustainable solutions. We also contrast the limited discussion and representation of tsunami-related environmental issues within UK national newspapers with the more detailed discussion within the peer-reviewed literature and the grey literature. We argue that 'natural disasters' provide both opportunities and risks for raising awareness of environmental issues, mobilising funding and directing action to environmentally and socially vulnerable areas of the world, and that consequently NGOs, intergovernmental bodies and government departments should be mindful of the long-term consequences of global media attention. r

Abstract Quite apart from their utilitarian role as sources of food and materials, marine turtles have served as symbols, utilized for millennia by diverse societies and cultures. In recent years these reptiles have been given important roles by various
social groups around the world. With the growth of conservation biology and the institutionalisation of environmental concerns, marine turtles have been employed,
both explicitly and implicitly, as flagship species for conservation. In addition, these reptiles have also served as symbols -- flagships -- in other social contexts: a fact that has routinely been neglected, or denied, by conservationists. There is considerable confusion in the general concept of flagship species, and in addition to the general need to clarify this notion, there is a more specific need to understand the diverse
social contexts in which marine turtles have played roles as icons for different social groups. Few natural or social scientists have studied either the social responses and/or the relations of different societies to these animals; and most information about marine turtles as flagship species is descriptive, or founded on untested assumptions and speculation. The papers in this Special Issue of mast present diverse information
that establishes a broad-based empirical foundation from which a rich array of working hypotheses can be generated. These presentations also provoke and foster much-needed interdisciplinary approaches. Meaningful resolution of environmental issues, particularly the conservation of biological diversity, can only be attained with the full and effective integration of the ‘natural’ and ‘social’ sciences, and flagship
species can play a unique role in this effort.

International conservation NGOs rely on flagship species campaigns for fundraising but this approach has been criticized for benefiting a limited number of species. However, this criticism assumes these campaigns do not fundraise for broader issues and that alternative species with similar appeal to the target audience exist. We investigated this by: (1) recording the use of threatened mammal species in international NGO flagship campaigns, and; (2) using these data to identify "Cinderella species," which we define as aesthetically appealing but currently overlooked species. We found these NGOs only used 80 flagship species and that 61% of their campaigns only raised funds for the species itself. We also found these existing flagships are generally large and have forward-facing eyes and that there are 183 other threatened species with similar traits. Thus, the current approach is overly limited but NGOs could overcome this by adopting some of these Cinderella species as new flagships.

Abstract International conservation NGOs rely on flagship species campaigns for fundraising but this approach has been criticized for benefiting a limited number of species. However, this criticism assumes these campaigns do not fundraise for broader issues and that alternative species with similar appeal to the target audience exist.

Will digital art created in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century be displayable 500 years in the future? The ability to exhibit such artwork will depend upon new thinking and practices developed today by artists, conservators, and curators. This paper discusses how the use of software engineering methodologies can provide a means for transforming conservation practices used for traditional art into methods more appropriate for digital-based media. It will show as well how software engineering processes will aid digital art scholarship by augmenting and organizing an artwork's components in such a way as to enhance accessibility by art historians. Finally, it will discuss how digital artists who choose to adapt software engineering practices to their artistic process will be able to naturally extend the lifespan of their artwork.

Quite apart from their utilitarian role as sources of food and materials,
marine turtles have served as symbols, utilized for millennia by diverse societies and cultures. In recent years these reptiles have been given important roles by various social groups around the world. With the growth of conservation biology and the institutionalisation of environmental concerns, marine turtles have been employed, both explicitly and implicitly, as fl agship species for conservation. In addition, these reptiles have also served as symbols -- fl agships -- in other social contexts: a fact that has routinely been neglected, or denied, by conservationists. There is considerable confusion in the general concept of fl agship species, and in addition to the general
need to clarify this notion, there is a more specifi c need to understand the diverse social contexts in which marine turtles have played roles as icons for different social groups. Few natural or social scientists have studied either the social responses and/or the relations of different societies to these animals; and most information about marine turtles as fl agship species is descriptive, or founded on untested assumptions and speculation. The papers in this Special Issue of mast present diverse information that establishes a broad-based empirical foundation from which a rich array of working hypotheses can be generated. These presentations also provoke and foster much-needed interdisciplinary approaches. Meaningful resolution of environmental issues, particularly the conservation of biological diversity, can only be attained with the full and effective integration of the ‘natural’ and ‘social’ sciences, and fl agship species can play a unique role in this effort.

Misrepresentation of terminology is a major impediment for attempts at enhancing public conservation literacy. Despite being critically important for improving conservation practice, there have been few systematic analyses of the popular use of conservation terminology. This paper draws from science communication studies and metaphor analysis, to examine how keystone, flagship and umbrella species concepts are used and represented in non-academic contexts. 557 news articles containing these terms were systematically analyzed. Mammals featured in 60% of articles on keystones, 55% on flagships and 63% on umbrella species. Number of articles explaining the terms keystone (35%) and flagship (31%) was low, and keystones were the most misrepresented term. Keystones were metaphorically linked with balance, flagships with representation and umbrella species with protection. These metaphors influenced public interpretation of scientific terminology, oriented actions towards select species, and led to a valuation of such actions. Together, the findings highlight three important aspects of popular use of conservation terminology: (1) communication is largely biased towards mammals, (2) everyday language plays a vital role in the interpretation of concepts, and (3) metaphors influence peoples’ actions and understanding. Conservation biologists need to engage with issues of language if public conservation literacy is to be improved. Further evaluations of concepts with high public and policy relevance, systematic identification of communication shortfalls, and linguistic assessments prior to promoting new terms are potential ways of achieving this.

Flagship species are used to leverage public support for conservation. The success of a flagship is potentially determined by its popularity and ability to foster conservation intentions among a target audience. When flagships come into conflict with people, however, it is likely that conservation intentions get negatively affected. By examining peoples’ exposures to the Asian elephant—a global conservation flagship—this study
sought to (a) identify exposures that enable conservation intentions and (b) test whether human–elephant conflict undermines them. Survey results showed that exposure
to wild elephants negatively affected intentions to conserve elephants, while specific concern for the elephant and direct involvement in conservation activities led to positive intentions. These results suggest that the effective use of the Asian elephant as a flagship may be contingent on mitigating human–elephant conflict, for which engagement with concerned local actors and initiation of participatory conservation frameworks need to be considered.

The media play a key role in communicating conservation issues such as human-wildlife conflict, but corresponding literature on how issues are represented is limited. This article traces the depiction of human-elephant conflict in the media by examining (a) how conflicts are framed and (b) how ultimate and proximate causes are communicated in Indian and international newspapers. Issues were often polarized or framed in dramatic terms, and consonance in reporting causes was lacking. Active engagement with the media is needed to produce a nuanced debate on conflict, for which recognizing the role of different actors and working closely with individual journalists are vital.

"This article assesses the variety of discourses articulated by journalists reporting on environmental issues. In particular, it investigates how environmental journalists perceive their role and function as reporters of environmental issues as well as the problems they face while reporting. The authors interviewed 23 newspaper reporters covering environmental issues for the nine largest (in terms of daily circulation) daily Greek newspapers, by employing Q-methodology, a qualitative statistical approach specially adjusted for small samples. The subsequent analysis reveals three “factors,” or distinct discourses, labeled “scientifically objective, environmentally responsible journalist,” “environmental crusaders,” and “objective-pure journalists.” By analyzing factors’ discourses, the authors concluded that these groups are highly similar to the “disseminator,” “interpreter/investigator,” and “populist mobilize” categories identified in previous research for journalists with different field orientations. However, the last category (“adversarial”) did not appear in our sample. The authors encourage the replication of this research study in other countries as an effective method of obtaining a broader understanding of the practices and impacts of environmental journalism at a global level.

    * © 2010 SAGE Publications, Inc.
"