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Geocaching in Antarctica: heroic exploration for the digital era?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 19:19 authored by Frame, B, Elizabeth LeaneElizabeth Leane, Lindeman, RW
Trends in digitisation such as virtual reality, citizen science, and big data will impact both tourism and research outreach in Antarctica. We examine one modest but revealing example: geocaching. In particular we review the form and distribution of current geocaching practice in Antarctica and situate that within a global context. Through a self-reflexive examination of our own experiences on Ross Island in the 2018 summer season, we explore some of the ways that digitisation impacts on recreation in Antarctica through our different research lenses. Among other things, we found that geocaching folded into our personal experiences an unanticipated echo of the Heroic Era. Although it is simply our own observations as researchers that we draw on here, we consider that they are usefully suggestive when it comes to the future of human activity in Antarctica as it responds to increasing digitization and to calls for increased public science engagement activity.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

The Polar Journal

Volume

8

Pagination

397-406

ISSN

2154-896X

Department/School

School of Humanities

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Communication not elsewhere classified

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    University Of Tasmania

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