During the spring and summer of 2023, postdoc Michelle Westerlaken carried out
fieldwork
about the digitalisation of
biodiversity
technology together with Ecodorp Boekel, in the south of the Netherlands. Over the course of five months, we used different technologies to collect and experiment with local
biodiversity
data. The main questions that guided this project were 'how is multidimensional
biodiversity
knowledge produced and used by local communities?', and 'how does digital
biodiversity
data gain meaning in local participatory contexts?'. This
fieldwork
is part of a wider case study about environmental Digital Twins, that investigates attempts at creating advanced digital simulations and other immersive technologies to engage with environmental data.
Ecodorp Boekel
Ecodorp Boekel is an urban development and Living Lab that aims to inspire new forms of sustainable living. The two-hectare village consists of 36 rental homes, a food forest, and a garden that host approximately 62 inhabitants. It is located in a rural area in the south-east of the Netherlands and residents have spent the last 12 years working towards sustainable forms of community living. Inhabitants are between 0 and 71 years old, predominantly Dutch, and the ecovillage also includes two caregiving homes, and two homes for people with refugee status. The ecovillage also has a
biodiversity
plan with 10 different indicator species and the target numbers for their presence in the village over the next decade.
The Smart Forests Atlas contains various resources in relation to the
fieldwork
that was carried out at the ecovillage:
Based on this
fieldwork
, as well as other related case study work around the digitalisation of
biodiversity
, the
biodiversity
data that was gathered during this
fieldwork
was turned into a hybrid physical/digital installation. Digital Kins: A Biodiversity Data Portal, is a data installation that was installed at Ecodorp Boekel in August 2023 to undertake community workshops and further investigate local
biodiversity
data in immersive contexts. Rather than attempting to create a digital copy - or twin - of the local
biodiversity
, Digital Kins challenges intensified
automation
and
datafication
practices and instead seeks to build relations of
multispecies
kinship between humans, other species,
sensors
, and digital data.
The installation consists of 101 data points - in the form of hand drawn illustrations with QR codes - that each connect to their online (open data) sources. These cards are connected with cotton wires to the circular roof structure of 'Het Expo Huisje' at Ecodorp Boekel. All materials that were used in this installation are recycled and/or sustainably sourced. The wooden structure of this building formed the inspiration for new modes of exploring, categorizing, discussing, and questioning the meaning and usefulness of data practices with local participants at this site. Seven community workshops with a total of 27 participants were hosted to encourage
playful
exploration, to discuss data practices, and to add new data to the installation. This process led to important new insights that will be analyzed and shared over the next months. This
video
summarizes the development process and some of the workshops:
The 101 online data points that formed the basis for this installation are brought together from many different data practices. The Smart Forest Atlas contains many Logbook, Radio, and Map entries that are included in this project. These include local Camera Trap Footage, Forest Walks,
peelrandbreuk
/">Local Contributors,
biodiversity
-
monitoring
-practices/">Biodiversity Monitoring Workshops, interviews about automated
biodiversity
monitoring
technologies, and many other entries. Zooming-in on the south of the Netherlands via the Map, or searching for the tags '
biodiversity
' and '
monitoring
' from the search bar at the top of this page will show an overview of all this data. Besides the Smart Forests Atlas, many other data sources were also part of this installation. These include
biodiversity
observations via ObsIdentify, open-data maps on local tree density and forest fires, local community stories, national
biodiversity
platforms, and many other open-data initiatives.