Mobile social hybrids and drone art

Contemporary global society is not just intercultural, but also mobile. On one hand, a plurality of social actors originates from different societies (citizens, tourists and immigrants). On the other hand, many of them are economically and geographically mobile, which reinforces the tendence of their cultures to hybridize. Moreover, such social processes are more and more undertaken by using technological devices, e.g. mobile devices and drones. This last appliance and sociocultural instrument is becoming so ubiquitous and omnipresent, that we are entering into a global society and culture not just supervised by the internet, but mainly by drones, a dronic reality/society. The present text aims to discuss some social and cultural processes and arenas where such transformations take place, and to give some examples of concrete works of art that represent or present such issues. For this purpose, firstly the contemporary mobile society, culture and arts are discussed, and related to a reflection on the hybrid nature of numerous current entities. Secondly, some exemplifying case studies of technological art that underlies such context are shown, e.g. Sociological Games and Drone art.A sociedade global contemporânea não se mostra apenas intercultural, mas também móvel. Por um lado, uma pluralidade de atores sociais origina-se em diferentes sociedades (cidadãos, turistas e imigrantes). Por outro lado, muitos deles são económica e geograficamente móveis, o que reforça a tendência para a hibridação das respetivas culturas. Além disso, tais processos sociais são cada vez mais empreendidos usando dispositivos tecnológicos, como os telemóveis e os drones. Este último aparelho e instrumento sócio-cultural está a tornar-se tão ubíquo e omnipresente, que nos encontramos a entrar numa sociedade e cultura globais não apenas supervisionada pela Internet, mas principalmente por drones, ou seja, uma realidade/sociedade drónica. O presente texto tem como objetivo discutir alguns processos e arenas sociais e culturais, onde tais transformações acontecem, e dar alguns exemplos de obras de arte concretas que representam ou apresentam tais questões. Para este fim, em primeiro lugar, são discutidas a sociedade, cultura e artes móveis contemporâneas, e relacionadas com uma reflexão sobre a natureza híbrida de numerosas entidades atuais. Em segundo lugar, alguns exemplos de estudos de caso de arte tecnológica que sustentam tal contexto são apresentados, por exemplo, os jogos sociológicos e a arte drone.(undefined

When the Cultural Heritage cannot be physically visited

il contributo esplora possibili soluzioni di turismo virtuale per accedere al patrimonio culturale che non può essere fisicamente visitato, con particolare attenzione all'immersività e al coinvolgimento fisico del visitatore. Viene presentato un progetto interdisciplinare elaborato nel corso di una recente collaborazione internazional

Drones as a Tool to Monitor Human Impacts and Vegetation Changes in Parks and Protected Areas

Increased visitation to protected areas could have adverse impacts on the conservation values in the protected areas, and therefore effective visitor monitoring methods are needed to meet the complex management challenges that arise. Collecting data on human impacts is highly time consuming, thus requiring more effective tools that allow for high-quality and long-term measurements. In this study, we show how unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e. UAV or drones) could be used to monitor tourism impacts in protected areas. Tourism has boomed in national parks in Norway in recent years, such as in Jotunheimen National Park for which this study applies. We test the use of drones on a site where new tourist facilities will be established to set a baseline to identify future changes. We demonstrate how drones could help protected area management by monitoring visitor use patterns and commonly associated impacts such as trail condition (width and depth), vegetation structure and disturbances, informal trail proliferation, trampling, and trash and other impacts along the trails. We assessed accuracy and reliability compared with intensive field measurements of impacts and found low-cost drones to be effective in mapping the study area with a resolution of 0.5 cm/pixel: drone derived trail measurements were comparable to traditional measurements with a negligible divergence on trail width measurements and a consistent 1.05 cm divergence on trail depth measurements that can be corrected with a few validation points. In addition, we created a high-resolution vegetation classification map that could be used as a baseline for monitoring impacts. We conclude that drones can effectively contribute to visitor monitoring by reducing time spent in the field and by providing high-resolution time series that could be used as baseline to measure tourism impacts on conservation values in protected areas

Empowering Tourism Awareness Group Based on Sapta Pesona Concept to Actualize Agro-Tourism Villages in West Bangka

Background: To be financially independent village seems to be a must to support the local economic freedom. Tourism becomes one among some promising sectors. However, the low level of local understanding towards the concept of agro-tourism is much needed to support the local government development, especially in Tebing Village, West Bangka. Contribution: The purpose of this program is to support the actualization of an agro-tourism village based on green rice fields through the formation of a tourism awareness group and counseling on the concept, role and function of it in Tebing village, Sub-district of Kelapa, West Bangka Regency. Method: The method employed is by assisting, mapping and giving a lecture on the concept of tourism awareness groups to actualize the agro-tourism village in Tebing Village, West Bangka. Results: The result is proved by the formation of a tourism awareness group (Pokdarwis) in Tebing village. Besides, the growth of awareness and understanding related to the Sapta Pesona was well comprehend as qualitatively evaluated by interviewing the community. Finally, the mapping process of the location of agro-tourism was done using DJI Phantom 4 Pro. Conclusion: Existing natural resources can be utilized to increase income financially through agro-tourism villages. In addition, the happiness index can also be increased by the presence of green open space or agro-tourism nearby as a rest area from Pangkalpinang to Muntok or vice versa, as the village is located in the main route of it. Finally, this service still requires further assistance until the agro-tourism village can be established and support the village's independent income and the welfare of the local communit

Pressure of tourism on heritage and technologies for an inclusive society

The heritage enhancement contains in itself a contradiction that seems irreconcilable: on one side they have to broaden its accessibility, on the other they have to limit damages caused by tourism. An elitist tourism cannot constitute the solution, but alternative types of fruition could in part come in aid, thanks to ICT and georeference. Nowadays, technologies not only are directed to replace the real experience, or to enhance it, but even to simulate it by entering parameters of physical reality. Therefore, in this field they are developing “virtual tourism” projects, that will lead to a wide accessibility of cultural heritage, in view of a true "inclusive society" able to reach even the weaker segments of the population – in the same time, the indiscriminate use of heritage could be reduced. The natural evolution of these projects may even involve the landscape, urban and architectural design (e.g. the transport planning, or innovative infrastructures). This kind of approach, that requires and combines humanities and technical skills, aims to make available and accessible not only the historical, architectural and artistic heritage in itself, but also intended as system

Direct use of point clouds in real-time interaction with the cultural heritage in pandemic and post-pandemic tourism on the case of Kłodzko Fortress

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology and interactive communication methods increased in importance. One of the sectors most affected by the lockdown was the tourism industry. It became necessary to apply a new approach to the research and development of this field using the virtual world. This paper presents the implementation of direct use of raw point cloud data enriched with digital historical resources on the case of the historic Klodzko Fortress in Poland’s Lower Silesia. Terrestrial laser scanning was used to visualise the real world, later used in a game engine to create space for real-time virtual interaction. Like the touring paths in the real world, the interaction in the adopted solution went beyond observation and understanding of the space unified with historical resources. The project’s overall goal was to create a safe and accessible digital tool to popularise the region’s cultural heritage resources in pandemic and post-pandemic times

An overview of technologies deployed in GCC Countries to combat COVID-19

Since December 2019, COVID-19 and all of its variants continue to ravage the planet with consequent negative impact that has completely changed our lives within a short period of time after the outbreak of the Virus. On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation. Since then, a group of new COVID-19 variants has emerged posing a greater danger to humanity. By the start of August 2021, the reported COVID-19 related death toll across the globe has rocketed to 4,233,139. To deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, countries across the world have rushed to develop various techniques in order to embrace an array of solutions to the problem. Covid-19 negatively affected countries in several sectors including industry, business, health, and education to name a few. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are among the top countries which use cutting-edge technologies in several sectors. This significantly helped these countries to overcome the spread of this virus. In this paper, we present an overview of the technologies, techniques, solutions, and strategies deployed by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in order to safeguard their citizens and speedy return of life to normalcy

An overview of technologies deployed in GCC Countries to combat COVID-19

Since December 2019, COVID-19 and all of its variants continue to ravage the planet with consequent negative impact that has completely changed our lives within a short period of time after the outbreak of the Virus. On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Since then, a group of new COVID-19 variants has emerged posing a greater danger to humanity. By the start of August 2021, the reported COVID-19 related death toll across the globe has rocketed to 4,233,139. To deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, countries across the world have rushed to develop various techniques in order to embrace an array of solutions to the problem. Covid-19 negatively affected countries in several sectors including industry, business, health, and education to name a few. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are among the top countries which use cutting-edge technologies in several sectors. This significantly helped these countries to overcome the spread of this virus. In this paper, we present an overview of the technologies, techniques, solutions, and strategies deployed by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in order to safeguard their citizens and speedy return of life to normalc