“To use or not to use” - Mobile technology in nature-based tourism experience

This study investigates the role of mobile technology in the three stages (pre-visit, during-visit, and post-visit) of nature-based tourism (NBT) experiences. By employing collaborative autoethnography and reflexive thematic data analysis, this research explored the NBT experiences of four researchers who participated in a nature-based trek. The findings revealed that in the pre-visit stage, mobile technologies enhanced the NBT experience by enabling the flow of information for planning and mediating the anticipated experiences. Mobile technologies supported tracking well-being, documenting, and sharing the experience online in the during-visit stage. In the post-visit stage, mobile technologies allowed for reliving, reflecting, and sharing the experience. Using mobile technology in this NBT experience also led to some negative experiences, specifically interruptions that resulted in some participants' inability to truly immerse themselves in the experience. This study adds to the existing body of literature on NBT, highlighting the implications of technology, particularly mobile technology, for NBT experiences that can be capitalised on by visitors and destinations/service providers

“To use or not to use” - Mobile technology in nature-based tourism experience

This study investigates the role of mobile technology in the three stages (pre-visit, during-visit, and post-visit) of nature-based tourism (NBT) experiences. By employing collaborative autoethnography and reflexive thematic data analysis, this research explored the NBT experiences of four researchers who participated in a nature-based trek. The findings revealed that in the pre-visit stage, mobile technologies enhanced the NBT experience by enabling the flow of information for planning and mediating the anticipated experiences. Mobile technologies supported tracking well-being, documenting, and sharing the experience online in the during-visit stage. In the post-visit stage, mobile technologies allowed for reliving, reflecting, and sharing the experience. Using mobile technology in this NBT experience also led to some negative experiences, specifically interruptions that resulted in some participants' inability to truly immerse themselves in the experience. This study adds to the existing body of literature on NBT, highlighting the implications of technology, particularly mobile technology, for NBT experiences that can be capitalised on by visitors and destinations/service providers

Mapping national information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to the requirements of potential digital health interventions in low- and middle-income countries

Background Digital health can support health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by overcoming problems of distance, poor infrastructure and the need to provide community practitioners with specialist support. We used five RESPIRE countries as exemplars (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan) to identify the digital health solutions that are valuable in their local setting, worked together with local clinicians and researchers to explore digital health policy, electricity/ICT infrastructure, and socio-cultural factors influencing users’ ability to access, adopt and utilise digital health. Methods We adopted the Joanna Briggs Institute’s scoping review protocol and followed the Cochrane Rapid Review method to accelerate the review process, using the Implementation and Operation of Mobile Health projects framework and The Extended Technology Acceptance Model of Mobile Telephony to categorise the results. We conducted the review in four stages: (1) establishing value, (2) identifying digital health policy, (3) searching for evidence of infrastructure, design, and end-user adoption, (4) local input to interpret relevance and adoption factors. We used open-source national/international statistics such as the World Health Organization, International Telecommunication Union, Groupe Speciale Mobile, and local news/articles/government statistics to scope the current status, and systematically searched five databases for locally relevant exemplars. Results We found 118 studies (2015-2021) and 114 supplementary online news articles and national statistics. Digital health policy was available in all countries, but scarce skilled labour, lack of legislation/interoperability support, and interrupted electricity and internet services were limitations. Older patients, women and those living in rural areas were least likely to have access to ICT infrastructure. Renewable energy has potential in enabling digital health care. Low usage mobile data and voice service packages are relatively affordable options for mHealth in the five countries. Conclusions Effective implementation of digital health technologies requires a supportive policy, stable electricity infrastructures, affordable mobile internet service, and good understanding of the socio-economic context in order to tailor the intervention such that it functional, accessible, feasible, user-friendly and trusted by the target users. We suggest a checklist of contextual factors that developers of digital health initiatives in LMICs should consider at an early stage in the development process

Staging fear: exploring how a dark fun factory is co-performed

Worldwide, dark tourism attracts millions of visitors to indulge in various experiences. In the lightest shade of dark tourism lie dark fun factories, which are entertainment-centred through a high level of tourism infrastructure. Arguably, to a large extent, dark fun factories for visitors are an interactive and affective performance of fear and fun. This study employs retrospective collaborative autoethnography to explore how a dark fun factory can be understood as an assemblage including co-performances of service providers and visitors along with their interaction with non-human affordances. In so doing, this assemblage co-creates a participatory and affective space, as well as the desired experience(s) of fearful fun. The findings suggest theoretical and practical implications for researchers, lightest dark tourism suppliers, and visitors. For researchers, the findings provide a nuanced understanding of the process of how both visitors and hosts approach and practice performances in a dark fun factory. Suppliers can use the information to enhance the elements that effectively work to provide a quality experience for visitors. The findings inform visitors that they have an essential role in co-performing and co-creating the dark fun factory and experience

‘Remember that time?’: introducing retrospective collaborative autoethnography

Autoethnography is a well-established methodological approach in research, including tourism studies. Despite the frequent application of autoethnography in research, some scholars have raised challenges in employing autoethnography such as individual bias, selective memory, change of participants’ attitudes over time, logistical challenges, conducting synchronous research, and influence by dominant researchers within the group. This Research Letter proposes Retrospective Collaborative Autoethnography (RCA) as a method of qualitative inquiry situated within autoethnography, collaborative autoethnography, and retrospective autoethnography, which mitigate/reduce these challenges

‘Remember that time?’: introducing retrospective collaborative autoethnography

Autoethnography is a well-established methodological approach in research, including tourism studies. Despite the frequent application of autoethnography in research, some scholars have raised challenges in employing autoethnography such as individual bias, selective memory, change of participants’ attitudes over time, logistical challenges, conducting synchronous research, and influence by dominant researchers within the group. This Research Letter proposes Retrospective Collaborative Autoethnography (RCA) as a method of qualitative inquiry situated within autoethnography, collaborative autoethnography, and retrospective autoethnography, which mitigate/reduce these challenges