Natural history films raise species awareness-A big data approach.

ABSTRACT: In urbanized societies that are increasingly disconnected from nature, communicating ecological and species awareness is crucial to revert the global environmental crisis. However, our understanding of the effectiveness of this process is limited. We present a framework for describing how such awareness may be transferred and test it on the popular BBC show Planet Earth 2 by analyzing Twitter and Wikipedia big data activity. Despite lacking explicit conservation themes, this show generated species awareness, stimulating audience engagement for information at magnitudes comparable to those achieved by other conservation-focused campaigns. Results suggest that natural history films can provide vicarious connections to nature and can generate durable shifts in audience awareness beyond the br

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Bellon D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7074017 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature