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Enhancing Whale Watching with Mobile Apps and Streaming Passive Acoustics

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Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2020 (ICEC 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12523))

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Abstract

Whale watching is a prime example of ecotourism services reaching millions of people worldwide. In this paper, we describe a prototype of a mobile application designed to enhance the whale watching experience. Integrating eco-acoustics and entertainment components, the authors designed an App that enhances customer satisfaction even in the case of distant sighing, which helps preserve animal well-being in this growing ecotourism activity. This paper presents the design and preliminary evaluation of the system, which involves many different components, from usability and presence known scales. We asked 12 participants to conduct several activities, including (i) report a sighting, (ii) classify a cetacean vocal call, and (iii) gather a cetacean photo. Because of the system’s novelty, we report on an extensive evaluation framework, including usability and presence scales reported by 12 whale watchers. We discuss the implications of our findings on the design of future applications for ecotourism services.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org.

  2. 2.

    https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/frameworks/ouroceanourfuture.

  3. 3.

    https://www.bats.org.uk.

  4. 4.

    https://www.soundscapes2landscapes.org.

  5. 5.

    https://www.wesa.fm/post/pitt-researchers-are-eavesdropping-birds-name-science.

  6. 6.

    https://www.cetalingua.com/citizen-science/.

  7. 7.

    https://www.nocmig.com/audiomoth.

  8. 8.

    https://www.geekwire.com/2015/game-about-killing-poachers-vies-for-50000-prize-in-microsoft-student-tech-competition/.

  9. 9.

    https://appadvice.com/app/camera-birds/520656685.

  10. 10.

    https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/android/701348-wounded-iwhale-rescue.

  11. 11.

    https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Water-Hero-HD-Free/dp/B007TXSCV0.

  12. 12.

    https://wilderquest.nsw.gov.au/.

  13. 13.

    https://www.thewildnetwork.com/wild-time-ideas.

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Acknowledgements

Authors recognize several grants which supported the study: (i) LARGESCALE, #32474 by FCT and PIDDAC; (ii) LARSyS, #UID/ EEA/50009/2019 by FCT; (iii) LARSyS - FCT Plurianual funding 2020-2023, by FCT; (iv) INTERTAGUA, #MAC2/1.1.a /385 by MAC INTERREG 2014-2020; and (v) MITIExcell, #M1420-01-01450FEDER0000002 by RAM.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ITI/LARSyS, Funchal, Portugal

    Nuno Jardim Nunes, Marko Radeta & Valentina Nisi

  2. Tecnico - University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Nuno Jardim Nunes & Valentina Nisi

  3. University of Madeira, Funchal, Portugal

    Marko Radeta

Authors
  1. Nuno Jardim Nunes
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  2. Marko Radeta
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  3. Valentina Nisi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marko Radeta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Nuno J. Nunes

  2. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Lizhuang Ma

  3. Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, China

    Meili Wang

  4. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Nuno Correia

  5. Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China

    Zhigeng Pan

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Nunes, N.J., Radeta, M., Nisi, V. (2020). Enhancing Whale Watching with Mobile Apps and Streaming Passive Acoustics. In: Nunes, N.J., Ma, L., Wang, M., Correia, N., Pan, Z. (eds) Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2020. ICEC 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12523. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65736-9_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65736-9_18

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