Using the Internet as a cultural tool: Internet implications for zoos and aquariums

Citation

Mary Benbow, D. (1999), "Using the Internet as a cultural tool: Internet implications for zoos and aquariums", Internet Research, Vol. 9 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/intr.1999.17209caf.002

Using the Internet as a cultural tool: Internet implications for zoos and aquariums

Using the Internet as a cultural tool: Internet implications for zoos and aquariums

Principal researcher: Dr Mary BenbowPostal address: Associate Director, University Teaching Services (UTS), Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University ofManitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada.E-mail: benbow@cc.umanitoba.ca URL: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~benbow/

Approximately 200 million people visit zoos in the USA and Europe each year (Flint, 1990), accounting for more people than attend professional football, basketball and baseball games combined (Cohn, 1992). Often zoos are still perceived predominantly as sources of entertainment (Lever, 1990) though for many people zoos and botanical gardens are "their only contact with living biological diversity" (Lewin, 1986, p. 1073). Therefore, zoos and aquariums have "the potential for changing public attitudes concerning conservation of our natural environment by providing a glimpse, although somewhat distorted, of its wonder, beauty and mystery" (Polakowski, 1987, p. 16).

Zoos and aquariums generally have four goals: Conservation, Research, Education and Recreation. In addressing these goals, these institutions impact on and are affected by their prevailing and past cultures and available technologies. Technology encompasses the tools that characterise a culture, and generally these tools are applied to the control of environments that support captive species. These artificial habitats represent the Earth's environments to visitors and so influence the cultural perceptions we have of our natural world. Today, these technologies also include the Internet. The Internet not only allows virtual visitors access to zoos and aquariums, but also presents information in new and vibrant ways. It is the impact of this particular technology that this research is most concerned with.

As cultural institutions, zoos and aquariums inevitably incorporate the technology of the era. In the Victorian Age, they were products of colonial expansion, industrialisation and the new theories of evolution. Today, technology is represented by computer-controlled environments and, of course, the Internet. Given the multidisciplinary nature of this research area, there are many seemingly disparate yet related projects underway, and a few focus on the Internet in particular.

The research reported here focuses on two key areas with respect to zoos and aquariums:

(1) Cultural implications. The influence of zoos and aquariums is profound probably because many people's first, and often only, direct experience of wild animals is at these institutions. On-going research concerning the social and cultural characteristics of zoos and aquariums aims to enhance our understanding of these features.

(2) Technological implications. Technologies are applied to the environmental and cultural aspects of zoos and aquariums. In recent years, the Internet has broadened the definition of zoo and aquarium. It has provided another way of conveying and encapsulating the natural world for the general public. In the same way that the elegant conservatories of the Victorian era gave an impression of an endlessly diverse biosphere under human control, the Internet gives the modern virtual zoo or aquarium visitor the impression of a world without boundaries. It follows that the Internet will affect visitors to these institutions. This impact will probably occur in relation to three broad categories of factors: communication, information and education; representing and conserving the wild; and attraction and experience.

The greatest impact of the Internet on zoos and aquariums will probably fall under the category of communication, information and education. Visitors crave more information about the animals they view and using hypertext is just one way to provide that information in a convenient and attractive manner. The primary question however is, what are the differences between the learning that occurs at zoos and aquariums and the learning that will occur at a zoo or aquarium web site. Data to answer this question will be gathered using a questionnaire that will be distributed to zoos and aquariums taking part in this study. These institutions will also be instrumental in the development and planning of the questionnaire content.

Communication draws attention to the commercial side of zoos and aquariums. In many ways, Web sites are designed to advertise zoos and aquariums and in doing so may affect the expectations of visitors world-wide. The increasing concern for loss of species worldwide has focused attention on the role of zoos and aquariums in conserving endangered species. In order for species to be preserved, their natural habitats must also be protected. As a result, zoo staffs are moving beyond the boundaries of their institutions. Currently, although many people can enjoy the experience of seeing animals in the wild, opportunities are still limited. The reaction of people to animals in the wild compared to those they see captive in a zoo enclosure can be quite different. In national parks in the Canadian Rockies, for example, visitors will stop, watch, photograph and linger to observe the mountain sheep and goats that would receive only cursory attention in a zoo. Today there are numerous web sites that provide constantly updated images and tracking information about a variety of species in the wild. The question arises ­ should zoos and aquariums augment their collections by presenting animals in the wild using web cams? Will these images and the visitors' experience provide the attention and resulting public concern that many conservationists feel is vital for species preservation? It is important to identify the role that the Internet may play in forming visitors' views of species conservation.

The most memorable part of a visitor's experience at a zoo or aquarium is the degree to which enclosures are attractive and the experience they provide. A number of features, common not only to zoos and aquariums but also botanic gardens and museums, are attractive to visitors. In particular, immersion exhibits where visitors feel involved, a part of, or immersed in an environment attract a great deal of attention. Materials and display techniques which accentuate these feelings, most notably glass and lighting, can also be utilized in the development of effective web pages. In identifying visitor preferences at zoos, aquariums and other cultural institutions, we can identify qualities that could also be used to improve the web experience. Does it follow that technologies like the Internet have the potential to alter the reasons why we may want to go to a zoo or aquarium? In other words, if we do go to these and other cultural institutions to experience an "encapsulated nature" then does the technology change that? Generally, at least to this point in time, zoos have attempted to exhibit animals in such a way as to make the animal and its surroundings as natural, at least in a zoo sense, as possible. The public is usually unaware of the technological extent to which zoos and their staff go to allow, encourage and even insist on their animals' behavior. However, the public is also curious about what goes on behind the scenes, a factor increasingly utilized by zoo and aquarium web pages. In some cases, for example at the Montreal Biodome, the technology used to support the exhibits forms part of the display. The public can tour the water and atmospheric control facilities that monitor and manipulate this entirely indoor zoo. Does this mean, therefore, that if the public understands the increasing control exerted over captive animals, that the sense of wildness is even less than in traditional zoos or aquariums? In addition, will zoos and aquariums presented using the Internet lead to a change in the perception of wildness? In other words, will Internet sites that present animals, albeit at a distance, in the wild seem more wild than the real, yet controlled experience of a traditional zoo or aquarium? These are the research questions of this study.

Preliminary findings

In previous studies, Benbow (1995, 1997) suggested that the Internet affects visitors in much the same was as zoo and aquarium enclosures. For example, in aquarium web pages the glass of the screen can duplicate the effects of the glass of enclosure tanks. Similarly, in zoos live "web cams" can provide visitors to zoo web pages with an opportunity to get closer to captive animals. Observation of zoo visitors indicates that people always get as close to enclosure boundaries as physically possible. It follows that zoo web pages can therefore duplicate some of the experiences of a "real" zoo visit. However, as remains the case for most zoo and aquarium enclosures, the Internet focuses predominantly on the behavior and demands of visitors while the attention given to the captive animals is much less. A questionnaire is currently being prepared which will gather data to identify the differences between zoo and aquarium visits and concurrent visits to zoo and aquarium web pages. By identifying these differences, web page designers will have the information they need to understand which aspects of their web pages address the four goals outlined above ­ Conservation, Research, Education and Recreation.

Web page, enclosure and exhibit design

The design and layout of zoos and aquariums has undergone a gradual evolution especially in terms of how the captive species are organized spatially. For instance, zoos in the Victorian era were organized across zoological line, grouping related species together. This resulted in monkey houses, lion houses, reptile houses and so on. Today, with greater emphasis on conservation and diversity, zoos tend to be organized along regional lines resulting in an African exhibit complex such as in Honolulu, Hawaii or a Rocky Mountain exhibit complex such as at the Calgary Zoo in Canada. Web pages, if they are to represent the reality of a zoo or aquarium visit, need to reflect the spatial organization of each zoo and aquarium and also find interesting ways of guiding visitors around the web site. Often, it is the content of enclosures which takes precedence in zoo and aquarium web pages; the organizational principle behind the institution's layout is often limited and designed to inform potential visitors to the "real" institution.

The questionnaire, currently under development, will be tailored to identify similar features between different zoos and aquariums. In discussions with zoos and aquariums across North America, a number of features have been identified as significant factors, including the message which these institutions hope to deliver in their exhibits and their web pages, and problems of limited cross-over between on-site visitors and visitors to their web pages. Despite significant interest, only limited funding has been acquired through local channels. Once collected, data will be used to compare visitor populations to zoos and aquariums which have visited their web site and those which have not. Basic psychographic data such as age, gender and size of visiting group will be collected followed by questions to identify the nature of learning in both situations. Data will be collected at the institutions themselves and through their web pages.

In conclusion, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Internet will influence many aspects of human culture including zoos, aquariums, botanic gardens and museums. The features which attract visitors to these institutions can be represented in web pages in a variety of ways and it seems likely that many of the techniques for displaying organisms in zoos and aquariums may translate into the language of web design. If visitors appear to gain the same important information from a web page as a real visit, this may prompt useful discussion in terms of the future educational role of zoos and aquariums. The research discussed in this report is gathering data that will contribute to this discourse.

Further reading

Benbow, S.M.P. (1999), "Zoos: public spaces to view private lives", Journal of Popular Culture [in press].