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And Rescue) for the Ultimate Selfie: How the Use of Social Media and Smartphone Technology Have Affected Human Behaviour in Outdoor Recreation Scenarios

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And Rescue) for the Ultimate Selfie: How the Use of Social Media and Smartphone Technology Have Affected Human Behaviour in Outdoor Recreation Scenarios Search (and Rescue) for the Ultimate Selfie: How the use of social media and smartphone technology have affected human behaviour in outdoor recreation scenarios by Amy Harris B.A. (Hons., English Literature), University of East Anglia, 2003 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Art & Technology © Amy Harris 2020 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2020 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Amy Harris Degree: Master of Arts Title: Search (and Rescue) for the Ultimate Selfie: How the use of social media and smartphone technology have affected human behaviour in outdoor recreation scenarios Examining Committee: Chair: Sun-ha Hong Assistant Professor Peter Anderson Senior Supervisor Associate Professor Shane Gunster Supervisor Associate Professor Pascal Haegeli Examiner Assistant Professor Resource & Environmental Management Date Defended/Approved: April 7, 2020 ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract The practice of outdoor recreation was historically a form of therapy and escape from the rigors of modern industrial daily work-life, and it remains a favored pastime today, with 70% of Canadians and 91% of British Columbia residents participating in “outdoor recreation or wilderness activities”. In recent years, there is a belief that the surge in popularity of hiking is due to beautiful destinations becoming more visible on social media. Further, the proximity of urban centres like Vancouver to such destinations reassures users that the safety benefits of urban technologies including smartphones, will remain accessible and reliable throughout their outdoor exploration and that help is available in the event of an emergency. This belief has led to many instances of Search and Rescue teams being activated, which would previously have been avoided by outdoor recreation participants making different choices based on their skill and experience. The culture of outdoor recreation has therefore been increasingly affected by smartphone technology in terms of users’ risk perception while recreating outdoors. Keywords: Outdoor recreation; Risk perception; Search and Rescue services; Smartphone technology; Social media iv Dedication I would like to dedicate this thesis to my father, who died during the writing of it. He supported everything I ever tried to do, and was incredibly proud of me. I would also like to dedicate it to the Search and Rescue Team Members who volunteer every day to help anyone who needs help. Their selfless dedication of their lives has been an inspiration for this project, and the amount of people who responded to my request for help with the survey demonstrates how supported they are amongst the outdoor recreation community. v Acknowledgements I would first of all like to thank my senior supervisor, Professor Peter Anderson. His guidance, and, more importantly, his support for my work from the beginning has been incredibly valuable and valued. He has gone above and beyond the role of a senior supervisor, and I will forever be grateful for your kindness and compassion, I would also like to thank Professor Shane Gunster as my second supervisor for his analytical eye and critical commentary which finely tuned and honed my work as it developed. Finally to Dr. Wendy Chun who has been a huge inspiration. It has been my absolute honour and pleasure to work with all three of you. To my mother, my brother and sister-in-law who, while not understanding everything that I talk about, support me 100% nonetheless! To my very good friend Corey Abell, for his never ending propping up, encouragement, and love. We took this journey together, and I wouldn’t have even made it out the front door without you. In the forming of this project I reached out to my peers for assistance. I would like to thank in particular Alberto Lusoli, Stacey Copeland, Pippa Adams, and Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte for providing excellent advice, technical support, and suggestions which all helped me to complete this work. Thank you also to Sylvia Roberts for providing excellent support when I was struggling to find exactly the right journal article! Finally, to the people who helped with providing their time, knowledge and opinions which formed the data that this research was based on; the interviewees, survey respondents, and EMBC data providers. I thank you. vi Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Ethics Statement ............................................................................................................. iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iv Dedication....................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................. x List of Figures ................................................................................................................. xi List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................ xii Glossary ....................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 1.1. Research problem ................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Selfies, social media and smartphones ................................................................ 3 1.3. William Leiss and concepts of risk perception ...................................................... 5 1.4. Pope and Martin, 2011 ......................................................................................... 7 1.5. Role of Search and Rescue.................................................................................. 9 1.6. Research questions ........................................................................................... 10 1.7. Methodology overview........................................................................................ 11 1.8. Significance ........................................................................................................ 11 1.9. Scope ................................................................................................................. 12 Chapter 2. History and Literature Review ........................................................... 14 2.1. Background ........................................................................................................ 14 2.2. Further risk perception theory............................................................................. 21 2.3. Social media influence ....................................................................................... 24 2.4. Impact of technology on outdoor recreation ........................................................ 26 2.5. Nature connectedness ....................................................................................... 30 2.6. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 3. Methods .............................................................................................. 34 3.1. Rationale ............................................................................................................ 34 3.2. Previous studies ................................................................................................. 34 3.3. Interviews ........................................................................................................... 35 3.3.1. Interview procedure ..................................................................................... 35 3.3.2. Interview protocol ........................................................................................ 36 3.3.3. Interview design .......................................................................................... 37 3.3.4. Interview data analysis using Nvivo ............................................................. 38 3.4. Surveys .............................................................................................................. 38 3.4.1. Survey design ............................................................................................. 38 3.4.2. Initial plan and change in methodology ....................................................... 39 3.4.3. Survey participants ...................................................................................... 40 vii 3.4.4. Survey protocol ........................................................................................... 41 3.4.5. Survey questions & reflection ...................................................................... 41 3.4.6. Prize selection ............................................................................................
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