Outdoor recreation participation has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Jämtland mountains have felt the impacts like many other geographical areas. Increased pressure from outdoor recreation risks of decreasing visitor experience and the physical conditions of the recreational landscape. The focused area of this study (the mountain area of the Jämtland triangle) experienced problems already before the Covid-19 pandemic hit due to increasing pressure from visitors as well as from differing interests among stakeholders. The pandemic has especially increased the visitor numbers and pressure from them. This study focused on the viewpoints of the visitors in relation to outdoor recreation impacts and their landscape and land-use perspectives. Moreover, their views on the possible future planning and management of the area, with emphasis on the management practices. Methods used to achieve the objectives were of embedded mixed methods (concurrent nested design): observations, contact cards and semi-structured interviews with the emphasis on qualitative data. Visible impacts in the landscape (crowding, litter, tear, and wear as well as impacts on the fauna) were discovered and that they were also experienced by the visitors to different degrees. In general, their experiences from the contact cards identified higher experiences on tear and wear of the trails as well as crowdedness. This was supported by the interview participants experiences, where each participant experienced erosion (tear and wear) and crowdedness to some degree, and numerous also noticed littering. Noise in both quantitative and qualitative aspect was only experienced to minor degree. The experiences of the visitors differed based on how many times the visitor had been in the area (besides their personal perspectives and values). In general people saw less impacts in the social and physical aspects during their first visit.The eco-strategies framework assisted the analysis of different users and user groups perspectives on the landscape, the land-use of the landscape and conflicts between different types of users (passive use “admire and enjoy the landscape” to the other end of spectrum “factory” of activities). Moreover, carrying capacity was used as a support of the analysis in combining the visitor experience, physical landscape, and the social limits. Besides viewing the public right of access as necessity, stronger restrictions and management practices were viewed as beneficial if these would help the nature recover from the outdoor recreation impacts. Inclusion of visitors and as many stakeholders as possible in the planning process was seen as beneficial. At the end, the results are reflected on in regard to future necessities planned by Länsstyrelsen Jämtlands län (2018). / <p>2022-01-22</p>

Museums play a vital role in society as institutions that bear the cultural and historical heritage of the public. In the last decade, visitors' digital habits have steadily been increasing as well as the digital technologies available for museums to use in their exhibitions. Some museums have the desire to accommodate the changes in the visitors' behaviours and embrace new technologies, but they often do not know how to do this sustainably. Previous research indicates that there is a need for guidelines and standards in building digital strategies for museums, this research investigates this issue within Swedish art museums. The purpose of this study is to give a background on digital technology strategies employed by art museums in Sweden. Exploring how the relationship between current strategies and previous research on visitor experience, could benefit the management of art museums and their visitors. A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was carried out with seven art museums across Sweden about their use of digital technologies and their strategies. The data was then thematically analysed, resulting in five common themes: (1) Prolonged digital development, (2) Digital technology should be purposefully and logically used, (3) Adapting to digital habits as an institution for public access, (4) Museums have limited knowledge of the potential benefits of digital technologies and (5) Museums are trying to meet the visitors' needs and expectations. The research findings show that museums are struggling with the adoption of digital technologies, despite wanting to meet the expectations of visitors, having budget issues, lack of in-house expertise and having difficulties with the complexity of technology. The  data also suggests that Swedish museums need guidance for developing their digital strategies, though the extent of that differs from museum to museum. Museums need to be informed of the possibilities of digital technologies in enhancing visitor experience. Moreover, how digital technology can be used in their specific organisation. Further research can build upon the findings of this study to create guidelines for museums and explore how the research questions can be applied to other countries.

With the increasing popularity of using Augmented Reality (AR) as a new medium in museums, this thesis presented an empirical study to examine the visitors’ sense of presence in two types of AR experiences in museums, "informative" and "narrative". We developed two prototypes, both of which focused on delivering complementary information about a famous head statue at Medelhavsmuseet (the Mediterranean Museum of Stockholm). The "narrative" prototype brought the statue to life with a reconstructive appearance and a voice and allowed it to tell visitors its stories from a first-person perspective. On the other hand, the "informative" prototype presented objective facts by points from a third-person perspective. A series of user studies with 12 participants were conducted at Medelhavsmuseet where the participants reported their sense of presence in two respective conditions through a post-experiment questionnaire together with a semi-structured interview. The results suggested that participants barely experienced presence in the "informative" con- dition, while they experienced presence to a "moderately sufficient" degree in the "narrative" condition. This document reports the impacts of "narrative" on specific aspects of presence. Overall, narrative increased the participants’ sense of presence and the heightened presence had positive impacts on their attitudes towards the experience. However, this study also presented the negative effects (e.g., preference, learning effectiveness) that might be caused by a high sense of presence. This report discusses the observed relationships of other factors with the presence (e.g., age). Finally, directions for future studies were pointed out with respect to the improvements and extensions of the current work. / Med den ökande populariteten av att använda Augmented Reality (AR) som ett nytt medium på museum presenterar denna masteruppsats en empirisk studie som undersöker besökarens upplevelse av närvaro genom två typer av AR-upplevelser; en informativ och en berättande. Två prototyper utvecklades som båda fokuserade på att leverera kompletterande information om en känd staty på Medelhavsmuseeti Stockholm. Den berättande prototypen gav statyn liv genom ett rekonstrueratutseende samt en röst, vilket möjliggjorde att den kunde berätta statyns historier för besökaren ur ett jag-perspektiv. Den informativa prototypen presenterade objektiva fakta ur ett tredjepersonsperspektiv. En serie användartester utfördes med 12 deltagare på Medelhavsmuseet. Deltagarna rapporterade om deras upplevelse av närvaro i de två distinkta fallen genom ett formulär och en semistrukturerad intervju. Resultaten tydde på att deltagarna knappt upplevde någon närvaro i det informativa fallet, medan de upplevde en tillräcklig nivå av närvaro i det berättande fallet. Studien undersökte även berättandets påverkan på specifika aspekter av närvaro. Sammantaget ökade berättelsen deltagarens upplevelse av närvaro och den förhöjda upplevelsen av närvaro hade en positiv inverkan på deras attityd gentemot helhetsupplevelsen. Studien presenterade dock även negativa effekter (t.ex. inställning och lärningseffektivitet) som kan ha orsakats av den förhöjda upplevelsen av närvaro. Rapporten diskuterar även observerade förhållanden mellan olika faktorer kring närvaro (t.ex. ålder). Slutligen föreslås riktningar för framtida studier för förbättringar och breddningar inom det aktuella projektet.

Archaeology is a field which has been impacted greatly by digital technology; the new technological instruments are developing both academic research and public mediation. Digital archaeology has been available at the museum for some time, but immersive technologies are recent introductions, which offer new experiences for museum visitors. Even though digital archaeology/virtual heritage have been studied for their technological virtues, the learning opportunities presented to the museum visitor has not yet been examined from a visitor’s perspective. In this dissertation, the visitor experience is the basis of analysis for determining how we can critically assess digital exhibitions using immersive technologies. This study examines if and how critical museology can be successfully applied to immersive digital displays; a detailed analysis of two case studies using VR (high immersion) and AR (low immersion) show that digital experiences are fully capable of communicating cultural content and that these multi-sensory technologies can successfully engage users in the creation of knowledge. The extent of sensory stimuli affecting the visitor is not accounted for in current critical museology, therefore the analysis of this study suggests a number of suggestions for future designs of digital displays using immersive technologies.

<p>Purpose of visit is one of the main determinants of destination choice. Assessing the fulfillment of travelers’ desires could thus gauge the tourism potential of a country from the perspective of travelers. The main reasons for traveling are relaxation, pleasure and entertainment, social interaction, opportunity to meet a romantic or sexual partner, educational opportunity, self-fulfillment, wish fulfillment, shopping, business, holiday, health, and transit. Meanwhile, academic research on satisfying the curiosity about a destination remains underdeveloped. The concept of curiosity is central to motivation and curiosity as a personality trait plays a significant role in the behavior of a traveler.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The goal of this dissertation was to examine the tourism potential of a destination from the point of view of travelers interested in exploring new horizons and perspectives to better fulfill their expectations and increase customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is three-fold: (1) conceptualize destination curiosity; (2) develop a scale for destination curiosity; (3) examine the impact of destination curiosity as a major driver of international travel. For the latter, a set of integral relationships across different measurement items associated with destination curiosity and the cultural identity dimension of place identity is instituted in an SEM model in which the dependent variable is international visit intention. </p> <p>For this purpose, this study coined the term destination curiosity (hereafter, DC), which was defined as the travel enthusiasm that is reflective of a curious behavior to explore and seek fulfillment in acquiring knowledge through the actual travel experience at the destination. Aligned with Berlyne’s definition of curiosity and exploratory behavior, who is the most influential contributor to the concept of exploratory behavior, the two main dimensions of curiosity continue to be perceptual curiosity, which is more emotionally driven, and epistemic curiosity, which is information seeking behavior and cognitively driven.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Having addressed both the affective and cognitive drivers of curiosity to conceptualize DC, sensation seeking, novelty experience, need for cognition, and perceptual curiosity were incorporated into the approach. DC was conceptualized according to Fine's clockspeed model (1998). Fine’s model is related to the rate of change and includes two dimensions: process control (integrality-modularity) and decision control (slow-fast clockspeed). By incorporating this model, both the complexity and diversity dimensions of DC were considered. Therefore, DC was conceptualized in a way that illustrates how the existing or potential competitive advantages of destinations can influence the destination choices of travelers when they travel to explore new horizons and perspectives. In this study Fine’s clockspeed model—as a supply chain model defined to be used by suppliers/organizations—is incorporated in conceptualizing destination curiosity, as personality trait of a traveler, with the lens of demand expectation. </p> <p><br></p> <p>As for developing a scale through a rigorous approach via higher-order factor modeling, a scale was developed to measure DC. Delphi method was used to purify the initial measurement items that were adopted from the perceptual curiosity scale (Collins, Litman, & Spielberger, 2004), the need for cognition scale (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982), the desire for novelty scale (Pearson, 1970), and the sensation seeking scale (Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, & Zoob, 1964) in the travel context. In addition, EFA and higher-order factor modeling were incorporated to develop a scale. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Finally, to ensure the predictive validity of the developed scale, another study was designed to examine the mediating effect of DC on the impact of the cultural identity (dimension of brand identity) of a country on international visit intention. Motion pictures, mega-events, or gastronomy arguably act as instigators; while established brand persistence, geopolitics, or the existence of stereotypes about a destination act as inhibitors when it comes to one’s willingness to travel to another country. Therefore, Turkey was chosen for the context and a scenario was defined that addressed all the mentioned elements. The cultural identity of a destination was considered a proper antecedent for examining the mediating effect of DC on international visit, as the desire to enjoy unique pleasant experiences is likely to be universal. Meanwhile, culture is undoubtedly a unique attribute of any destination, whether a destination affiliated with thousands of years of fame or a non-major tourist destination which has sustained its culture. The significant mediating effect of DC in that study shows its importance in destination marketing.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The DC is arguably critical for the improvement of relations between nations. The more people travel to explore new horizons and perspectives, the more they will understand each other. In the same vein, for travelers with a high level of DC, traveling is a means of nourishing their soul that can eventually improve the well-being of the global society.</p>

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This study focuses on the attitudes of museumgoers toward the exhibition of human remains in modern Swedish museums. More specifically, it deals with how their attitudes toward remains are shaped and informed by museums’ materiality and institutionalized authority, whether they think of remains as humans or objects, as well as how these dead bodies ultimately become culturally meaningful to us who are still alive. Through the use of ethnographic field methods including go-along interviews and participant observation, the behaviors and opinions of museumgoers are recorded. With the help of Emmanuel Levinas’ ethical phenomenology and Annemarie Mol’s theory of multiple ontology, the cultural background against which these attitudes have taken shape is examined. The study shows that museumgoers are generally positive toward the exhibition of human remains in museums—an attitude which is influenced by the history, scientific authority, and carefully designed materiality of the museum. Among the perceived benefits of exhibiting human remains, visitors cite the ability of the remains to arouse their curiosity and serve as links to the past, as well as provide material proof that validates the museum’s claims to knowledge. However, this positive attitude is dependent on whether the remains are treated and displayed with respect. This call to treat the dead respectfully can be seen as a universal reaction to the ”face-to-face encounter” as described by Emmanuel Levinas, but at the same time, museumgoers’ interpretation of respect is culturally contingent and heavily influenced by contemporary values such as individuality, scientific objectivity, and equality. Furthermore, the perceived need to treat remains respectfully is directly tied to the perceived humanity of the remains. This is in turn dependent on how close the remains are to us in terms of appearance and temporal distance. By focusing on museumgoers instead of professionals, and through using ethnographic fieldwork to note opinions and their cultural backgrounds, this study attempts to add a fresh perspective and new knowledge to what is currently one of the hottest debates in museology: whether remains even belong in museums. Further, by recognizing that no opinion is formed in a vacuum, the narrow question of displaying death can tell us something bigger about the norms and values of Sweden today.

This study uses a mixed methods approach to investigate how individuals perceive nature and engage with Texas state park (TSP) programs and resources while also identifying major barriers that visitors perceive/encounter when visiting TSPs. This study looks through the anthropological lens by using theoretical frameworks such as habitus, presentation of the social self, space and place, as well as communities of practice (CoP), to better understand the factors that influence the establishment and maintenance of an individual's relationship to nature and participation in related practices. This study illustrates how an individual's relationship to nature is influenced by experiences in early life that involve activities, landscape or bioregion, and social factors. Relationships with nature are strengthened through social support especially when CoPs are involved. By understanding park visitor experiences through motivations and limitations to participating in the outdoors, parks can expand engagement tactics, foster existing and create new CoP related to nature that aid in the introduction and adoption of outdoor learning and experiences creating lifelong stewards. The study offers recommendations on how TSPs can address visitor barriers and increase nature affinity with the use of targeted outreach and engagement methods through agency interpretive resources and programs with the goal of expanding the public's relationship with nature.