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Bugs and Society II: Testing Two Communication Strategies for Public Engagement in the Azores

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Biodiversity and Education for Sustainable Development

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

Two initiatives to raise biodiversity awareness towards Azorean endemic species, an outdoor exhibition Açorianos há milhões de anos (Azoreans for millions of years) and a web contest to name insects Chama-lhe Nomes! (Pick a Name!), are presented in this chapter. Both communicational strategies targeted non-traditional audiences, relied on the Portuguese and Azorean cultural identity and on anthropic verisimilitude of situations involving insects. The context, principles, assumptions and multidisciplinary approach involved in the development of the public awareness activities were presented in detail in chapter “Bugs and Society I: Raising Awareness About Endemic Biodiversity”. Apart from having symbolically occupied the urban public domain, the outdoor exhibition triggered positive reactions in more than three-quarters of the observers, prompting them to seek more information about the insects, to want to see them alive, to photograph them, etc. On the other hand, the web contest attributed common names to 12 endemic species of insects and motivated over one hundred people to carefully consider their photos and descriptions, engaging in sheer naturalistic pleasure. Less favourable were the post-observation recognition indicators of urban exposure, since only less than one-third of the interviewees correctly identified the insect’ group represented on the banner or could place the origin of the animal. Nevertheless, the means assigned to the evaluation of the intervention were not enough to undertake a full assessment of the impacts produced in the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of viewers and users. Still, the resonance in the media was considerable, in terms of the number of news stories and the diversity of vehicles and audiences reached at regional (outdoor exhibition) and national levels (web contest). Communication devices like the ones presented are expected to raise biodiversity awareness and empower people regarding its preservation in the Azores. Moreover, the critical analysis of these initiatives is expected to provide guidelines that maximise the transferability of communication strategies to other social settings.

Isabel R. Amorim and Ana Moura Arroz—contributed equally to this work.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Science Centre of Angra do Heroísmo—CCAH—http://ccah-oaa.blogspot.pt

  2. 2.

    Campus alive—Há Vida no Campus—http://havidanocampus.blogspot.pt

  3. 3.

    CCAH—http://ccah-oaa.blogspot.pt

  4. 4.

    SPEN—https://www.facebook.com/sociedadeportuguesadeentomologia/

  5. 5.

    Mundo na Escola—https://www.facebook.com/MundoNaEscola/

  6. 6.

    http://treefoundation.org/2013/10/13/name-a-species-save-a-forest-new-tardigrade-species/

  7. 7.

    http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Species_named_after_Tolkien’s_works

  8. 8.

    The Desired—Portuguese people have mythically longed for this King, who disappeared in the battle of Alcácer Quibir (1578), to end national crises.

  9. 9.

    Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949.

  10. 10.

    In 2015, he was awarded his fourth Golden Boot as Europe’s leading football goal scorer.

  11. 11.

    December 10th 2015.

  12. 12.

    http://life-priolo.spea.pt/en/

  13. 13.

    What can the Macaronesian islands teach us about speciation? Acase study of Tarphius beetles and Hipparchia butterflies. FCT-PTDC/BIA-BEC-104571/2008.

  14. 14.

    https://www.facebook.com/sos.termitas; http://sostermitas.angra.uac.pt

  15. 15.

    http://www.azores.gov.pt/gra/dram-soscagarro

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank several persons and institutions without which this work would not have been possible. FUNDING: Project PTDC/BIA-BEC/104571/2008 (FCT, Portugal), Project ATLANTISMAR—M2.1.2/I/027/2011 (DRCT, Azores), IRA was funded by Portuguese National Funds MCTES/FCT Portugal fellowship SFRH/BPD/102804/2014; PARTNERS: University of the Azores (UAç), Os Montanheiros, Amigos dos Açores (AA), Sociedade Portuguesa de Entomologia (SPEN), Ordem dos Biólogos (OB), Museu Carlos Machado (MCM), Expo-Lab Lagoa - Açores, Câmara Municipal de Angra do Heroísmo (CCAH), Associação Regional de Turismo (ART), Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e do Mar (SRAM), Ecoteca da Terceira and the owners of private buildings and managers of public institutions that made the outdoor exhibition possible; PHOTOGRAPHERS: J. Torrent (JT), E. Mendonça (EM), PAV Borges (PAVB), Axel Hausmann (AH) and M Gascoigne-Pees (MGP); PARTICIPANTS and COLLEAGUES: all the participants in pilot-studies, surveys and interviews, people involved in logistics and colleagues from the Azorean Biodiversity Group, especially C. Gaspar, for fruitful discussions and general help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, cE3c—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, 9700-042, Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

    Isabel R. Amorim, Paulo A. V. Borges & Rosalina Gabriel

  2. Departamento de Ciências da Educação, cE3c—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, 9700-042, Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

    Ana Moura Arroz & Rita São Marcos

Authors
  1. Isabel R. Amorim
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  2. Ana Moura Arroz
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  3. Rita São Marcos
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  4. Paulo A. V. Borges
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  5. Rosalina Gabriel
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Isabel R. Amorim or Ana Moura Arroz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Paula Castro

  2. Universidade Aberta, Porto, Portugal

    Ulisses M. Azeiteiro

  3. Universidade Aberta, Lisboa, Portugal

    Paula Bacelar-Nicolau

  4. Metropolitan University, HAW Hamburg and Manchester, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  5. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

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Amorim, I.R., Arroz, A.M., São Marcos, R., Borges, P.A.V., Gabriel, R. (2016). Bugs and Society II: Testing Two Communication Strategies for Public Engagement in the Azores. In: Castro, P., Azeiteiro, U., Bacelar-Nicolau, P., Leal Filho, W., Azul, A. (eds) Biodiversity and Education for Sustainable Development . World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32318-3_9

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