In the frame of dissemination activities for a still-in-progress work
on the Sites of Community Importance (see EU Directive 92/43) of Basilicata
(a region of Southern Italy), an interactive tool (IIT) for the identification of
vascular plants growing there has been illustrated to two groups of people,
following two different approaches: one focused on textual parts and on
scientific accuracy, the other on images and on the visual comparison
of different objects. The reactions were measured in terms of number of
accesses to the IIT, elapsed time from the demonstration to the first individual
access, and number of queries in the first week after the IIT was distributed.
The most clicked options were recorded as well. People who followed the
emotional/visual approach proved to be significantly more interested in the
IIT than those who followed the descriptive/scientific approach. It seems that
to raise the interest of non-experts to the identification of plant species and,
more in general, to the study of biodiversity, words should be kept at minimum,
while the quality of the images and their “appeal” are essential.
