Are professionals better at assessing the evidential strength of different types of forensic conclusions compared to students? In an online questionnaire 96 crime investigation and law students, and 269 crime investigation and legal professionals assessed three fingerprint examination reports. All reports were similar, except for the conclusion part which was stated in a categorical (CAT), verbal likelihood ratio (VLR) or numerical likelihood ratio (NLR) conclusion with high or low evidential strength. The results showed no significant difference between the groups of students and professionals in their assessment of the conclusions. They all overestimated the strength of the strong CAT conclusion compared to the other conclusion types and underestimated the strength of the weak CAT conclusion. Their background (legal vs. crime investigation) did have a significant effect on their understanding. Whereas the legal professionals performed better compared to the crime investigators, the legal students performed worse compared to crime investigation students.
The concept of immersion has been widely used for the design and evaluation of user experiences. Augmented, virtual and mixed-reality environments have further sparked the discussion of immersive user experiences and underlying requirements. However, a clear definition and agreement on design criteria of immersive experiences remains debated, creating challenges to advancing our understanding of immersive experiences and how these can be designed. Based on a multidisciplinary Delphi approach, this study provides a uniform definition of immersive experiences and identifies key criteria for the design and staging thereof. Thematic analysis revealed five key themes – transition into/out of the environment, in-experience user control, environment design, user context relatedness, and user openness and motivation, that emphasise the coherency in the user-environment interaction in the immersive experience. The study proposes an immersive experience framework as a guideline for industry practitioners, outlining key design criteria for four distinct facilitators of immersive experiences–systems, spatial, empathic/social, and narrative/sequential immersion. Further research is proposed using the immersive experience framework to investigate the hierarchy of user senses to optimise experiences that blend physical and digital environments and to study triggered, desired and undesired effects on user attitude and behaviour.
This research concerning the experience and future of zoos was carried out from 2011-2012 and takes regional ideas concerning Zoo Emmen as well as global visions into account. The research focuses partly on Zoo Emmen, its present attractions and visitors while also comparing and contrasting visions on the future in relationship to other international zoos in the world. In this way, remarkable experiences and ideas will be identified and in the light of them, it can serve as inspiration for stakeholders of zoos at large. The main research subject is a look at the future zoos in view of: The Zoo Experience – an international experience benchmark; The Zoo of the Future – a Scenario Planning approach towards the future; The virtual zoo - zoo’s in the internet domain.
Former military fortifications are often repurposed for tourism and recreation. While some of over 100 Dutch forts are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage sites, a substantial number are currently underdeveloped, putting their cultural and natural heritage at risk. Developing these forts in a conscious and collaborative way promises to not only preserve their heritage value, but also facilitate enjoyable and healthy experiences for visitors. Moreover, under-developed forts provide an opportunity to solve another pressing challenge, namely overtourism. Visitor pressure at tourist attractions has led the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions to call for spreading visitors to lesser-known areas. Less-developed forts are among the most promising of these. Development initiatives depend on a transition from isolation to cooperation across sites. However, for cooperation to be effective, agencies managing these forts have indicated an urgent need for data on visitor characteristics and experiences. The purpose of the present project is to measure and analyze visitor demographics, motivations, and experiences at less-developed forts, and to develop a toolkit to inspire, support, and monitor development of these forts for natural and cultural heritage preservation and improved visitor experience. This proposal builds on the previous project, “Experiencing Nature” which utilized Breda Experience Lab technologies to measure visitor experiences at Fort de Roovere. We now aim to broaden this proven approach to a broader variety of forts, and to translate visitor data into actionable advice. The consortium includes a changemaking network of the Alliantie Zuiderwaterlinie (NL), Regionale Landschappen (VL), and Agentschap Natuur en Bos (VL). This Dutch-Flemish network aims to connect formerly isolated forts to one another, and represents a broad diversity of fortified sites, each with unique challenges. The project will thus facilitate interregional collaboration, especially toward coming Interreg EU proposals, and inform interregional marketing campaigns and planning for management and conservation.
To what extent does receiving information about either popular attractions or less-visited at-tractions, presented as “highlights” of the city, influence the movement of tourists to popular or less-visited attractions, and how does this differ by information channel through which the information is presented? To what extent does receiving information about either popular attractions or less-visited at-tractions, presented as “highlights” of the city, influence tourists’ experience, including their evaluations of the destination, their visit as a whole, and the specific information channel they received, and how does this differ by information channel through which the information is presented? What implementation models and financing mechanisms are available for DMO’s to spread tourists using the information channels tested, contingent on their effectiveness as measured by the previous experiment?Societal issueDestination Management Organisations (DMOs) are looking for interventions that effectively discourage tourists from visiting crowded hotspots and entice them to visit less crowded locations. Interventions like changing infrastructure, charging entrance fees and re-serving site access are either too expensive, too invasive or politically controversial. It is much easier to intervene on tourists' behaviour by informing them about alternatives.Collaborative partnersNHL Stenden, Travel with Zoey, Amsterdam and Partners, Wonderful Copenhagen, Mobidot.
Tourism has been a growing industry in Europe in the last decades till 2020. Numerous cities were suffering from too many visitors what resulted in problems regarding support (of inhabitants) and carrying capacity of the destination. Then COVID-19 changed the world and tourism collapsed. Now, two years after the pandemic, cities and regions need to develop new strategies to rebuild tourism. Cities where there is overtourism are facing an extra challenge: to find a good balance between visitors, communities and environment. Six cities and regions (Amsterdam (NL), Krakow (PL), Tallinn (EST), Andalucía/Sevilla (ES), Rome (IT) and Brasov (RO)) that (regularly) experience over-tourism have joined forces how to develop new policy strategies to better distribute tourism in time and space. The objective of the project is to improve the performance of the local-regional strategies and policies by strengthening their contribution to find balance in tourism with a focus on spreading tourism over a wider area, making use of the opportunities offered by the city and region. The project aims to strengthen the positive effects of tourism and to reduce the negative effects of tourism. Collaborative partnersAmsterdam Municipality, Metropolitan City of Rome, Brasov Metropolitan Agency for Sustainable Development, Ministry of Tourism Regeneration Justice and Local Administration Regional Government of Andalucía, Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Municipality of Krakow.
