The first field trip during the Masters program consisted of observation participation research in Amsterdam. For those of you who wonder what this type of research means, it is actually in the name itself: the purpose is to find out the feelings of tourists by at one hand observing them and on the other hand participating in tourist activities.
With a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other hand I started writing down every movement of the tourists. Key factors were for example the photographing, which was a very popular activity at the 'I Amsterdam'-sign (see the picture below). Also the amount of selfie sticks triggered my attention. It seemed that people were more busy with framing themselves at the destination rather than experiencing it. However, many may argue that photographing Ćs in fact part of the travel experience.
Whoever is right, I don't know. But also I got swept away by the photographing culture and felt the need to 'participate' in the snapshot movement. After this, I immediately posted the picture on Instagram. You may wonder why. Well as a matter of fact that will be the second part of my research, as I will be investigating the relationship between sharing tourist experiences on social media and tourist' positive emotions. So stay tuned!
The I Amsterdam sign My Instagram picture
