Provoking Descriptions of Coastal Issues through Digital Traces, Visual Methods, and Collective Problematization

This paper examines how data-intensive coastal observatories can extend beyond sea monitoring, building on the experience developed in the FUTURE-OBS project. First, we outline how remote sensing, reporting applications, and social media data increasingly shape the definition of “coastal problems.” This often centralizes diagnostic authority, distancing it from those who live and work along the shore. Then, we propose an alternative approach that leverages digital traces from social media as prompts for collective problem descriptions. By employing a design protocol that includes social media video montages, notebooks, and collaborative mapping, we organized workshops in Rochefort, Marseille, and Dunkirk. In these workshops, fishers, scientists, activists, and park staff collaborated as co-inquirers. They described their practices, questioned institutional responsibilities, and created shared narratives about coastal challenges. The devised visual and design methodology aims to transform data gathered from social media into valuable resources for localized inquiry, enhancing both environmental science and technology studies concerned with data-driven governance.