The Emerging Nature of Participation in Multispecies Interaction Design

Interactive technology has become integral part of daily life for both humans and animals, with animals often interacting with technologized environments on behalf of humans. For some, animals' participation in the design process is essential to design technology that can adequately support their activities. For others, animals' inability to understand and control design activities inevitably stands in the way of multispecies participatory practices. Here, we consider the essential elements of participation within interspecies interactions and illustrate its emergence, in spite of contextual constraints and asymmetries. To move beyond anthropomorphic notions of participation, and consequent anthropocentric practices, we propose a broader participatory model based on indexical semiosis, volition and choice; and we highlight dimensions that could define inclusive participatory practices more resilient to the diversity of understandings and goals among part-taking agents, and better able to account for the contribution of diverse, multispecies agents in interaction design and beyond

Designing temporal ecologies: reframing multispecies temporalities through design

In Western industrialised societies, the times of humans and of other species are often considered as belonging to different realms. While human life is regarded as progressive and accelerated, other species are seen as following cyclical, slow changing timescales. These narratives neglect the multiple interconnections between human and other-than-human times and contribute to increasing temporal mismatches across species, with consequences for environmental and biodiversity loss. In this paper, we use design examples generated through an interdisciplinary workshop to discuss opportunities for design to expand notions of time in more-than-human ecologies. Drawing from the Temporal Design framework and the notion of Designing for Temporal Cohabitation, we discuss how these examples incorporate a call for designers to a) draw attention to multiple ways human and other-than-human temporalities are intrinsically connected, b) expose temporal power asymmetries across ecologies, and c) design interventions that foster care-full ways of reducing impact and promoting temporal reattunements.<br/

Microbial revolt:Redefining biolab tools and practices for more-than-human care ecologies

Recent work in HCI has called for deeper ethical considerations when engaging with more-than-human organisms in design. In this paper, we introduce Microbial Revolt, a provocative method to support reflection on the perspectives of organisms involved in HCI and design practice. By asking participants to consider the reality of a chosen organism in feral and lab environments and to redesign lab tools in order to account for their “non-participation”, we identified the manifestation of key epistemic differences between approaches to care and ecologies in typical design and biology research - as well as the potential for design and HCI to creatively redefine power dynamics in the lab. Further interviews revealed specific challenges and opportunities that designers and HCI researchers face in adapting practices to lab standards, and lab equipment to their practices, calling for a redefinition of tools, spaces and guidance to accommodate phenomenological perspectives and multiple modes of interaction with living organisms

P for Politics D for Dialogue: Reflections on Participatory Design with Children and Animals

Participatory Design strives to open up the decision-making process and empower all those who may be affected by design. This is opposed to Design as a non-participatory process, in which the power to make decisions is vested in the hands of one group to the possible detriment of others. In this paper we interrogate the nature, possibilities and limitations of Participatory Design through the perspective of Child Computer Interaction (CCI) and Animal Computer Interaction (ACI). Due to the cognitive and communication characteristics, and to the social and legal status of their participants, researchers in these communities have to contend with and challenge existing notions of participation and design. Thus, their theories and practices provide a lens through which the nature and goals of Participatory Design can be examined with a view to facilitating the development of more inclusive participatory models and practices

Designing an interactive olfactory robot for and with dogs.

This thesis follows the development of Scent Bot, a smell-based enrichment and training device ecosystem for dogs. The device is designed for dogs to use independently. The sponsor of the project, Nose Academy Oy, gave the design brief. Through the choices made while developing the device, a dog-centric design approach emerges, which is discussed at length. Challenges such as those of linguistics and cognition that arise when designing for another species are mitigated through an iterative, multispecies participatory design process. In addition to differences in comprehension, differences in physiology, and ways of experiencing the world are key elements taken into consideration while designing. The interactions of the dog with the device are based on methods coming from ethology and animal training. The interactions were then tested with dogs and revised based on the test results in an iterative looping manner. The design method used in this thesis forwards the conversation around the involvement of animals in the design process while designing for animal-computer interactions. Such design methods can also be used to understand what participatory design can mean where user groups cannot give direct verbal feedback to the designers such as young children and others who are differently abled. The product finds use both in research related to canine olfaction and commercial applications. If launched now, Scent Bot will be the first commercially available automated olfaction-based interactive enrichment device for dogs in the world

Animal-Computer Interaction: Auf den Weg zum technologisch vermittelten Multispeziesismus [Animal-Computer Interaction: towards Technologically Mediated Multispeciesity]

Seit Anbeginn der Menschheit hat Technologie als Vermittlerin in einer Vielzahl von anthropozentrischen Beziehungen mit anderen Tieren fungiert. Diese Beziehungen haben menschlichen Interessen systematisch zum Vorteil gereicht und waren das Fundament menschlicher Zivilisationen. Angefangen von den primitivsten Jagdgerätschaften bis zu den höchst entwickelten Landmaschinen und Überwachungseinrichtungen haben Technik und Technologie Menschen in die Lage versetzt, andere Tiere zunehmend zu beherrschen, und haben unsere Wahrnehmung dieser Tiere und unsere Interaktion mit ihnen tiefgreifend beeinflusst. Dies gilt besonders für die computergestützte interaktive Technologie, die innerhalb weniger Jahrzehnte jeden Aspekt menschlicher Aktivität transformiert und sich rasch als fester Bestandteil des Alltags der Menschen etabliert hat. Computersysteme sind verwoben in das Geflecht unserer Städte, Arbeitsplätze, Häuser, Fahrzeuge und sogar unserer Körper. Sie machen es möglich, dass wir uns in bisher ungekannter Weise zu unserer Umwelt, zueinander und zu uns selbst in Beziehung setzen. Begleitend dazu hat die Einbindung von Tieren in menschliche Aktivitäten auch Tiere in wachsendem Maß dem Einfluss unserer Technik und Technologie ausgesetzt und von ihnen verlangt, mit dieser zu interagieren. Seit Anbeginn der Menschheit hat Technologie als Vermittlerin in einer Vielzahl von anthropozentrischen Beziehungen mit anderen Tieren fungiert. Diese Beziehungen haben menschlichen Interessen systematisch zum Vorteil gereicht und waren das Fundament menschlicher Zivilisationen. Angefangen von den primitivsten Jagdgerätschaften bis zu den höchst entwickelten Landmaschinen und Überwachungseinrichtungen haben Technik und Technologie Menschen in die Lage versetzt, andere Tiere zunehmend zu beherrschen, und haben unsere Wahrnehmung dieser Tiere und unsere Interaktion mit ihnen tiefgreifend beeinflusst. Dies gilt besonders für die computergestützte interaktive Technologie, die innerhalb weniger Jahrzehnte jeden Aspekt menschlicher Aktivität transformiert und sich rasch als fester Bestandteil des Alltags der Menschen etabliert hat. Computersysteme sind verwoben in das Geflecht unserer Städte, Arbeitsplätze, Häuser, Fahrzeuge und sogar unserer Körper. Sie machen es möglich, dass wir uns in bisher ungekannter Weise zu unserer Umwelt, zueinander und zu uns selbst in Beziehung setzen. Begleitend dazu hat die Einbindung von Tieren in menschliche Aktivitäten auch Tiere in wachsendem Maß dem Einfluss unserer Technik und Technologie ausgesetzt und von ihnen verlangt, mit dieser zu interagieren. This paper introduces the field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) and its fundamental aims: understanding the interaction between animals and technologies; designing animal-centred technology that improves animals’ welfare, supports their activities and fosters positive intra- and inter-species relations; and developing animal-centred methods that enable animals to participate in the design process. Through examples of work conducted in different areas within the field, the paper then articulates the reasons why such aims should be pursued, particularly at this historical time, demonstrating the importance of ACI as a discipline and as a worldview for animals, humans and the ecosystems we all share. Ultimately, the author argues, it might be in our species’ best interest to give animals their fair share of representation and control through animal-centred design processes and outcomes, and to invite them to co-design technologically mediated environments and futures with us, so that we could all benefit from the collective wisdom and strength of multispeciesity

Hitting the triple bottom line: widening the HCI approach to sustainability

Sustainable Development (SD) in its dimensions – environment, economy, and society – is a growing area of concern within the HCI community. This paper advances a systematic literature review on sustainability across the Sustainable Human-Computer Interaction (SHCI) body of work. The papers were classified according to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework to understand how the pillars of SD play into the HCI discourse on sustainability. The economic angle was identified as a gap in SHCI literature. To meet the TBL of SD, however, a balance needs to be sought across all ‘lines’. In this paper, we propose that HCI can advance the discussion and the understanding of the economic concepts around sustainability through taking a sociology perspective on the economic angle of the TBL. We sustain this claim by discussing economic concepts and the role that digital can play in redefining the established foundations of our economic system

A Biosemiotics Perspective on Dogs’ Interaction with Interfaces: an Analytical and Design Framework

Understanding how animals might make sense of the interfaces they interact with is important to inform the design of animal-centered interactions. In this regard, biosemiotics provides a useful lens through which to examine animals’ interactions with interfaces and the sensemaking mechanisms that might underpin such interactions. This paper leverages Uexküll’s Umwelt theory, Peirce’s logic of sign relations and Gibson’s theory of affordances to analyze examples of dogs’ interactions with interfaces, particularly the role of the semiotic mechanisms of indexicality and isomorphism. Based on these analyses, the paper derives design implications, and proposes a semiotic framework to support the analysis and design of canine-centered interactions. The framework could be subsequently extended to support the analysis and design of interactive systems for other species

Politicising Animal-Computer Interaction: an Approach to Political Engagement with Animal-Centred Design

While ACI researchers aspire to design animal-centred technology, they must operate within socio-economic systems that are not necessarily animal-centred. This creates a tension between researchers’ endeavour to address the immediate needs of animals in specific situations through technological interventions, on the one hand, and these interventions’ wider implications and consequences for the situation and life of various animal stakeholders beyond specific ACI projects, on the other hand. In this paper, we focus on the political nature of ACI, drawing from literature on political interaction design, which argues that designers should work towards social justice. Drawing from political philosophies, we then explore how extending the notion of social justice to animals might help define a political notion of animal centredness in ACI. Finally, through the lens of this notion of animal centredness, we consider the relevance of previously proposed strategies for political interaction design and propose an approach that could support ACI researchers’ political engagement in animal-centred design

Prototyping with Monkeys: Uncovering What Buttons for Monkeys Look Like

Although much work has focused on designing touch interfaces for primates, little is known about how physical computer buttons for monkeys would look. Here, we employ the rapid prototyping method commonly used in human–computer interaction to design tangible buttons for monkeys allowing them to interact with computer enrichment. Our findings reflect on the process of altering rapid prototyping from humans to animals and how computer buttons for monkeys might look. On this basis, we make suggestions for monkey buttons, highlighting colour and pull/swing over push/touch interactions. We also reflect on lessons learned from transferring prototyping across species, such as the need to iterate on a few variables and for initial prototypes to be varied, and speculate on how to balance the designer (human) and user (animals) needs. More broadly, this paper builds upon HCI prototyping techniques for unconventional users, creating a method for rapid iterative prototyping with animals