Towards a Wearer-Centred Framework for Animal Biotelemetry

The emerging discipline of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) aims to understand the relation between animals and technology in naturalistic settings, to design technology that can support animals in different contexts and to develop user-centred research methods and frameworks that enable animals to take part in the design process as legitimate contributors [11]. Given existing interspecies differences and communication barriers, measuring the behaviour of animals involved in ACI research can be instrumental to achieving any or all of these aims, as a way of gauging the animals’ patterns, needs and preferences. Indeed, measuring behaviour is a common practice among ACI researchers, who take various approaches to this task [5,15,17,24]. In this respect, the use of biotelemetry devices such as VHF tags and GPS trackers, or bio-logging and environmental sensors has a significant potential [22]. At the same time, biotelemetry has been used for many years in many areas of biological research. Biotelemetry is used to improve the quality of physiological and behavioural data collected from animals and in an attempt to reduce researchers’ intrusion in the animals’ habitat [2]. However, there is evidence that carrying biotelemetry tags may influence the bearer’s physiology and behaviour [20]. Such impacts interfere with the validity of recorded data [14] and the welfare of individual animal wearers [1,3,13]. Neither of these effects are compatible with the animal-centred perspective advocated by ACI, on both scientific and ethical grounds. Our analysis of current body-attached device design and biotelemetry-enabled studies points to a general lack of wearer-centred perspective. To address these issues, we have developed a framework to inform the design of wearer-centred biotelemetry interventions, in order to support the implementation of animal-centred research methodologies and design solutions in ACI and other disciplines

Understanding the social practice of EV workplace charging

Owning or leasing an electric vehicle (EV) is becoming more common in developed countries. While home charging is the most common choice, workplace charging and its provision by employers has become an important option. For many, it is essential to cope with the limited range of most EVs. Home and work are the two places where vehicles are parked for long periods and so are prime candidates as charging locations. However, workplace charging is often a limited resource. This paper reports on an empirical study of workplace charging at a UK public sector employer. It explores the use of workplace charging (WPC) via spatiotemporal analysis of employees and visitors' charging events over a 3-month period. It provides insights into weekly patterns and daily mechanisms of using shared facilities in a WPC environment. We identify insights that are relevant in the design of workplace-charging infrastructure, identify the design needs, emerging requirements, and highlight potential areas for sociotechnical-interventions

Wearer-Centered Design for Animal Biotelemetry: Implementation and Wearability Test of a Prototype

In this paper we present an approach to designing wearer-centered biotelemetry for non-human (and human) animal wearers. Drawing from fundamental values and principles of user-centered design, we describe a wearer-centered framework to heuristically establish design requirements, which was used during a series of workshops to perform a requirements analysis for a cat-tracking device. The resulting requirements informed a feline-centered prototype whose wearability was evaluated with cat wearers. Compared to the wearability of previously tested off-the-shelf devices, our findings show an improvement and suggest that our framework-based approach can help design teams with a range of skills to systematically design for wearability

Designing for Wearability in Animal Biotelemetry

This research presents a preliminary study conducted on a cat fitted with biotelemetry devices. The aim was to explore the feline’s wearability experience of bearing off-the-shelf products. The cat’s reactions to the device presence were recorded and findings suggest the need for a design approach centred on the wearer. A wearer-centred framework to inform the design of biotelemetry interventions for animals is then propose

Energy Demand Shifting in Residential Households: The Interdependence between Social Practices and Technology Design

Emerging energy technologies, such as smart meters and solar photovoltaic systems (solar PV), are changing our relationship to energy. There is increasing evidence that households with solar PV on their roof tend naturally to shift their energy consumption in time to match their local generation, but what do people actually do to achieve this and how ICT can support them to optimize their consumption? In this paper we present a year-long user study to understand social practices around laundry routines and local energy generation. We highlight four challenges for the next generation of home energy management systems

Understanding and Supporting Emerging Domestic Energy Practices

The current transformation of the domestic energy landscape, including local generation, new consumption and storage, requires rethinking our research approach. This paper reports experiences from two case studies with their implications for future HCI research in the home

Personal Informatics for Non-Geeks: Lessons Learned from Ordinary People

We have been studying how ordinary people use personal informatics technologies for several years. In this paper we briefly describe our early studies, which influenced our design decisions in a recent pilot study that included junior doctors in a UK hospital. We discuss a number of failures in compliance and data collection as well as lessons learned

A Card-based Ideation Toolkit to Generate Designs for Tangible Privacy Management Tools

Effective privacy protection in dynamic UbiComp environments requires users to be able to manage their privacy seamlessly across diverse contexts. To support this, designers need to go beyond GUI-based interactions and utilise tangible and embodied interactions. To help designers in such endeavours, we present the TTP toolkit: a card-based ideation kit to generate designs for tangible privacy management tools. The toolkit translates the Privacy Care framework for tangible-supported privacy management into a game intended to support designers in developing TUI privacy management tools. We demonstrate use of our toolkit through 10 online participatory workshops with 22 interaction designers. Our results demonstrate that the toolkit was effective in supporting the participants to creatively and collaboratively generate meaningful conceptual designs of tangible tools for privacy management

Keeping ubiquitous computing to yourself: a practical model for user control of privacy

As with all the major advances in information and communication technology, ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) introduces new risks to individual privacy. Our analysis of privacy protection in ubicomp has identified four layers through which users must navigate: the regulatory regime they are currently in, the type of ubicomp service required, the type of data being disclosed, and their personal privacy policy. We illustrate and compare the protection afforded by regulation and by some major models for user control of privacy. We identify the shortcomings of each and propose a model which allows user control of privacy levels in a ubicomp environment. Our model balances the user's privacy preferences against the applicable privacy regulations and incorporates five types of user controlled 'noise' to protect location privacy by introducing ambiguities. We also incorporate an economics-based approach to assist users in balancing the trade-offs between giving up privacy and receiving ubicomp services. We conclude with a scenario and heuristic evaluation which suggests that regulation can have both positive and negative influences on privacy interfaces in ubicomp and that social translucence is an important heuristic for ubicomp privacy interface functionality