skip to main content
research-article
Open Access

Forming the Dog Internet: Prototyping a Dog-to-Human Video Call Device

Published:05 November 2021Publication History
Skip Abstract Section

Abstract

Over the past decade, many systems have been developed for humans to remotely connect to their pets at home. Yet little attention has been paid to how animals can control such systems and what the implications are of animals using internet systems. This paper explores the creation of a video call device to allow a dog to remotely call their human, giving the animal control and agency over technology in their home. After building and prototyping a novel interaction method over several weeks and iterations, we test our system with a dog and a human. Analysing our experience and data, we reflect on power relations, how to quantify an animal's user experience and what interactive internet systems look like with animal users. This paper builds upon Human-Computer Interaction methods for unconventional users, uncovering key questions that advance the creation of animal-to-human interfaces and animal internet devices.

References

  1. Joelle Alcaidinho, Giancarlo Valentin, Gregory D. Abowd, and Melody Jackson. 2016. Training Collar-Sensed Gestures for Canine Communication. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI '16). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 17, 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/2995257.3012020Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. Mats Amundin. 2008. An echolocation visualization and interface system for dolphin research. In The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. ASA, Article 123. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2828213Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. Fredrik Aspling and Oskar Juhlin. 2017. Theorizing Animal-Computer Interaction as Machinations. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 98, C (Feb. 2017), 135--149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.05.005 Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., Vol. 5, No. ISS, Article 494. Publication date: November 2021. 494:18 Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, Roosa Piitulainen, & Andrés LuceroGoogle ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. Eric P.S. Baumer. 2015. Usees. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Seoul, Republic of Korea) (CHI '15). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 3295--3298. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702147Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  5. BBC. [n.d.]. BBC Households 'buy 3.2 million pets in lockdown'. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56362987. Accessed: 2020-06--14.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. BBC. [n.d.]. Guardian 'Concerns over pet welfare crisis due to high demand for "pandemic puppies". https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/26/concerns-over-pet-welfare-crisis-due-to-high-demandfor- pandemic-puppies. Accessed: 2020-09-09.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. Multispecies Salon: Becoming. [n.d.]. . Retrieved June 29, 2020 from http://www.multispecies-salon.org/becomings/Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  8. Ceara Byrne, Larry Freil, Thad Starner, and Melody Moore Jackson. 2017. A Method to Evaluate Haptic Interfaces for Working Dogs. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 98, C (Feb. 2017), 196--207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.04.004Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  9. Yoram Chisik and Clara Mancini. 2019. P for Politics D for Dialogue: Reflections on Participatory Design with Children and Animals. In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Haifa, Israel) (ACI'19). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 15, 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3371049. 3371061Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  10. Elizabeth Cox, Clara Mancini, and Luisa Ruge. 2020. Understanding Dogs' Engagement with Interactive Games: Interaction Style, Behaviour and Personality. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI'2020). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 4, 12 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3446002.3446122Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  11. DogTV. [n.d.]. . Retrieved June 29, 2020 from https://www.dogtv.com/Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  12. Larry Freil, Ceara Byrne, G. Valentin, Clint Zeagler, D. Roberts, Thad Starner, and Mellody Jackson. 2017. Canine- Centered Computing.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  13. Fiona French, Clara Mancini, and Helen Sharp. 2015. Designing Interactive Toys for Elephants. In Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (London, United Kingdom) (CHI PLAY '15). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 523--528. https://doi.org/10.1145/2793107.2810327Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  14. Fiona French, Clara Mancini, and Helen Sharp. 2020. More Than Human Aesthetics: Interactive Enrichment for Elephants. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Eindhoven, Netherlands) (DIS '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1661--1672. https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395445Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  15. Annika Geurtsen and Schaaf Lamers, Marcel J.M. 2015. DInteractive Digital Gameplay Can Lower Stress Hormone Levels in Home Alone Dogs - A Case for Animal Welfare Informatics. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Entertainment Computing. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978--3--319--24589--8_18Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  16. Stuart Gray, Fay Clark, Katy Burgess, Tom Metcalfe, Anja Kadijevic, Kirsten Cater, and Peter Bennett. 2018. Gorilla Game Lab: Exploring Modularity, Tangibility and Playful Engagement in Cognitive Enrichment Design. In Proceedingsof the Fifth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) (ACI '18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 6, 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3295598.3295604Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  17. Reinhard Gupfinger and Martin Kaltenbrunner. 2018. Animals Make Music: A Look at Non-Human Musical Expression. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 2, 3 (Sep 2018), 51. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti2030051Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  18. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas and Andrés Lucero. 2019. On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog... Unless You're Another Dog. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Glasgow, Scotland Uk) (CHI '19). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1--12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300347Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  19. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, Patricia Pons, Janet Read, and Javier Jaen. 2018. Seven Years after the Manifesto: Literature Review and Research Directions for Technologies in Animal Computer Interaction. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 2, 2 (Jun 2018), 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti2020030Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  20. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas and J.C. Read. 2015. Doggy Ladder of Participation.. In British Human Computer Interaction (BHCI). Workshop on Animal-Computer Interaction. Association for Computing Machinery.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  21. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas and Janet C. Read. 2014. Who Is Really In The Center Of Dog Computer Design?. In Proceedings of the 2014 Workshops on Advances in Computer Entertainment Conference (Funchal, Portugal) (ACE '14 Workshops). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 2, 5 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/2693787.2693793Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  22. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas and Janet .C. Read. 2018. DoggyVision: Examining how Dogs (Canis familiaris) Interact with Media using a Dog-Driven Proximity Tracker Device. Animal Behaviour Cognition 5 (2018), 388--405. https: //doi.org/10.26451/abc.05.04.06.2018Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  23. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, Janet .C. Read, and Brendan Cassidy. 2017. A Dog Centred Approach to the Analysis of Dogs' Interactions with Media on TV Screens. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 98, C (Feb. 2017), 208--220. https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.05.007Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  24. Katrina E Holland, Sara C Owczarczak-Garstecka, Katharine L Anderson, Rachel A Casey, Robert M Christley, Lauren Harris, Kirsten M McMillan, Rebecca Mead, Jane K Murray, Lauren Samet, et al. 2021. ?More attention than usual": A thematic analysis of dog ownership experiences in the UK during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Animals 11, 1 (2021), Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., Vol. 5, No. ISS, Article 494. Publication date: November 2021. Forming the Dog Internet: Prototyping a Dog-to-Human Video Call Device 494:19 240.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  25. Olivia Johnston-Wilder, Clara Mancini, Brendan Aengenheister, Joe Mills, Rob Harris, and Claire Guest. 2015. Sensing the Shape of Canine Responses to Cancer. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (Iskandar, Malaysia) (ACE '15). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 63, 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/2832932.2837017Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  26. Sabrina Karl, Ronald Sladky, Claus Lamm, and Ludwig Huber. 2021. Neural Responses of Pet Dogs Witnessing Their Caregiver's Positive Interactions with a Conspecific: An fMRI Study. Cerebral Cortex Communications 2, 3 (2021), tgab047.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  27. Hiroki Kobayashi, Kana Muramatsu, Junya Okuno, Kazuhiko Nakamura, Akio Fujiwara, and Kaoru Saito. 2015. Playful Rocksalt System: Animal-Computer Interaction Design in Wild Environments. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (Iskandar, Malaysia) (ACE '15). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 62, 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/2832932.2837012Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  28. Animal Rights Law. [n.d.]. . Retrieved June 29, 2020 from https://definitions.uslegal.com/a/animal-rights/Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  29. Shaun Lawson, Ben Kirman, and Conor Linehan. 2016. Power, Participation, and the Dog Internet. Interactions 23, 4 (June 2016), 37--41. https://doi.org/10.1145/2942442Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  30. Ping Lee, David Cheok, Soon James, Lyn Debra,Wen Jie,Wang Chuang, and Farzam Farbiz. 2006. A Mobile PetWearable Computer and Mixed Reality System for Human--Poultry Interaction through the Internet. Personal Ubiquitous Comput. 10, 5 (July 2006), 301--317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-005-0051--6Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  31. Clara Mancini. 2013. Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI): Changing Perspective on HCI, Participation and Sustainability. In CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Paris, France) (CHI EA '13). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2227--2236. https://doi.org/10.1145/2468356.2468744Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  32. Clara Mancini and Jussi Lehtonen. 2018. The Emerging Nature of Participation in Multispecies Interaction Design. In Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Hong Kong, China) (DIS '18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 907--918. https://doi.org/10.1145/3196709.3196785Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  33. Isabella Merola, Emanuela Prato-Previde, and Sarah Marshall-Pescini. 2012. Dogs' social referencing towards owners and strangers. (2012).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  34. Ann Morrison, Rune Heide Møller, Cristina Manresa-Yee, and Neda Eshraghi. 2016. The Impact of Training Approaches on Experimental Setup and Design ofWearable Vibrotactiles for Hunting Dogs. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI '16). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 4, 10 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/2995257.2995391Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  35. Corsin A Müller, Kira Schmitt, Anjuli LA Barber, and Ludwig Huber. 2015. Dogs can discriminate emotional expressions of human faces. Current Biology 25, 5 (2015), 601--605.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  36. Carman Neustaedter and Jennifer Golbeck. 2013. Exploring Pet Video Chat: The Remote Awareness and Interaction Needs of Families with Dogs and Cats. In Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (San Antonio, Texas, USA) (CSCW '13). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1549--1554. https://doi.org/10.1145/2441776.2441953Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  37. Steve North. 2017. Hey, Where's My Hay? Design Fictions in Horse-Computer Interaction. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI2017). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 17, 5 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3152130.3152149Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  38. Susanna Paasovaara, Mikko Paldanius, Petri Saarinen, Jonna Häkkilä, and Kaisa Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila. 2011. The Secret Life of My Dog: Design and Evaluation of Paw Tracker Concept. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (Stockholm, Sweden) (MobileHCI '11). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 231--240. https://doi.org/10.1145/2037373.2037409Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  39. Patrizia Paci, Clara Mancini, and Blaine A. Price. 2020. Understanding the Interaction Between Animals andWearables: The Wearer Experience of Cats. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Eindhoven, Netherlands) (DIS '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1701--1712. https://doi.org/10. 1145/3357236.3395546Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  40. Roosa Piitulainen and Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas. 2020. Music for Monkeys: Building Methods to Design with White-Faced Sakis for Animal-Driven Audio Enrichment Devices. Animals 10, 10 (2020), 1768.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  41. PRNewsWire. [n.d.]. . Retrieved June 29, 2020 from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pet-tech-market-tosurpass- usd-20-billion-by-2025-global-market-insights-inc-300892272.htmlGoogle ScholarGoogle Scholar
  42. Friederike Range and Zsófia Virányi. 2013. Social learning from humans or conspecifics: differences and similarities between wolves and dogs. Frontiers in Psychology 4 (2013), 868. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00868Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  43. Janet C. Read, Daniel Fitton, and Matthew Horton. 2014. Giving Ideas an Equal Chance: Inclusion and Representation in Participatory Design with Children. In Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Interaction Design and Children (Aarhus, Denmark) (IDC '14). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 105--114. https://doi.org/10.1145/ 2593968.2593986 Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., Vol. 5, No. ISS, Article 494. Publication date: November 2021. 494:20 Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, Roosa Piitulainen, & Andrés LuceroGoogle ScholarGoogle Scholar
  44. Charlotte Robinson and Alice Torjussen. 2020. Canine Co-Design: Investigating Buttons as an Input Modality for Dogs. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Eindhoven, Netherlands) (DIS '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1673--1685. https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395462Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  45. Charlotte L. Robinson, Clara Mancini, Janet van der Linden, Claire Guest, and Robert Harris. 2014. Canine-Centered Interface Design: Supporting the Work of Diabetes Alert Dogs. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) (CHI '14). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 3757--3766. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557396Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  46. Alexandre Pongrácz Rossi, Sarah Rodriguez, and Cassia Rabelo Cardoso dos Santos. 2016. A dog using skype. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction. 1--4.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  47. Alexandre Pongrácz Rossi, Sarah Rodriguez, and Cassia Rabelo Cardoso dos Santos. 2016. A Dog Using Skype. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI '16). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 10, 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/ 2995257.3012019Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  48. Luisa Ruge, Elizabeth Cox, Clara Mancini, and Rachael Luck. 2018. User Centered Design Approaches to Measuring Canine Behavior: Tail Wagging as a Measure of User Experience. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) (ACI '18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 1, 12 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3295598.3295599Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  49. Michael Smyth, Ingi Helgason, Frank Kresin, Mara Balestrini, Andreas B. Unteidig, Shaun Lawson, Mark Gaved, Nick Taylor, James Auger, Lone Koefoed Hansen, Douglas C. Schuler, Mel Woods, and Paul Dourish. 2018. Maker Movements, Do-It-Yourself Cultures and Participatory Design: Implications for HCI Research. In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Montreal QC, Canada) (CHI EA '18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1--7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3170604Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  50. Alice Torjussen and Holly Root-Gutteridge. 2020. Is Nothing Better Than Something? A Preliminary Investigation into Disembodied Stimuli for Home Alone Dogs. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI'2020). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 6, 6 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3446002.3446127Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  51. Heli Väätäjä, Päivi Majaranta, Poika Isokoski, Yulia Gizatdinova, Miiamaaria V. Kujala, Sanni Somppi, Antti Vehkaoja, Outi Vainio, Oskar Juhlin, Mikko Ruohonen, and Veikko Surakka. 2018. Happy Dogs and Happy Owners: Using Dog Activity Monitoring Technology in Everyday Life. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Animal- Computer Interaction (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) (ACI '18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 9, 12 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3295598.3295607Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  52. Sarah Webber, Marcus Carter, Wally Smith, and Frank Vetere. 2020. Co-Designing with Orangutans: Enhancing the Design of Enrichment for Animals. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Eindhoven, Netherlands) (DIS '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1713--1725. https: //doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395559Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  53. Michelle Westerlaken and Stefano Gualeni. 2016. Becoming with: Towards the Inclusion of Animals as Participants in Design Processes. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI '16). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 1, 10 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/2995257.2995392Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  54. Hanna Wirman. 2014. Games for/with strangers - captive orangutan (Pongo Pygmaeus) touch screen play. Antennae, New York, NY, USA. http://hdl.handle.net/10397/7611Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  55. Hanna E Wirman and Ida KH Jørgensen. 2015. Designing for intuitive use for non-human users. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology. 1--8.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  56. Clint Zeagler, Jay Zuerndorfer, Andrea Lau, Larry Freil, Scott Gilliland, Thad Starner, and Melody Moore Jackson. 2016. Canine Computer Interaction: Towards Designing a Touchscreen Interface for Working Dogs. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom) (ACI '16). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 2, 5 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/2995257.2995384Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library

Index Terms

  1. Forming the Dog Internet: Prototyping a Dog-to-Human Video Call Device

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Login options

      Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

      Sign in

      Full Access

      PDF Format

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader
      About Cookies On This Site

      We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.

      Learn more

      Got it!