ZooJamming

Abstract

This is a report of three ZooJams that have taken place at the annual Animal-Computer Interaction conference. The ZooJam is a type of workshop whose aim is to extend the reach of UX design beyond human experience in order to become inclusive of other species and their interactions with technology. As organisers, our attempts have knitted together colleagues from a range of disciplines, all focused on developing practical solutions to different environmental enrichment challenges. We describe the format of the event, explaining the rationale for this approach, and showcase some of the crafted design outcomes.

Designing Technologies for Playful Interspecies Communication

“…Fiona has recently been investigating the design of playful interactive systems for elephants. She has organised several gamejams and other play related public events, including three ZooJams at recent ACI conferences [7].…”

“…Multi-disciplinary ideation has been shown to be a useful method for developing future concepts for animaltechnologies, due to the many unknowns in this new field of research [7]. As it is not currently possible to ask non-human users how, when or with what they would like to play, far less what playful technology they might find interesting, we can only imagine systems that might be suitable, and the more diverse perspectives and expert knowledge we can bring to this task, the richer the probable design outcomes.…”

More Than Human Aesthetics

“…The aesthetic principles that Western humans have traditionally valued tend to be strongly associated with our visual perception, exemplified by modern dictionary definitions -(i) M-W define the adjective "aesthetic" to be "relating to beautiful, artistic, attractive (pleasing in appearance)"; (ii) Cambridge English state: "relating to enjoyment or study of beauty, showing beauty" [20] [5]. Yet the aesthetic qualities of an experience vary considerably from species to species, depending on which sensory, cognitive and physical characteristics mediate the animal's perception and interaction with its environment [10]. In consequence, an exploration of alternative sensory and related emotional values is required in order to understand which qualities have a range of appeal for non-human animals.…”