On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog... Unless You're Another Dog

Hirskyj-Douglas, I. and Lucero, A. (2019) On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog... Unless You're Another Dog. In: 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '19), Glasgow, UK, 4-9 May 2019, ISBN 9781450359702 (doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300347)

Abstract

How humans use computers has evolved from human-machine interfaces to human-human computer mediated communication. Whilst the field of animal-computer interaction has roots in HCI, technology developed in this area currently only supports animal-computer communication. This design fiction paper presents animal-animal connected interfaces, using dogs as an instance. Through a co-design workshop, we created six proposals. The designs focused on what a dog internet could look like and how interactions might be presented. Analysis of the narratives and conceived designs indicated that participants' concerns focused around asymmetries within the interaction. This resulted in the use of objects seen as familiar to dogs. This was conjoined with interest in how to initiate and end interactions, which was often achieved through notification systems. This paper builds upon HCI methods for unconventional users, and applies a design fiction approach to uncover key questions towards the creation of animal-to-animal interfaces.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hirskyj-Douglas, Dr Ilyena
• Authors: Hirskyj-Douglas, I., and Lucero, A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• ISBN: 9781450359702
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License