research-article

Becoming with: towards the inclusion of animals as participants in design processes

Authors:

Michelle Westerlaken,

Stefano GualeniAuthors Info & Claims

ACI '16: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction

Article No.: 1, Pages 1 - 10

https://doi.org/10.1145/2995257.2995392

Published: 15 November 2016 Publication History

Abstract

In this exploratory paper, we advocate for a way to mitigate the anthropocentrism inherent in interaction-design methodologies. We propose to involve animals that live in anthropic environments as participants in design processes. The current relationships between animals and technology have an inevitable impact on their well-being and raise fundamental ethical questions concerning our design policies. Drawing from the work of Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway, we argue for a situated approach in which we reflect upon concrete design contexts. We explore the notion of becoming with as a conceptual framework for the intuitive and bodily understanding that takes place between humans and animals when they encounter one-another in shared contexts. Adopting a research through design approach, we further explore this notion by reflecting upon two different participatory design projects with two dogs. We found these reflections to offer valuable perspectives for designers to analyse and discuss their iterative processes.

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Cited By

Rieger S(2025)Bio(techno)logie und MedientheorieHandbuch Medientheorien im 21. Jahrhundert10.1007/978-3-658-38128-8_43-1(1-15)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38128-8_43-1
Cunha JMancini C(2024)The Day After: Ethical Considerations for the End of Enriching Animal Research ProjectsProceedings of the International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction10.1145/3702336.3702345(1-8)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3702336.3702345
Tomico ORosén AKeune SAltarriba Bertran FWilde DFernández Galeote DLenskjold TTikkanen RBuruk OSpors V(2024)Seeding a Repository of Methods-To-Be for Nature-Entangled Design ResearchProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660745(1101-1115)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
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Index Terms

Becoming with: towards the inclusion of animals as participants in design processes
1. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Other conferences

ACI '16: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction

November 2016

116 pages

ISBN:9781450347587

DOI:10.1145/2995257

General Chair:
Clara Mancini
The Open University, UK

Copyright © 2016 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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OU: The Open University

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Published: 15 November 2016

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ACI '16: Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction

November 15 - 17, 2016

Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

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Cited By

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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38128-8_43-1
Cunha JMancini C(2024)The Day After: Ethical Considerations for the End of Enriching Animal Research ProjectsProceedings of the International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction10.1145/3702336.3702345(1-8)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3702336.3702345
Tomico ORosén AKeune SAltarriba Bertran FWilde DFernández Galeote DLenskjold TTikkanen RBuruk OSpors V(2024)Seeding a Repository of Methods-To-Be for Nature-Entangled Design ResearchProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660745(1101-1115)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660745
Benford SMancini CChamberlain ASchneiders ECastle-Green SFischer JKucukyilmaz ASalimbeni GNgo VBarnard PAdams MTandavanitj NRow Farr J(2024)Charting Ethical Tensions in Multispecies Technology Research through Beneficiary-Epistemology SpaceProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3641994(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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Oliver C(2024) Dancing with foxes : More‐than‐human design in ‘the chicken city’ Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers10.1111/tran.12695Online publication date: 10-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12695
Chang FGu ZShi ZTang W(2023)Advancing Cattle Health Monitoring through ACI-Driven Wearable Sensor Technology: A Case Study of Leg-Worn System DevelopmentProceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction10.1145/3637882.3637893(1-13)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2023
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McGraw EBosco CBrey LNippert-Eng C(2023)Dogs or Not Dogs? Examining ACI Authors' Reporting on Animal Participants' Willingness to Engage in Research: A Spotlight on Mediated and Contingent ConsentProceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction10.1145/3637882.3637888(1-13)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2023
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Andreou AGualeni SSánchez Contreras G(2023)Co-designing Enrichment Toys with Bottlenose Dolphins: Playfulness as a Corrective to AnthropocentrismProceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction10.1145/3637882.3637885(1-12)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2023
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Grant AKankaanpää VHirskyj-Douglas I(2023)Hum-ble Beginnings: Developing Touch- and Proximity-Input-Based Interfaces for Zoo-Housed Giraffes’ Audio EnrichmentProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36264707:ISS(175-197)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2023
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Kankaanpää VHirskyj-Douglas I(2023)Prototyping with Monkeys: Uncovering What Buttons for Monkeys Look LikeProceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3569009.3572735(1-13)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2023
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