This paper was the cumulative result of the virtual workshop, Designing Technologies for Playful Interspecies Communication, held during the international Animal Computer Interaction conference (ACI'2020), and facilitated by Dr. Fiona French, Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, and Dr. Heli Väätäjä. My involvement included the roles of workshop attendee and co-author on the associated publication, "Ethics and Power Dynamics in Playful Technology for Animals: Using speculative design to provoke reflection".
Designing Technologies for Playful Interspecies Communication
As technology aimed at play for non-human animals is becoming commonplace in both the research field of animal-computer interaction and the consumer marketplace, questions about the efficacy and ethical implications of designing and using such systems are ever more pertinent. More specific to play - social play, as a form of communication, typically occurs within species and potentially between species. Here, technology acting as a facilitator has the potential to enable interspecies playful communication through facilitating the exchange of signals between species.
This 1-day virtual workshop, held through Zoom, Miro, and Mentimeter, explored how technology might be used to support design for interspecies playful communication, the challenges and opportunities herein, and the ethical dilemmas and power dynamics contained within these systems.
The workshop activities
Speculative Ideation task:
Pairs of participants randomly drew different species from a set of animal cards on Miro. We then speculated on playful scenarios for the drawn species. Consideration was given towards the following questions:
- What might animals want to communicate via technology ?
- How would animals normally express themselves using signals?
- How could technology support playful systems for both species?
Characteristics of play task:
In groups of three to four, participants discussed the opportunities and challenges afforded through tech-enabled playful communication systems for their assigned animal category. These insights were then shared in a group discussion.
Open Discussion on Ethics:
Based on the previous co-created designs we reflected on ethics within playful systems. Discussion was guided by the following questions:
• How can we design for equality within play including different species?
• What does appropriate play look like for two animals using computer systems?
• What ethical issues are involved in building these systems?
The publication
As co-author on the associated publication my involvement included a write-up and sketches for the workshop outputs and discussion section, meeting with the group to discuss ideas for the topics for further reflection, and editing drafts.
Ethics and Power Dynamics in Playful Technology for Animals: Using speculative design to provoke reflection
The paper describes the background context of play and landscape of ACI technologies approaching playful computing systems, the methods used within the workshop, the workshop outputs and discussion, along with topics for further reflection on the theme of ethics and power dynamics in playful technologies with emphasis towards equality, appropriate play, and ethical issues.
You can read the full paper here.