Rethinking the Human Centred Approach to Animal-Computer Interaction

While the field of Animal-Computer Interaction is an emerging one, the main focus has still been on humans. ACI research often examines ways that giving animals technology can improve some aspect of a human’s life without considering the needs of the animals. A strikingly parallel problem has arisen in HCI as well - what does participatory design look like when working with the voiceless. In my research, using a dog’s connection to its owner as a starting point, I plan to utilise the findings from past HCI work while working with the dogs to design a technology that they actually would want to use.