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. 2022 Jun 30:9:885973.
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.885973. eCollection 2022.

Welfare Through Competence: A Framework for Animal-Centric Technology Design

Sarah Webber  1 , Mia L Cobb  1   2 , Jon Coe  3
Affiliations

Welfare Through Competence: A Framework for Animal-Centric Technology Design

Sarah Webber et al. Front Vet Sci. .

Abstract

Digital technologies offer new ways to ensure that animals can lead a good life in managed settings. As interactive enrichment and smart environments appear in zoos, farms, shelters, kennels and vet facilities, it is essential that the design of such technologies be guided by clear, scientifically-grounded understandings of what animals need and want, to be successful in improving their wellbeing. The field of Animal-Computer Interaction proposes that this can be achieved by centering animals as stakeholders in technology design, but there remains a need for robust methods to support interdisciplinary teams in placing animals' interests at the heart of design projects. Responding to this gap, we present the Welfare through Competence framework, which is grounded in contemporary animal welfare science, established technology design practices and applied expertise in animal-centered design. The framework brings together the "Five Domains of Animal Welfare" model and the "Coe Individual Competence" model, and provides a structured approach to defining animal-centric objectives and refining them through the course of a design project. In this paper, we demonstrate how design teams can use this framework to promote positive animal welfare in a range of managed settings. These much-needed methodological advances contribute a new theoretical foundation to debates around the possibility of animal-centered design, and offer a practical agenda for creating technologies that support a good life for animals.

Keywords: animal technology; animal welfare; animal-centric design; animal-computer interaction; animals; digital enrichment; interaction design.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
An iterative interaction design process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The welfare through competence animal objectives canvas.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The welfare through competence interaction design process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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