Editorial: Animal-computer interaction and beyond: The benefits of animal-centered research and design

摘要

This research topic collects contributions from different perspectives, which highlight possible animalcentered approaches in research and design, as well as challenges that animal-centered approaches might pose and how these might be addressed. Bringing together novel contributions that demonstrate how animal-centered technologies, research methods and ethical frameworks could benefit research and practice in different domains -including farming, animal conservation and welfare, or animal research -this e-collection provides a resource for researchers and practitioners whose work involves animals and for whom the applicability of animal-centered technologies, methods or frameworks may be relevant.Frameworks that aim to support animal-centred design processes have the potential to enable animal agency and enhance their welfare, as discussed by Webber et al. In their proposed framework, the authors combine the "Five Domains of Animal Welfare" model and the "Coe Individual Competence" model, providing a structured approach to defining and refining animal-centric objectives to design technologies that can promote positive animal welfare in managed settings. Throughout the process, animal-centered design involves paying close attention to the sensory, cognitive and physical characteristics of the animals in question. In this regard, drawing together academic perspectives from ecology, neuroscience, anthropology, philosophy, interaction design, and arts, French argues for expanding the aesthetic dimensions of design beyond the limits of human capability to encompass other species' sensory modalities and include non-human aesthetic sensibilities. Likewise, Carter et al.'s work highlights the importance of considering animals' ergonomics when designing artefacts that they are expected to interact with. Examining canine working trials, the authors measure vertical forces and apparent joint angulation at landing in dogs traversing a scale of different heights, suggesting that the maximum scale height should be reviewed to minimise impacts on the physical health and welfare of participating dogs. However, the impacts that technological interventions may have on animals are not limited to physical interactions and, in this regard, Paci et al. discuss the importance that privacy has for animals. The authors draw from observations of privacy-related behaviours in different species, finding that animals use a variety of distance regulation and information management mechanisms to secure their own and their assets' safety, and to negotiate social interactions. Thus, they argue that the design of interactive systems needs to be informed by animals' privacy requirements. Given the interspecies communication barriers and power asymmetries characterising human-animal relations, understanding, let alone prioritising, animals' requirements poses significant, emergent and often unexpected ethical challenges. To help researchers deal with such challenges, Ruge and Mancini propose an ethics toolkit for clearly and systematically articulating the ethical stance both of researchers and of the projects researchers work on, to support moment-by-moment decision-making. An implication of animalcentred research and design is that decisions related to processes and outcomes should prioritise animals' interests, with regards to both research outcomes and processes. Exploring the applicability of such a perspective to all animal research, Mancini and Nannoni propose an ethical framework for conducting research with animals, highlighting the principles of relevance, impartiality, welfare and consent, and a providing scoring system to help researchers and delegated authorities assess research procedures, with a view to shifting research practices towards more animal-centered approaches.Alongside the abovementioned proposals, contributions based on novel technological applications demonstrate the potential benefits of animal-centred research and design, for examp