This project proposes designing a web application that combines locative, social, and persuasive media elements to help users locate lost pets in their community. The goal is to decrease the number of pets in animal shelters by facilitating reunions between owners and lost pets. The application would allow users to view and post information about lost, found, injured, and adoptable pets near them. It would also include features for user profiles, forums, groups, and analytics to encourage social interaction around improving animal welfare locally. The design draws on theories of locative media, social media, and persuasive design to create a contextual solution that benefits both pets and the community.

1. Lost, found and reunited: locative media for
improving animal welfare
Kathryn Gough
Bachelor of Creative Industries (Honours) (Communication Design)
Supervisor: Dr Jillian Hamilton

2. Research Question and Argument
This project argues that
elements of locative, social and
persuasive media can be utilised
to provide an effective design
solution that supports people to
collaboratively locate pets in the
community and through doing
so, application usage will result
in a decrease the amount of pets
handled by shelters.
How can elements of locative and social media be harnessed
to improve animal welfare in local communities, particularly
by allowing application users to locate pets?

3. Project design - CONTEXT
Locative
media
Persuasive
media
Social
media
New
media
"location-aware technology" and
includes applications such as
mobile and
in-car navigation systems and
"user-led geo-tagging of online
“interactive computing
systems designed to
change people’s attitudes
and behaviours.”
web-based or online systems
which support “individual
representation, mass
interaction, formation and
communication of common-
interest groups.”
(Hatzipanagos and Warburton 2009, 51)
Interaction design is defined as
“the art of facilitating or instigating
interactions between humans (or their agents),
which is mediated by products. Furthermore it is
concerned with the behaviour of products, with
how products work” (Saffer 2004, par 3).
This includes the field of web design.

4. Project design - METHODOLOGY
Solution to Problem
• Practice-led research
• Effective design
Understanding Design Problem
• Participatory action research
• Co-design
Design Methodology
• Agile Software Development Process
• Research methods
– User needs analysis, Questionnaire,
Contextual inquiry, User profiles, Task
analysis
Agile development process
Interaction design process

5. Project design - OUTCOMES
• Demonstrational web
application
– Functionality:
• Locate lost pets
• Reunite found pets with
owners
• View injured and rehoused
pets
• Links to agencies for
adopting pets and
reporting mistreated pets
• User-created pet
memorials
• Forums, groups,
commenting and private
messaging
• Graphs of site activity
• User motivations including
thank you cards and a
point system for
participation
• Includes mobile site
design
• 7,500 word exegesis

6. Significance
• design contribution which combines the strengths of current technologies and uses (social,
locative media) to develop a contextual solution for a particular community
• extends on pre-existing applications, combine, improve, de-clutter
• building a detailed knowledgebase of user submitted content
• would decrease the number of animals being handed over to the RSPCA, Animal Welfare
League, council and other agencies and increase the number of animals reunited with their
owners without using these organisations’ resources
• draw attention to patterns in where animals have been found or injured
• increase community pride through participation in rehousing/reuniting pets with owners etc
• no current application exists like this in Australia yet
• extending scholarly writing in the emerging field of locative media
List of references
Collis, C. and Nitins, T. 2009. Bringing the internet down to earth: emerging spaces of locative media. In Communications Policy &
Research Forum 2009, Sydney New South Wales, November 2009. Brisbane: Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland
University of Technology.
Fogg, B.J. 2003. Persuasive technology – using computers to change what we think and do. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers: San
Francisco.
Hatzipanagos, S. And S. Warburton. 2009. Social software and developing community ontologies. ICI Global: London.
Saffer, D. 2004. A definition of interaction design. http://www.odannyboy.com/blog/archives/001000.html (accessed March 10, 2010).

7. Significance
• design contribution which combines the strengths of current technologies and uses (social,
locative media) to develop a contextual solution for a particular community
• extends on pre-existing applications, combine, improve, de-clutter
• building a detailed knowledgebase of user submitted content
• would decrease the number of animals being handed over to the RSPCA, Animal Welfare
League, council and other agencies and increase the number of animals reunited with their
owners without using these organisations’ resources
• draw attention to patterns in where animals have been found or injured
• increase community pride through participation in rehousing/reuniting pets with owners etc
• no current application exists like this in Australia yet
• extending scholarly writing in the emerging field of locative media
List of references
Collis, C. and Nitins, T. 2009. Bringing the internet down to earth: emerging spaces of locative media. In Communications Policy &
Research Forum 2009, Sydney New South Wales, November 2009. Brisbane: Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland
University of Technology.
Fogg, B.J. 2003. Persuasive technology – using computers to change what we think and do. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers: San
Francisco.
Hatzipanagos, S. And S. Warburton. 2009. Social software and developing community ontologies. ICI Global: London.
Saffer, D. 2004. A definition of interaction design. http://www.odannyboy.com/blog/archives/001000.html (accessed March 10, 2010).