Project New Media: TREAT

GROUP: Carly Cornish, Jake Perry, Nate Reid, and Sara Taylor

The problem:

Humans have had animal companions for thousands of years. Today still pets are a staple in family households. Many animals, however, are still facing abuse. Shelters and other animal charities are doing the best they can to help these abandoned animals and get them into loving homes. It is hard for shelters and organizations to get the word out about what animals are available for adoption and what they need to be donated to their organization.

What we want to solve is: How can we get the animal-loving population excited and interested in adopting local pets and supporting local shelters/organizations?

We want to tackle this issue because we value all of our animal friends. Many people only want pure-bred bought pets, but that leaves many animals left behind. Money cannot change the love an animal gives you; All pets love equally. Shelters provide an invaluable service to these animals and struggle to make ends meet. We want to support these organization’s passion for animals and give these organizations the much-needed help they deserve. (SARA)

Empathize:

There are over 2 million animals up for adoption in the U.S. alone. And people are still choosing to purchase animals from retail stores rather than going to a local animal shelter and adopting an animal. We are reaching out to pet owners and want to be pet owners to help support these shelters and take care of the animals in need. If we can raise awareness and show people the importance of adopting animals this problem can be solved. We would create something that is accessible to everyone and easy to use. We would potentially reach out to shelters for some sort of partnership to help promote our creation and support each other. Our creation would have some sort of mechanic to support animal shelters all around the U.S. Whether it’s advertising or donations, we would show off to the users what these animal shelters had to offer.

Animal Shelters are super important to the wellness of animals. It is highly encouraged that people step up and volunteer at local animal shelters because these animals need all the help they can get. The animals held in these shelters are there for a reason, and they should be adopted for a reason. They have to spend their everyday lives in a cage with as much care as volunteers are willing to give. Shelters are a great place for people to come and meet the animals and possibly develop a relationship with an animal and adapt it for themselves, giving the animals the lives they deserve.

To create something that would help raise awareness for these shelters and showcase what they have that might attract people is moving things in the right direction. (NATE)

Define:

Some needs we will want to consider for this project come from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. We want to address some higher-level needs with our project, like Love and Belonging, Esteem and Self-actualization. (SARA)

Researchers have shown that adults who own a companion animal are more likely to have lower blood pressure and a more regulated heart rate when put in stressful environments or situations than those who don’t have a pet. Animals have created a positive impact on all ages. They can provide a sense of social support among the elderly, and a study has also explained how children between the ages of 3-6 were less stressed visiting the doctor when there was an animal in the room with them. We as animal owners know first hand the emotional and mental benefits that come with caring for an animal. We also know, based on the research found that videos of healthy and happy animals can help relieve stress, increase productivity, and boost a person’s mood. (JAKE)

The goal is that allowing people to interact with animals/animal content that we will be targetting the need for Love-and-Belonging. Animal companions rely on humans and love their human counterparts. Having a pet/interacting with animals can provide humans with a sense of love and belonging. (SARA)

In addition to that, for our project, we want an option to help support these shelters through the power of donations. Users would be able to find any shelter they want and donate. (NATE)

This would target the higher-level needs of Esteem and Self-Actualization. Supporting a cause that matters to you can boost esteem and make users feel fulfilled in the need to become their best selves. We want to create a project that addresses these needs. (SARA)

Ideate:

(JAKE)

PROTOTYPING (Part 1):

We decided we are going to pursue an app that will get users excited about local pets and charities. What we are going to do is make an app that deals exclusively with animal-related content. The app will do 3 things.

Watch. The watch tab will show videos/images uploaded by members called creators. Creators are animal shelters, charities, and other animal organizations that wish to promote their content. Posts on this page are shown loosely by post date. Watchers can give hearts to posts which serve as an upvote system. More hearts mean more likely to appear on watcher’s feeds.

Adopt. This tab will show users animals available for adoption based on the user’s location. Each “card” shows an image of the animal, a description of the animal, and contains a link that directs users to the adoption instructions set by the organization. The animal card also can link to the organizer’s page.

Donate. This tab shows users charities they can donate to. This is again based on the user’s location. The donations can be made directly through the app and users will be able to link PayPal/Venmo/banking details. The vision is that the app does not take a cut of the donations.

We believe that this app will meet the user’s basic needs for happiness. For one, the app can provide the users with a boost in happiness just by seeing the videos of animals, as we discussed above. (SARA)

This why we created an animal “feed” on the homepage of our application, this will allow shelters to post videos and photos of their animals having fun and being happy. This will not only encourage people to go out and rescue an animal from their local shelter but will also provide a mental treat for those who need it. (JAKE)

However, the app becomes so much more than that when one considers the donation and adoption aspect. For one, there is much fulfillment in adopting a pet and caring for an animal. But also, since users can see how much they have donated and see the badges they have collected, the app can fulfill the need for being a part of a greater whole. Since the app’s content is directed entirely towards the organizations and by the organizations, users will not have to worry that their time and money is being directed elsewhere. The beauty of TREAT is its simplicity. Since the app truly only performs 3 basic functions for non-creator users, the user can get immediate gratification for their charitable efforts and connect with animals all in one place. (SARA)

There is another major problem that we must address that affects retail stores, pets, and adoption along with euthanization numbers is a large number of puppy mills in the United States. There are about 167,388 million breeding dogs in the U.S. and about 10,000 puppy mills. From these puppy mills, about 2 million puppies are bred each year and sent to retail stores, or used for further breeding. However, each year about 1.2 million dogs are euthanized, so more dogs are being bred and born than what shelters and homes in America are capable of taking care of. Now, a simple solution would be to decrease the supply or increase the demand, however, the puppy mills don’t care about the health or wellbeing of those animals they sell. The dogs that are bred, called “Breeding parents” spend their lives in 24-hour confinement cages, only taken out when they’re needed to make a profit. These cages can often be stacked on top of one another, and have no protection from the elements. The dogs don’t receive any veterinary care except for what the owners of the puppy mills deem necessary, and if it’s too much to try and save the dog, they kill them. They won’t even let the vet give them the shot, they’ll do the job themselves by shooting the dogs or drowning them in water, both are incredibly horrible ways to die. Not only are the parents treated horribly, but the puppies are also taken from their mothers and shipped across the country far too early. From being separated too early and selective breeding, these dogs often come with medical conditions, some minor, others incredibly severe. Like most things in an economy, a company should not be producing more than the demand, logically this would mean they’re losing money. But with the way they’re working now, it’s just the poor dogs that are paying the price and not them. (CARLY)

This is why the app would have to have a strict process when choosing who can be certified creators on the app. Only verified shelters and animal organizations would be able to create and benefit from the app, not puppy farms. (SARA)

We decided to call the app TREAT. This is because the videos are intended to give the user a “treat”, the donations give the shelters/organizations a “treat”, and giving pets treats is a common thing. It is a play on words in many ways, and the name is short and sweet. (SARA)

Prototype:

Here is the Prototype Sara designed:

https://xd.adobe.com/view/eb90d36c-4a85-4b28-7aaf-3c4ef611950c-9da1/

Test:

We were asked to include a more specific sorting system for the adoption page, which we added.

Also, we were asked to consider that it’s alright if Treat takes a small percentage of donations in order to maintain the database. This makes sense, and we have rethought that decision and agree it is alright if TREAT takes a small percentage of donations for labor and maintenance costs.

Overall feedback was positive and overall the design was greeted positively, we concluded that this project does address certain new-media strategies such as aggregate, automate, and visualize data.

Revise:

https://xd.adobe.com/view/eb90d36c-4a85-4b28-7aaf-3c4ef611950c-9da1/

Adds pages to show a more detailed sorting system as requested by class.

Sources:

(CARLY)

https://faunalytics.org/fundamentals-companion-animals/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2s75sqih5gIVVtyGCh208gABEAAYASAAEgIKqvD_BwE
https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics
https://www.ourcauseforpaws.org/blogs/news/saving-companion-animals-from-inhumane-conditons?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0OLSyKih5gIVFG6GCh2logEsEAAYAyAAEgIylvD_BwE
https://bestfriends.org/transparency-americas-shelters
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-finds-dogs-make-people-better-happier-and-healthier-humans-300364359.html
http://www.center4research.org/benefits-pets-human-health
https://www.verywellmind.com/stress-relieving-benefits-of-watching-cute-animal-videos-4150074
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cuteness-cute-kawaii-power-krigolso-uvic-joshua-dale-japan-1.3984970
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/science-watching-animal-videos-could-make-you-a-better-employee/263042
https://www.aspca.org/news/3-shady-things-pet-stores-dont-want-you-know

Extra Data:

(CARLY) 

  1. Information about shelters
    1. Animals
      1. Dogs
        1. Co-evolving relationships with humans for 10,000+ years 
        2. Dogs use playtime to help with their social cohesion and bonding with humans and others, also used as a motor skill development 
        3. Some dogs due to selective breeding have health issues, because of physical desired features 
      2. Cats 
        1. First, known domestication is in Egypt 
        2. 9,500-10,00 years of co-evolving relationships 
        3. They love to climb
        4. They like elevated vantage points 
        5. When a cat purrs it’s a sign of comfort but also increases their ability to heal faster 
        6. Many people find cats to be intelligent, loving but also stubborn and grouchy like another human being
      3. Hamsters
        1. Have short life spans (2-2.5 years)
        2. Their teeth keep on growing, so they need things to chew on
        3. Store extra food in their cheeks 
        4. They are “crepuscular” meaning most active at twilight hours 
      4. Fish 
        1. Can live for decades
        2. Can recognize faces
        3. They have a good memory, can remember up to 3 months 
        4. Can see more colors than humans, UV, and Infrared ends of the spectrum 
    2. Puppy Mills
      1. Post World War 2 boom in dog breeding
      2. Many people are no longer obtaining their dogs or cats form breeder or buying them in stores
      3. However, there are still thousands of breeding operations that treat their animals poorly
      4. $2.1 billion dollars was spent on live animal purchases in the U.S. in 2017
      5. The growth rate of population is exponential
        1. Breeding cats Year One
          1. Cats Being Bred: 1
          2. Cats Being Born: 12
        2. Breeding Cats Year 5
          1. Cats Being Bred: 43
          2. Cats Being Born: 519
    3. Shelters
      1. 80% of dogs and cats that are euthanized in shelters are healthy and adoptable
      2. Many shelters struggle to keep up with the number of animals 
      3. “Adopt, Don’t Shop” slogan
      4. Play a crucial role in savings animals lives
      5. Euthanasia rates have declined in the last decade
      6. Reasons People don’t adopt from shelters
        1. 27% of them want a purebred animal
        2. 26% “shelters won’t have the kind of animal I want”
        3. 47% for other reasons 
      7. Dogs and Cats Adoption Sources (2017)
        1. Dogs
          1. 22% from a shelter
          2. 10% from a pet store
          3. 12% from a Rescue Group
          4. 4% a stray
          5. 25% from a friend or relative 
        2. Cats
          1. 28% from a shelter 
          2. 10% from a pet store 
          3. 9% from a rescue group
          4. 32% a stray
          5. 26% from a friend, or relative 
      8. The U.S. Shelter Intake and Euthanasia Rates
        1. 2011
          1. Cat Intake: 3,300,000
          2. Dog Intake: 3,900,000
          3. Dogs&Cats Euthanized: 2,600,000
        2. 2018
          1. Cat Intake: 3,200,000
          2. Dog Intake: 3,300,000
          3. Dogs&Cats Euthanized: 1,500,000
      9. What people prioritize when adopting a dog 
        1. 13% size of the dog
        2. 30% age of the dog
        3. 7% breed of the dog
        4. 8% risk of the dog
        5. 6% origin of the dog
        6. 36% source of the dog
    4. Animal Companion Stats
      1. Total Households
        1. 53% have companions
        2. 47% don’t have companions animals
      2. Households with companions
        1. 38% have one or more dogs
        2. 24% have one or more cats 
      3. Spending
        1. Grooming and Boarding
          1. $6.16 Billion
        2. Vet Care
          1. $17.07 Billion
        3. Supplies/OTC Medicare
          1. $15.11 Billion
        4. Food
          1. $29.07 Billion
      4. Things we do for pets
        1. 70% allowed pets to sleep in their bed
        2. 36% of the pets got a birthday Present
        3. 24% cooked especially for them
        4. 11% took them to work
      5. Social Media
        1. 1 in 2 people say their companion animal gets more attention than they do on social media
        2. Instagram Dog influencers can make up 10 $15,000 per post 
        3. About 2 million cat videos on youtube, with a total of 25 Billion Views
        4. 50 of the most popular companion animal Instagram accounts
          1. 44% are dogs
          2. 35% are cats 
          3. 4% are others 
      6. Types of Animal companions
        1. 48% of dogs 
        2. 38% of cats 
        3. 10% of  freshwater fish
        4. 6% of birds 
        5. 5% of small animals 
        6. 4% of reptile 
        7. 2% of horse 
        8. 2% saltwater fish
    5. Bans
      1. Pitbulls
        1. 40 states ban
      2. Rottweiler
        1. 22 states ban
      3. Wolf Dogs
        1. 20 states ban
      4. Presa Canario
        1. 18 states ban
      5. Doberman
        1. 15 states ban
      6. Chow Chow
        1. 13 states ban
      7. American Bulldog
        1. 10 states ban
    6. Misidentification of Breeds In Bite Incidents 
      1. 30.9% are misidentified by the Media
      2. 40.2% misidentified by media and Animal Control 
    7. Antipathy towards Pitbulls
      1. When asked about Pitbulls 
        1. 50% would not consider adopting a pitbull
        2. 51% would advise others against adopting a pitbull
        3. 40% said Pitbulls shouldn’t live in residential neighborhoods 
    8. The ability of shelter Workers to Identify Breeds 
      1. 56.3% able to identify Primary breed 
      2. 10.4% able to identify the primary and secondary breed
      3. 33.3% not able to identify any breed in DNA profile 
    9. https://faunalytics.org/fundamentals-companion-animals/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2s75sqih5gIVVtyGCh208gABEAAYASAAEgIKqvD_BwE

Benefits of Living with Companion Animals

    1. Stats on people and animals 
      1. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-finds-dogs-make-people-better-happier-and-healthier-humans-300364359.html
        1. http://www.center4research.org/benefits-pets-human-health/
      2. Interaction of watching animal videos, how it affects the brain
        1. https://www.verywellmind.com/stress-relieving-benefits-of-watching-cute-animal-videos-4150074
          1. Animal Photos and Martial Bliss
            1. Study done by James Mcnulty of Florida State found marital satisfaction could be improved by having more animals photos 
              1. Took 144 couples married less than five years
              2. Over a six week period
              3. One group saw pictures of cute animals and their partners, while others saw partners paired with neutral objects 
              4. Those who saw cute animals had more positive automatic responses to spouses
              5. Demonstrated more satisfaction in their marriage
        2. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cuteness-cute-kawaii-power-krigolso-uvic-joshua-dale-japan-1.3984970
          1. Cute animals give people a jolt of joy, but could also do brian healing
          2. Short term burst of happiness lead to better cognitive function for short term
          3. Cute image delivers the brain a miniscule blast of dopamine
          4. Tend to trigger emotional responses 
          5. Hiroshima University research
            1. Showed that staring at “cute” pictures of baby animals improves attention and concentration of 132 University Students 
        3. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/science-watching-animal-videos-could-make-you-a-better-employee/263042/
          1. Using the japanese technique “Kawaii”, researchers wanted ot see its effects on human behavior 
            1. 48 college students 
              1. 1st experiment, had them play japenese version of operation
              2. 2nd performed a visual search using number matrices 
              3. 3rd tested participants focus 
              4. In all three experiments, people who were looking at cute baby animals outperformed those who did not
              5. Out performed those who were looking at images of adult animals 
        4. https://www.thepuppymillproject.org/about-puppy-mills/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIko775cKr5gIVwp-zCh2vtwDuEAAYASAAEgKiI_D_BwE (Puppy Mill)
        5. Paragraph: 
          1. Another major problem that affects retail stores, pets and adoption along with euthanization numbers is the large number of puppy mills in the United States. There are about 167,388 millions breeding dogs in the U.S. and about 10,000 puppy mills. From these puppy mills about 2 million puppies are bred each year and sent to retail stores, or used for further breeding. However, each year about 1.2 million dogs are euthanized, so more dogs are being bred and born than what shelters and homes in America is capable of taking care of. Now, a simple solution would be to decrease the supply or increase the demand, however, the puppy mills don’t care about the health or wellbeing of those animals they sell. The dogs that are bred, called “Breeding parents” spend their lives in 24 hour confinment cages, only taken out when they’re needed to make a profit. These cages can often be stacked on top of one another, and have no protection from the elements. The dogs don’t receive any veterinary care except for what the owners of the puppy mills deem necessary, and if it’s too much to try and save the dog, they kill them. They won’t even let the vet give them the shot, they’ll do the job themselves by shooting the dogs or drowning them in water, both are incredibly horrible ways to die. Not only are the parents treated horribly, the puppies are taken from their mothers and shipped across the country far too early. From being separated too early and selective breeding, these dogs often come with medical conditions, some minor, others incredibly severe. Like most things in an economy, a company should not be producing more than the demand, logically this would mean they’re losing money. But with the way they’re working now, it’s just the poor dogs that are paying the price and not them. 
          2. Basic Stats
            1. 167,388 breeding dogs currently living in United States
            2. About 10,000 puppy mills in U.S
            3. 2 million puppies bred in mills each year
            4. 1.2 million dogs are euthanized in shelters a year 
            5. Thousands of dogs commercially bred puppies are shipped into illinois and sold from illinois pet stores each year 
        1. What’s wrong with puppy mills
          1. Put profit over health of dogs
          2. Can be large or small operations 
          3. In order to sell a pet to a store the breeder must have a license, many sell to stores without proper license 
          4. Breeding parents spend lives in 24 hour confinement cages, which are often stacked on top of one another 
          5. Don’t usually have protection from heat cold or inclement weather 
          6. Receive little to no veterinary care 
          7. Mothers are bred every heat cycle and usually killed when they no longer can produce 
            1. Not killed humanely 
            2. Including shooting or drowning
          8. Puppies taken from mothers too early can develop health conditions 
        2. Where are puppy mill puppies sold