Dog Tracks

Hide and Seek 1: look for a hiding space

Becky — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:22:48 -0500

Dog Tracks

Hide and Seek 2: Blend into your surroundings

Becky — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:21:42 -0500

Dog Tracks

Hide and Seek 3: Discovered!

Becky — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:21:01 -0500

Dog Tracks

Prison Break!

Becky — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:20:03 -0500

Dog Tracks

Dawn Chorus

Becky — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 02:28:42 -0600

Sunday was a beautiful day - blue sky, sun shining, birds singing. I decided to go out and there were two choices.

The first was to go to the beach and I was quite keen on picking the virtual pooch up on the way as l had a genius mapping idea I was wanting to check out. The plan would be to put the harness on the pooch firmly attaching a GPS device. When back at home I could download the data and import it onto a map to see how the dog travels around the beach. Fascinating stuff!

The second choice, the easier of the two, and the winner (it was a Sunday afternoon) was to take a stroll in the park near my flat.

It was fantastic to here all the bird song again and to see the robins, wood pigeons, blue tits & coal tits. Inevitably I began thinking about mapping, and how Ii would map birds.

It would be really interesting to see the flight plans of the different birds. But even more fascinating was the bird song. I was thinking that this could be looked at both spatially & temporally.

l was thinking in terms of the space it would be great to record the sounds of the birds in different areas of the city from the inner city to woods, to wetlands. I wondered how different they would sound from one another & which spot in the Necklace Park would win the prize of best dawn chorus.

My other idea was to record the bird song in one place over the course of the day (and night). This information could be displayed visually and though audio with different sounds appearing at different points through the journey of the day.

Dog Tracks

Dog Tracks

The Virtual Pooch — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 06:21:59 -0600

Ever thought about what makes a good walk for a dog? What ingredients are necessary for a satisfied mutt?...

Mud... mud... mud.. water.. brambles... sticks... smells.. space to run... did I mention mud?...

But how do dogs communicate that they're enjoying a walk, how to they interact with the space and how on earth would you create a dog's map of The Park?

Perhaps a 'wagometer', measuring both horizontal and vertical movement of the dog's tail. Frequency and direction of tail wag would be impoartant variables.

Shallow arc, close to ground - Calm dog, peaceful
Wide arc, mid height - Happy dog, interested
Helicopter style motion - Very excited and enthusiastic dog

What would this map look like? Where would dogs be least excited about or the most. Would there be general trends or would it be too dog specific?

Or perhaps, a Pee'n'Sniff map. Are dogs tending to sniff the same spots or the same types of spots. And what would any of this tell us?

Dog Tracks