Urban Menagerie Process Manual by Kathy Chang

URBAN MENAGERIE PROCESS MANUAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PRIMARY RESEARCH

SECONDARY RESEARCH

REFINEMENT

FINAL PROTOTYPE

INTRODUCTION

THE PROBLEM We realized we had no idea what we should do in these situations. We felt that there werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t many immediate resources available. Various websites would have the information needed, however, every website had slightly variable instructions. During times of emergencies, it would be tedious to look up various websites and resources. Because finding the answers on how to deal with the problem may take some time, it can deter the individual affected from helping the animal, or could even lead to the injury of the person or animal. We wanted to find a way to create a program that told you exactly what you had to do or who to call as an immediate response to the situation

C A S E STU DY

While we were unable to find an existing program that did exactly what we wanted to accomplish, we did come across various websites that offered the insight we were seeking. This one website had a function where it told you exactly what to do when you come across an injured animal. Once you click on the link, it takes you to a page that has all the commonly found animals in the San Diego area. From there you would pick the animal you have come across and you would be redirected to a FAQ page that gave you the necessary instructions and other information.

They created a large link to aide people in determining what to do when they have found an animal.

Once you click the link, you are led to a page that shows all the different animals you could be dealing with.

From there you can find the animal you have found and can read about what to do if it is injured.

M I SSI O N STAT EME N T Our goal with Urban Menagerie, is to provide a quick and easy guide on how to safely interact with animals in an urban setting. This will reduce the time needed to look for a solution in what could be an emergency. It is also to inform the public on ways to co-exist with the animals that share their homes.

THE NEED

THE OBJECTIVE

Time is an important factor in trying to save an animal as well the prevention of disease. Animals can carry harmful diseases that can be spread onto humans when touched. It could also take a couple precious seconds to go online and figure out what the animal is and how to deal with it safely. There needs to be a quick way of identifying the animal, knowing how to interact with it, and who to call if outside services are needed. This also means that there should be less redirection when calling animal services. There shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be any wasted time waiting for the correct department to answer.

As a solution, Urban Menagerie would be the database with all the answers. It will let the user know what to do if an animal is injured, who to call, and how to handle the situation safely as an alternative to finding a website online that may or may not have the solution for their specific situation.

THE TARGET AUDIENCE College students to young adults living in urban settings. App is designated toward the users specific region.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

DIVIDING INTO GROUPS Our project topics differed when we started out. The first topic was called, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Should I touch this animalâ&#x20AC;? which was about educating the audience about whether or not this wild animal could be touched. The second topic focused on teaching kids how to handle pets. As we looked through each topic thoroughly, we realized that there was a strong similarity in the two ideas. This lead us to adopt the topic on domesticated animals into the first topic creating a broader scope.

STAKEHOLDERS In order to have a better understanding on our project, we contacted different organizations and people.

1. What are the most common wildlife that can be found within the county?

We contacted: Yolo SPCA Sac Animal Control Yolo County Biologist: Joshua Bush UC Davis Vet Hospital: Dr. Michelle Hawkins City of Davis Wildlife: John Mcnerney

3. Do you feel that the public has a good understanding of what to do when they come across a lost, injured, or dead animal?

We didn’t have much luck with many of the stakeholders since they never got back to us. However, we were able to get a hold of Joshua Bush, who is part of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, with Zach’s help. Excited that we were finally able to receive a reply, we sent out an email with questions (on the right) to Joshua. With Joshua’s answers, we were able to get a better understanding of our topic.

2. What are some unique species that can be found within the county?

4. In your opinion, are the current practices and resources satisfactory when it comes to dealing with a lost, injured, or dead animal? 5. What kind of information regarding the finding of a lost pet or injured/dead animal would you like people to know? 6. How, in your opinion, what would be the best way to get this information out? 7. What are the most important things for a person to consider when dealing with injured wildlife? (i.e. what steps should they take? how should they handle the animal? who should they call?) 8. Is it important to contact a professional about a dead animal on city streets/freeways? Why or why not? 9. How does human interaction/interference effect the wildlife? (i.e. feeding squirrels) Is it encouraged or discouraged?

JOSHUA BUSHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ANSWERS: 1. The most common wildlife found in Yolo County are raccoon, possum, coyote, mallard, European starling, rats, wild turkey, red-fox squirrels, ground squirrels 2. Swainson's hawk, western pond turtle, tri-colored blackbird, tule elk, Sacramento Valley red fox, bank swallow, giant garter snake, and burrowing owl all have special status. 3. No. most are uninformed or ill-informed. 4. Yes, but if the public is ill-informed they are not getting utilized to the fullest. If the public is better informed there may be a delay in response time/ability to respond due to lack of resources but that is not yet known. 5. I won't comment on the lost pet. That is more appropriate for another organization. Injured animals: If the animal is injured and can be retrieved safely it is best to send to a CDFW approved rehab facility: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Laboratories/Wildlife-Investigations/Rehab. Handling procedures: https:// www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Laboratories/Wildlife-Investigations/Monitoring/Protocols. Wildlife road mortality can be reported as part of an ongoing "citizen science" research and monitoring program from UC Davis: http://www.wildlifecrossing.net/california/. Other things: Never retrieve an animal if it is not safe to do so; It is best to leave seemingly orphaned wildlife alone. They are most often not orphaned and do not need human intervention: https://cdfgnews.wordpress. com/2016/04/28/do-not-disturb-young-wildlife-if-you-care-leave-them-there/. No action is often times the best action. Let nature take its course is a good motto. 6. Social media and internet resources would be best. Press releases, fact sheets, facebook page, who to call, etc. Coordination with local agencies (sheriff, animal control, CHP) would help. 7. Call CDFW or your local Animal Control. They can direct you to the correct contact. Also use CDFW's rehab facility list. Steps: Most important thing to consider is your own personal safety. Do not put yourself at risk of an animal bite, car accident, etc. Always note location (mile markers, cross streets, GPS point). Do you have the right tools? Gloves, animal carrier, etc? Are rehab facilities open? What time it is? Will the animal survive your attempt to capture it and rehab? How bad is the injury? Is it more humane to put the animal out of is misery? 8. Yes and no. it all depends on the situation. It would be great to capture via UC Davis Roadkill Project but never collect an animal if it is unsafe. In general, CDFW does not pick up roadkill but can if animals are there from a suspected disease outbreak. CalTrans or County workers will pick up roadkill if it is within their "rightof way" (10 ft or so). CDFW is concerned with roadkill as it can attract other wildlife and cause them to get hit by a car, cause subsequent auto accidents, or if there is a high number of kills in a small area. If there is a high number of kills it may need to be mitigated via wildlife crossings, signs, or changes to the roadway. 9. Discouraged. Feeding of wildlife alters behavior and puts humans and wildlife at risk. Example: spread of disease due to higher than normal concentrations of birds feeding from the same source; feeding deer that become aggressive toward people and pets during mating season; drawing mountain lions closer to your property due to feeding deer (their main source of prey); bears coming into your yard to eat bird seed. Backyard feeding for small animals and birds is legal but doing so outside of your property is illegal. It is illegal to feed CA "big game" species (deer, bear, etc.) See links: https://calwil.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/diseaseoutbreak-in-pine-siskins/; Keep Me Wild: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Keep-Me-Wild/Outreach.

S ECO N DA R Y R E S E A R C H

THE RESOURCES There were multiple websites that seemed like it had the information we needed. As we got the finalized list of animals we were going to include for the app, we were able to research the specific animal. This included, but are not limited to:

The Animal Services Website of Sacramento

Enchanted Learning

“City of Sacramento: Animal Services.” City of Sacramento, n.d. Web. <http://www.cityofsacramento. org/General-Services/Animal-Care/Contact-Us>.

“City Dwellers: Animal Printouts.” Enchanted Learning. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/city/>.

The American Humane Association

Wildlife Safety Tips: Raccoons (about.com)

“Wildlife.” The American Humane Association, n.d. Web. <http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/ adoption-pet-care/issues-information/wildlife. html>.

Lupo, Lisa J. “Wildlife Safety Tips: Raccoons.” About | Home. About Inc., n.d. Web. 27 May 2016. <http://pestcontrol.about.com/od/damagefrompests/a/Wildlife-Safety-Tips-Raccoons.htm>.

Project Wildlife

The City of Davis Website

Project WildLife. San Diego Humane Society, n.d. Web. <http://www.projectwildlife.org/index.php>.

“Urban Wildlife.” City of Davis, n.d. Web. <http:// cityofdavis.org/city-hall/urban-wildlife>.

The City of Davis website, as well as the Sacramento Animal Services website gave lists of preventions and solutions to problems that can occur when encountering the animals specific to the area.

Sites like the Enchanted Learning website provided information on how to identify specific animals.

Some websites provided information on what to do if an animal approaches you.

KEY FINDINGS If there is roadkill on the freeway, it is handled by CalTrans, not the city animal control. Dead birds should be reported so that they can be tested for West Nile Virus. The most common wildlife found in Yolo County are raccoon, possum, coyote, mallard, European starling, rats, wild turkey, red-fox squirrels, ground squirrels. The reasons why handling animals are dangerous are because of the chance of diseases. Zoonosis is a disease that is transferred from an animal to a human. An example would be rabies. There are a bunch or ways in which a disease can be transferred. Department of Wildlife actually does not pick up animals. YOLO Animal Services will come, but it depends on how big a nuisance it is. Sac Animal Services does not move/relocate healthy wildlife, as it can potentially kill them. There are animal specific reasons why one should not handle an animal carelessly. Birds can attack if their nest feels threatened. Squirrels can become aggressive when not given food if they rely on humans for nutrition. Numerous websites discussed how to care for injured animals, where to take lost pets, and how to safely prevent animals from entering their property.

REFINEMENT

MAIN IDEA After many hours of research of our subject, we found various methods and facts that were important to include when dealing with animal safety issues. Because of the large amounts of resources and sometimes conflicting data, we decided that it was best to condense this information down. We thought the best way we could do this was by creating an app that would tell you exactly what you can do.

FIRST SKETCHES We started with quick sketches to just get our initial ideas down. We knew we wanted to organize the functions and information into the categories of lost, injured, or dead, to create an opportunity to quickly identify their problem and find their solution.

WIREFRAMING We then began sketching out some wireframes to find out the best way to organize our functions and data. The two main ways we thought of included either categorizing by the situation first, or the identification of the species first.

FIRST PROTOTYPES We followed the wireframe layout in which we categorized the app by the status of the animal. We knew we would have to adapt a brand in order to cohesively put together an app. This prototype was created in order to test different prototyping tools, as we had no experience in prototyping an app.

NEXT STAGE The next stages of the app were to figure out the layout of the pages. This is where we sort of threw away the first prototype since they were just to test out tools like Adobe Experience and Marvel. We needed to figure out what was legible on a phone screen, as well as how blocks of information would look. We also wanted to include an emergency call button if a situation needed urgent care. One thing was for sure: we wanted an image of the animal so the user has a visual confirmation of what they are looking at other than text that tries to describe it.

LOGO SKETCHES We knew we wanted our logo to have some sort of animal characteristics. So we started by sketching out a few logos.

LOGO DIGITAL DRAFTS These four logos were what we came up with after playing around with the idea of implementing the foxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tails and a dogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pawprint. We chose to use a location marker because our app focuses on helping injured, lost, dead animals, which would need the location to help officials locate the animal. We also played with color in order to set a color scheme for our app.

CHOOSING OUR LOGO In the end, we chose the fox tail as our logo because it embodied our emphasis on helping animals.

CHOOSING OUR NAME

Choosing a name for app proved to be hard. We tried various acronyms to create a memorable name but didn’t have much progress until we looked to Susan and Zach for help.

Can I Touch This Animal? (CITTA)

Animal Safety in California (ASC)

Should You Touch This Animal (SYTTA)

Safe Animal Interactions (SAI)

Local Animal Safety Guide (LASG)

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN… YOU FOUND AN ANIMAL? WDYDW

When we took our name list to Susan and Zach, they mentioned that these names were a bit general and weren’t catchy enough. Then Zach looked up synonyms on the internet and found the word “menagerie”. Susan then mentioned that we could use the word “urban” from our temporary title, “ Local Urban Guide to Animal Safety”. Thus, the name Urban Menagerie was chosen.

Local Animal Safety Tips (LAST) Guide To Local Animal Safety Animal Safety App (ASA) A Guide to Safely Interacting with Animals Animal Safety Guide (ASG) Lost, Injured, Dead (LID) When You Find an Animal (WYFA) California Guide for Animal Safety (CGAS)

FINAL LOGO ITERATIONS After getting feedback from our professor and TA, the name Urban Menagerie (UM) was decided on as our work-in-progress app name. Within a three hours work period, we were able to decide on a logo that we were all satisfied with. The product is the initials of Urban Menagerie, along with the tail we developed in the initial logo stage. We played around with the position of said tail to kind of mimic an animal with our logo.

REFINING THE LOGO Once we finalized our name and logo, we realized that the phrase “Urban Menagerie”, had the acronym “UM”. With an acronym like this, it was decided that the logo could be placed by the acronym UM to form a question mark. By doing so, it seems to pose the question our users would ask if they found an animal and didn’t know what to do.

PRELIMINARY APP DESIGNS Like most apps, we wanted a loading screen that would briefly show what we are. The layout of the site is how we initially planned it: organized by LOST, INJURED, DEAD, and I DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T KNOW. We were able to decide a color pallette we were satisfied with and decided that icons would be more friendly than actual images of injured or even dead animals. We decided on this way of categorization because we tested out having all the information on one page and it felt very busy. With his method, we can separate key information the user should take away immediately.

DESCRIPTION PAGES We went through a couple more iterations to see what would look better. The left iteration was the first iteration. This layout provided an easy way of seeing which categories of information there are one the page. However, it felt too busy for the user. The user then The second iteration is close to our final, as we created a more user-friendly interface with a warmer color scheme. We also incorporated all the information better, as well as icons to help emphasize what section is reading,

METHODOLOGY To get a better understanding of our users needs, we followed the three IDEO cards to get our information: Paper Prototyping, Survey & Questionnaires, and Card Sort.

SURVEY & QUESTIONNAIRES In our survey, we chose to use typeform and asked a series of ten questions about animal safety. We posted these questions on three different facebook groups: design, Pets Lost and Found Davis Ca, and Yolo County Pet Talk.

1. What are the most common animals you see in the yolo county on a daily basis? (List the top 3, other than dogs) 2. How often do you interact with local wildlife? (I.e. feeding squirrels, birdwatching, petting feral cats…etc.) 3. Are you aware of the possibility of contracting diseases from any type of animal?

We received a 46 responses with a variety of insightful answers. From the results, we were surprised to learned that Caltrans would take care of animals that was in their vicinity. In addition, it was noted that most people ‘s answers to helping an animal was to call Animal Control, but didn’t know what else to do besides that.

4. Do you know how to identify between a wild or domesticated animal? 5. Do you know what to do with a stray animal that is domesticated? 6. Have you felt threatened by an animal’s presence? 7. Have you ever felt that you were a threat to an animal? 8. Have you ever come across a dead, stray, or injured animal within the past three months in Yolo County? 9. If yes, what actions did you take? If not, do you know who to call or what to do? 10. Would you be interested in learning how to safely interact with animals? In what ways would you like to learn about this information?

USER TESTING (CARD SORT) Using the card sort method, we made cards in order to find the best way to sort our app links. From our results, many people were confused as to what we were doing, but as we explained further they started to understand. Many people sorted the cards by doing Found, Lost, Injured first then putting the different animals.

Here the person ordered it as found, lost, injured first then went in to list the different animals under the three categories.

F I N A L P R OTOT Y P E

FINAL PROTOTYPE Here is the final prototype with a more developed home screen. It provides more insight as to who we are and what our app is about. Our animal description pages follow the newer layout we came up with to better categorize information and to provide methods that users can use to prevent the specific animal from becoming a nuisance. We also changed the emergency number to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife since some animal services do not pick up certain animals. The CDFW would have clear instructions on how to handle the animal a user is calling about.

ANIMAL DESCRIPTIONS These are 3/4 categories we sorted the app into: LOST, LEARN MORE, & DEAD. Here, the user can see general information based on the situation, as opposed to the animal, as the procedures are all fairly similar

ANIMAL DESCRIPTIONS Here we provide the user with the description, identification, as well as instructions on how to safely help the animal if it is injured or lost. We used animals that were listed by our stakeholder as the most common animals in YOLO County. There is also an emergency call function for emergencies.

WHAT NEXT? To further improve the user interface of the app. Create branded items (water bottles, stickers, etc.) to give out at events. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incentive to download and use the app. Much more user testing. We felt like we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get as much as we should have. Talk to more stakeholders. They provide/confirm more information Incorporating more resources and date into the app. To bring the user to a more accurate contact during specific situations.