The back room of the shelter.

This is where the majority of the animals are located.

Interactive pet display? I may have found a solution...

so one of the big issues that the shelter has is that not all of the animals are on display, and most people don't ask to see the rest in the back. They have this empty kiosk up front that could totally house a computer. The BEST situation I think would to have an interactive display/program that showed all the animals in the shelter along with videos and images.

However, a couple problems I face:
a) I am not a computer programer
b) It needs to be easily updated by the volunteers, and can't require any coding knowlege to update.

So why invent the wheel? My goal for this project is to find a way to solve the list of problems I was given by them. I've been searching for a good program that I could utilize and set up there (along with getting a donated computer). And I think I have found it: http://www.rescuegroups.org/services_kiosk

It is a free services, however it is typically used at adoption events and fairs. I have contacted them and I'll see what they say, I think it would be a perfect fit.

Some faces at the shelter

Chihuahuas are one of the most common breeds in shelters now.

This guy could jump as high as my head, I've caught him in a rare moment of stillness.

This guy was annoyed I didn't have food with me.

"Hello kitty, how are you today?"

This cute little guy is only 8 wks old.

Bunny rabbit mugging for the camera. OAS has lots of rabbits available for adoption.

Photos of areas I will be working with

Here are some pictures I took around the shelter of the areas I think I will utilize in solving these problems.

Meeting at Oakland Animal Services with Megan Webb

Last tuesday I met up with Megan Webb, the director for Oakland Animal Services.

I went down to the shelter and took some photographs, and walked around to try and experience what the shelter feels like to a user.

I talked with Megan for a while about the needs she had around the shelter. Things we discussed:

Creating some sort of display for the volunteers who have worked over a certain number of hours.

Changing the "adopted animals" display (it is currently in the lounge/seating area. Volunteers/workers would like to have easier access to it).

Making use of this blank kiosk area that is in the main lobby. Things I would have to organize is finding a donated computer and monitor.

Organizing information and photographs of the animals in the shelter.

Making use of all the blank walls and spaces throughout shelter to display adoptable animals.

One thing that Megan wanted to stress was that she wanted to "change it from feeling like a 'pound.'" She said that she also found that many users simply came in and viewed the animals that were featured; and also that animals are not always on their best behavior when caged.

Plan of attack:

Next step for me is to research printing on ceramic tiles (cafepress.com offers this for relatively cheap). And also to begin searching around for donated computers and computer monitors for the kiosk.

Updated Purpose Statements

Oakland Animal Services.
Purpose: To increase adoption rates at the Oakland Animal Shelter by making information more readily available to users. To come up with a system that better displays the available dogs at the shelter; to create a more visual and interactive system for evaluating and understanding the various needs of the dogs.
1. "USERS": primary users; beneficiaries; stakeholders
Potential adopters; workers and volunteers at oakland animal services; the various animals who are housed and available
2. "ENVIRONMENT: the location, setting; context;
Oakland Animal Services is located in Oakland, CA. in a slightly out of the way place.
1101 29th Avenue, Oakland, California 94601

The setting is an animal shelter that houses dogs, cats, rabbits, and various other animals. The public can come to view these animals during business hours and adopt.
3. "RESOURCES": references; literature; comparisons; expert sources; etc.

My sources would potentially be the workers at the Oakland Animal Services (volunteers, workers, animal control officers), and potential adopters who come into the shelter.

Animal Shelter Magazine:

http://www.animalsheltering.org/

An article discussing No Kill shelter reform:

http://www.shelterreform.org/Wingrad.html

This website a student put together filled with reviews of various shelter activies:

http://www.squidoo.com/animalshelter

Visual Disorganizational System for Micah

Micah is a pack rat, who likes to collect things and have stuff available to him. He is not messy in the sense that it is trash, but more he likes to keep things that he thinks will be relevant to design or his inspiration later. He goes through wallets frequently because they breakdown after being filled with various things such as business cards, etc. He recently bought a three-fold wallet so he could keep things even further compartmentalized.

Micah says that he has never lost anything, so his accumulation of stuff is not do to him being scattered. He also says that he is always aware of things and where they are, that the only time its an issue is when someone else cleans his room or moves things. Also sometimes things being in a pile means its more difficult to reach items. Another issue Micah said he had was that he has to go to another space when he has to work because he finds his clutter distracting; this seems counterproductive, seeing as he saves many things to be inspirational for him.

My Design Solution: Wall panels/shelving that lines the entire room. The purpose of this is to move the clutter from the floor, and spread it out visually on the wall. This would allow him to see where everything is, and he could put it wherever he wants (there would be no overlaying or enforced organization such as "all CDs go here" etc.). The panels would be different colors or textures to allow for better memory retention in terms of where things were placed.

In addition to that, to remove the problem of his clutter being distracting, there would be retracting panels that folded down from the walls that would cover all the shelving units and give it the appearance of a flat wall.