Digital Naturalist Design Guidelines
Andrew Quitmeyer · 2017
This research aims to develop and evaluate a design framework for creating digital devices that support the exploration of animal behaviors in the wild. This paper quickly shares the main concepts and theories from the fields forming Digital Naturalism's foundation while presenting the key challenges emerging from these critical intersections between field biology and computational media. It then reviews the development of this research's hybrid methodology designed specifically for its multi-year series of "Qualitative Action Research" fieldwork carried out at a rainforest field station. This paper analyzes the resulting on-site ethnographies, workshops, design projects, and interactive performances, whose take-aways are synthesized into design guidelines for digital-natural media. This framework, itself, is then evaluated via an extra iteration of fieldwork and the results discussed. Finally, the paper identifies targets for continued research development. Further areas of interest are presented which will promote Digital Naturalism's progression into its own topic of study.