Doggy Cellphones, Culturally Relevant Technologies, and Doggies in China: Dog Bark Sensing Collars and Sensors
Bio-Sense has created a collar to respond to a universal alarm bark that dogs make when they are in a threatening situation. So the way it works is that when the dog makes an alarm bark the collar sends a SMS to the owner! Welcome to the world of doggy cellphones!
Ok this news may not seem relevant to Cultural Bytes but there are two very important reasons why I am writing this post:
REASON #1 - I want to conduct doggy human ethnography - please please will someone with a dog volunteer to pilot this technology! I want to know the doggy and the owner that tries this out - and then I would love to interview you - and then I would love to come and watch your doggy and you interact with the doggy collar! This is my dream ethnography project - watching technology interaction and emotional communication among doggies and humans! Bio-Sense if you read this - hire me as your US ethnographer - this is a dream job! I can help you better understand how doggies and humans use your technology to ensure a successful uptake of your product in the US market.
REASON #2 - Bio-Sense’s Electroic Doggy Collar Cellphone is the perfect example of a culturally relevent technology. Bio-sense receives the Cultural Bytes Relevant Technology Award! Eyal Zehavi, Founder and CEO of Bio-Sense Technology in TelAviv Israel spoke to NPR’s on their audio segment, From Genes To Growls, Decoding The Modern Dog. Eyal explained that the cellphone application and product, Tele-Dog, to NPR and he specifically said that this product is developed for the “US dog owner market.” This is cultural technology genius because Eyal’s product understands that in the US familial structure, dogs play an important social role - they are seen as an integral part of the family. The well-being of the dog is important to the well-being of the family.
This is great example of understanding the culture of a group/region and then developing relevant technology for this group. For example, Doggy Cellphone would not work well in regions that do not have a familial role for the dog. If you go to Mexico - doggies are everywhere - but they aren’t seen as part of the family. In China - dogs are a new social phenomenon - but I can tell you now that people don’t buy dogs in China to add to their family like in the US. Dog ownership in China iactually is a research topic that interests me and something that i have been watching for the last 5 years everytime i’m in China.
Dogs are the new trend in China. I believe this is because they are adopted as a result of the family vacuume created by the government enforced one-child policy for urban areas. When the only child a family grows up and leaves, all of suddent there is a vacuume of attention that wasn’t there before. Parents have no one to coddle!
I think that there are two different categories of doggy owners in the China. One group consists of parents who have realized that they are lonely because their one child has grown up and left home. The other group consists of parents who have realized that their only child IS lonely. The former group buys a dog to replace the void of their child who has left home. The latter group buys a dog to replace the role of a sibling were it not for the one-child policy. Both groups use the dog as a filler, not as a supplement.
Therefore the dog is bought as a replacement, not as an addition to the family. The group that buys dogs to replace the child who has left home tends to overly pamper the dog becaue they have the time to do this.The group that buys the dog to fill in the extra-sibling role tends to ignore the dog. In this group, parents buy the dog simply to make their one child happy and they tell the child that it is their responsibility. As a result, many of times, doggies are left along most of the time and are really lonely because both of the parents are still working and the child is in school 12 hours a day (Chinese school day is long and hard!).
Doggies fill a social void in China - the void of loneliness for parents when their one child has left home or for children who have no brothers and sisters. Therefore the Doggy Cellphone as it is being marketed right now as a security device and as a way to for families to feel secure about the well being of their dog would not work in China. The well-being of the dog is not associated with the well-being of the family.
ok Bio-Sense - congrats for entering the US Market - and thanks for giving me a reason to write about doggies!
(Thanks Tanya Menendez for this post!)
