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Article published In:
Animal-Computer Interfaces: Novel Approaches for Studying Animal Behavior, Cognition and Communication
Edited by Irene M. Pepperberg
[Interaction Studies 24:2] 2023
► pp. 201–224

A biosemiotics perspective on dogs’ interaction with interfaces

An analytical and design framework

ORCID logo | The Open University

Understanding how animals might make sense of the interfaces they interact with is important to inform the design of animal-centered interactions. In this regard, biosemiotics provides a useful lens through which to examine animals’ interactions with interfaces and the sensemaking mechanisms that might underpin such interactions. This paper leverages Uexküll’s Umwelt theory, Peirce’s logic of sign relations and Gibson’s theory of affordances to analyze examples of dogs’ interactions with interfaces, particularly the role of the semiotic mechanisms of indexicality and isomorphism. Based on these analyses, the paper derives design implications, and proposes a semiotic framework to support the analysis and design of canine-centered interactions. The framework could be subsequently extended to support the analysis and design of interactive systems for other species.

Keywords: biosemiotics, dogs, animal-centered interactions, affordance, indexicality, isomorphism
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Influence of cognitive and behaviorist approaches on canine interaction design
  • 3.A biosemiotics perspective on interaction
    • 3.1The world from the organism’s perspective
    • 3.2Signs as symbolic, iconic and indexical relations
  • 4.The semiotics of affordance
    • 4.1Gibson’s theory of affordances
    • 4.2Affordance as a basis for substitution
    • 4.3Affordance as a basis for dogs’ interpretation
  • 5.The semiotics of dogs’ interaction with interfaces
    • 5.1Case 1: Making sense of an affordance chain
    • 5.2Case 2: Evolution of sensemaking from decoding to interpreting
    • 5.3Case 3: Interpreting and translating interaction patterns
    • 5.4Case 4: Semiotic consistency, sensemaking and experience
  • 6.The semiotics of affordance in practice: implications for design
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • References
Published online: 3 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.22027.man
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