about my research
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONS
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
I conduct empirical and conceptual studies trying to determine what exactly the role of technology should be across different kinds of human-animal relations, focusing more on what these human-animal dyads need, rather than what they might think they want. I approach this through the lenses of anthrozoology and requirements engineering, having extensively worked on human-dog relations, but now increasingly turning my focus on the role of technology in human-wildlife relations.
(SOME) key work
van der Linden, Davidson, Hirsch-Matsioulas, & Zamansky: The role of technology in human-dog relationships. IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society, 2022
van der Linden: Interspecies information systems. Requirements Engineering, 26, pp. 535-556, 2021
Zamansky, van der Linden, Hadar, & Bleuer-Elsner: Log my dog: Perceived impact of canine activity tracking. IEEE Computer, 52(9), pp. 35—43, 2019
Security AND PRIVACY OF animal TECHNOLOGY
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
I was one of the first people to study and conceptualize the novel privacy issues that arise with animal technology such as pet wearables — but many more questions remain I continue to work on. For example, what right to privacy can non-humans have? Exactly what human information can we infer from what animal data? What is really the data ecosystem that drives the monetization of animal data?
(SOME) key work
van der Linden et al.: Buddy's wearable is not your buddy: privacy implications of pet wearables. IEEE Security & Privacy, 17(3), pp. 28-39, 2019.
Dirk van der Linden, Matthew Edwards, Irit Hadar, Anna Zamansky. Pets without PETs: on the under-estimation of privacy concerns in pet wearables. Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETS), 2020.1, pp. 143—164, 2020.
Dirk van der Linden, Emma Williams, Irit Hadar, Anna Zamansky. “Some might freak out” — What if your dog's activity tracker were to have a data breach? Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), 2019.
computational animal behavior analysis
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
With the Tech4Animals Lab, I collaborate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven tools to understand animal behavior and positively affect animal welfare and well-being.
(SOME) key work
Shir Amir, Anna Zamansky, Dirk van der Linden. K9-Blyzer: Towards a Video-based Automatic Analysis of Canine Behavior. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), 2017.
Sarah-Elizabeth Byosiere, Marcelo Feighelstein, Kristiina Wilson, Jennifer Abrams, Guy Elad, Nareed Farhat, Anna Zamansky, Dirk van der Linden, Dmitrii Kaplun, Aleksandr Sinitca. Evaluation of Shelter Dog Activity Levels Before and During COVID-19 using Automated Analysis. Applied Animal Behavior Science, 2022.
