Counting Sheep: Project Overview

Counting Sheep: NZ Merino in an Internet of Things is a three-year research project (2011-2014) that explores the role cultural studies and design research can play in supporting public understandings of new technologies, and promoting more active public participation in their development and implementation. We invite you to follow our progress on our blog and browse our archive of papers, designs and talks.

BACKGROUND

Enormous amounts of data are generated all around us, every day. The Internet of Things is a vision for computing that works to create new forms of information gathering and make that information available via the internet.

Much of the technology needed to make this happen is already available, but how those technologies get used or how new technologies will be developed is still open to debate.

OBJECTIVES

We are interested in what kinds of technologies might be used, and how their use might change relationships between people, places, animals and markets. Using NZ merino as our case study, we will work with farmers, industry and government to imagine possible technological and social futures for the production and consumption of merino sheep and products.

We will visit high country stations, sale yards, A&P shows, shearing competitions, dog trials, offices and labs to talk with breeders, growers, shearers, wool sorters, scientists, industry representatives, government policy makers and others.

Then we will take what we learn and create designs that encourage people to ask “What If…?” questions about future agricultural technologies.

Finally, we will facilitate public workshops to support discussions about the role of technology in the future of NZ merino. Although our project deals with possible futures, we ultimately aim to provide people with the knowledge needed to take action now.

If you have any questions about our research, or are interested in participating in our project, please email Dr Anne Galloway.

SUPPORT

Our research programme is generously supported by a grant (#VUW1014)  from the Royal Society Marsden Fund and by Victoria University of Wellington.

ETHICS

Our project has human research ethics approval (RM#18196) from Victoria University of Wellington’s Human Ethics Committee.

For more information on human research ethics at VUW, please contact Dr Allison Kirkman (Convenor, HEC) or refer to the Human Ethics Policy (pdf).

COPYRIGHT

The results of our research are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works (BY-NC-ND) 3.0 New Zealand license.

[CC image credit: Merino Sheep by Daniel Pietzsch]