Paper short abstract:

Virtual fencing applications transform established techniques of herding animals as well as human-animal interactions. Such media technologies enable governing animals’ (im)mobility based on different kinds of interfaces which the paper will analyze employing the case of an exemplary fencing app.

Paper long abstract:

Various technological developments In the field of precision livestock farming promote a data-driven vision of human-animal interaction. In particular, the cultural technique of herding animals becomes a focus of technological optimization. Core to imagining and developing more ‘effective' herding techniques for managing animal (im)mobilities are virtual fencing applications. Conceptually, the function of virtual fencing is to herd livestock, e.g. cattle, on the basis of digital technology and no longer by established techniques of domestication like electric fences. For virtual fencing a collar is attached to the individual cattle and fed with GPS-data that farmers determine within an application’s visual interface. By virtually drawing a fence, the farmer constitutes the boundaries of available grazing ground in a remote location. This position data is continuously aligned with the position of the cattle respectively the collar. If the cattle approach a virtual fence, the collar emits an audio cue which – if the animal won’t stop – transforms into an electrical shock.

From a media studies and STS perspective, the paper traces current transformations of the cultural technique of herding by analyzing an exemplary virtual fencing application and its interfaces. It focuses on design concepts and particular media operations to address the question of how this media technology governs both animals and farmers as well as their interactions.