May 1, 2012
Several of the presenters have shared their presentations from the February symposium via Zoolex.org.
“Managed exchanges of specimens with wild populations” by Monika Fiby
“Design and architecture: Third generation conservation, post-immersion and beyond” by Jon Coe
“Beyond the animal: Exhibiting and interpreting nature” by David Hancocks
May 1, 2012
As some of you may know, writing fiction is a hobby of mine. Recently, I was awarded a Runner-Up honor in a national writing contest. In an interview related to the contest, I discussed how designing zoos affects my writing and vice versa. (And, my story is sort of about animals, so it’s relevant!) Check out the interview and story here.
April 27, 2012
In February, the Buffalo Zoo and Canisius College hosted a special symposium entitled “The Future of Zoos.” Unfortunately, we here at Designingzoos.com completely missed that this symposium was occurring, but luckily, our friend, founder of Zoolex.org, and symposium presenter, Monika Fiby, shared her thoughts.
| Impressions by Monika Fiby monika@fiby.at, monika@zoolex.org How will zoos look in 50 to 100 years from now? This was the theme of the “Future of Zoos” symposium held at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. American animal behavior experts, conservationists, zoo directors, and international zoo design visionaries were invited to share not only what they think will be, but also to articulate what should be.I was attracted by the program, the list of participants and the proposed presentation topics. There are not many opportunities to meet with experts for a philosophical discourse. Others obviously thought the same and also made there way to Buffalo in February, which is really not the best time for a visit up North. The weather was as cold as expected and ineffective heating and ventilation systems challenged my fitness. On the other hand, excellent organization and care by staff and volunteers made sure that we never waited anywhere in the cold and could not get lost. We enjoyed a welcoming atmosphere and the time we were awarded for unusual talks with unusual people. Our host, Michael Noonan, is professor of animal behavior at the Canisius College Institute for the Study of Human-Animal Relations and director of the college’s new graduate program in Anthrozoology, that examines the relationships between people and their companion animals, animals in art, literature, science, agriculture and zoos. Co-host was the Buffalo Zoo. The format of the symposium was formal presentations with some open discussion inbetween. The audience, about 100 zoo interested students and professionals, were invited to submit questions to the moderator. The symposium was video taped for compiling and publishing a printed document about the presentations and discussions. Symposium participants were asked to present their vision on following subjects: Anticipating the Nature of Future Zoo Visitors:
The Role of Zoos in Conservation
Species Selection in Future Zoos:
Many statements remained undisputed, while others were highly controversial. Although we were asked to prepare visions for a far distant future, most discussions revolved about the current situation in the US and short term trends. I summarized, what I considered interesting points from my personal perspective as an Austrian landscape architect and zoo designer with an international perspective. I studied in the United States, participated in several American zoo conferences and have known several participants for a long time. On the other hand, I have been working in Europe, Africa and Asia. I therefore focus on trends and visions that I believe are relevant on a global scale. General trends Urbanization, diversity, the demand for customization, all time media-use and nature-deficit disorders are trends that make zoos a prime location for family shared experiences and unstructured play. The divide between elite and working class will become more important in the future. Scientific findings dissolve the differences between animal and man. Feelings, emotion, empathy, tool use, self-awareness and collaboration are not distinctive features, but gradual differences. Climate change and lack of corridors between habitats trap wild animals. Conservation efforts so far have mostly been driven by species’ importance, body mass and representation of biological distinctiveness. Compelling visions Zoos have too many functions (conservation, education, entertainment) and need to change and focus. Zoos will become less ark and more museum, less global and more local, less urban and more park. Performing art, virtual experiences, environmentalism and political mission will become more important. Institutions will decentralize and become managers of animal experiences. These experiences will be less predictable and more open ended than today. Zoos thus will continue to develop into many different forms: reserves, protected areas, safaris, parks, sanctuaries, rehabilitation centres, breeding centres, theme parks, virtual zoos. etc. The development is not linear, but happens parallel at different speed in different places. Cohabitation with semi-wild animals in urban, agricultural and forestry landscapes will also develop. The boundaries between managing animal populations in semi-wild, free-range and captive situations will blur. The translocation of wild animals – such as elephants in Malaysia – into semi-wild conditions will continue. The difference between ex-situ and in-situ will blur. Semi-natural settings for observing semi-wild animals will become common tourist attractions. Education Zoos are not the right location to promote behaviour change because this takes time. Zoos’ strengths are authenticity (real animals, real people, real projects, real stories, real experiences), various levels of engagement (signs, programs, websites), customization (media, programs), and connection with local nature. There is a demand for conservation action that zoos can answer with local conservation projects. The boundaries between formal and informal education are blurring. Welfare Reducing animals to objects of entertainment and education is in conflict with allowing them as much sovereignty as possible. New technologies such as motion detectors may help to give captive animals more control of their environment. Physical interaction with wild animals may get replaced by virtual touch. Since no technology replaces the real animal experience and effective monitoring of touching is not possible, domestic animals are the first place for direct interaction. Stress indicating devices may help to manage touch animals. In the future, more people may get involved in animal management decisions such as transfer, euthanasia, rescue and reintroduction since it has become easier to identify individual animals. Rescue and reintroduction may become common practice of zoos and aquariums in collaboration with welfare activists. There is no contradiction between conservation and welfare. Animal care improves with science. Welfare research for zoo animals is more difficult than for farm animals because their living conditions are much more varied. Welfare should become the main consideration when keeping animals. Husbandry should provide optimum physical and social environments. No more locking in of animals in winters, no more concrete floors, no more “wrong” animals in zoos. Orcas, chimpanzees, elephants may not be allowed in zoos in the future and more species may follow. But, where will they live? Conservation Restoration costs much more than conservation. Conservation helps to avoid extinction. But, reproduction is expensive and not sustainable in zoos. Zoos cannot be arks because of space problems and small animal populations. Reproduction planning should be top-down. Thus, large scale breeding centres, translocation, reintroduction for genetic augementation might become more common. Zoos should narrow the range of display animals, spezialize and focus, and eventually replace sanctuaries. On the other hand, diverse collections and breeding are useful for keeper training. Cloning may become a tool for restoring extinct species, but also for creating chimeras. Cave bear, woolly mammoth, dodo and Tasmanian tiger may be recreated, because their DNA is available. A Pleistocene collection is imaginable. Genetic engineering may be used to customize animals, such as lions that behave like cats. Summary Overall, the symposium was inspiring and exciting and many wished that there will be similar events in the future. The opportunity to discuss with experts from various disciplines on an abstract level was considered useful: Self-reflection and uncovering assumptions may help us to give up disfunctional human centricism. |
April 21, 2012
In a study conducted by climate change education research group, CLiZEN, current zoo and aquarium visitors are highly engaged in digital media on a regular basis. The inaugural study was intended to collect background information on zoo-goers for use as the group develops educational recommendations specific to climate change. However, these results have larger educational and marketing implications, as was discussed earlier in this previous post.
From the study:
“Research Topic: Zoo and aquarium visitors have access to and experience with virtual social networks and other Internet technology platforms.
To determine the potential for usage of technology platforms as effective climate change
education resources for zoo and aquarium visitors, visitors were asked if they use mobile
technology to access the Internet and whether they regularly use any social networks or gaming
systems.
To read the full study, click here.
April 20, 2012
The AZA Elephant TAG has created a concise resource for all things elephants including educational messaging content, exhibit design recommendations, conservation, husbandry resources among many other interesting and helpful info.
Check it out here.
October 6, 2011
Fledgling economic firm, Market & Feasibility Advisors (MFA), recently released a national review of all 220 AZA accredited institutions’ revenue strategies. This review includes basic statistics on pricing and membership strategies, presence of animal encounters and rides, among many others.
MFA’s recent document is part of an on-going process to build a database for use by clients when evaluating their economic status. Within this ‘teaser’ document, MFA shares a few of their industry insights.
1. Zoos across the country do not share a pricing strategy, nor does there appear to be any causal relationship between price and characteristics of the zoos. Basically, as guests, we pay what the market will bear.
2. Individual membership pricing is over-priced across the country (vs. family memberships).
3. Zoos under-utilize rides as a revenue AND interpretation strategy.
4. Water play is a hot new trend with real revenue potential.
For the complete document, click Zoo Aquarium report 2011.
October 4, 2011
Okay. This is sort of a ‘duh’ post. But…get over it.
According to AZA’s Economic Impact Report released earlier this year:
“Total contribution of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums to the U.S. economy in
2010 was $16 billion, generating personal earnings totaling $4.7 billion and
supporting 142,436 jobs.”
This contribution was attributed to both zoo spending (operating outlays and capital improvements) and guest ‘before-and-after visit’ spending.
For the full report, click AZA Impacts 2011.
Go AZA!
September 18, 2011
Every so often, a new idea has so much traction its all anyone can talk about. The new idea at AZA this year? Integration of mobile technology into the guest experience. Big words. Simple ideas.
8:30 a.m. Saturday. Many people have left the conference by now. Others are simply too tired from a long week (or a long Friday night out) to even imagine dragging themselves out of their comfortable Omni Hotel bed into the chilly gray Atlanta morning to listen to non-industry experts talk about Macro Trends. But not me. I’m there in room A305 along with a smattering of other over-achieving, artificially awake zoo and aquarium professionals.
Stan Sthanunathan from Coca-Cola schooling us in world trends
Our reward this morning? The Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Insights at Coca-Cola, Stan Sthanunathan, and Heather Baldino, the Senior Vice President of Network Marketing and Operations for Turner Broadcasting System. Big wigs. Real, world-class big wigs. For us zoo folks, practically marketing gods.
This session was named Macro Trends in the Zoo and Aquarium Industry. Not technology trends or social media marketing. Trends. But what did both of these big wigs have to tell us? Get connected to your audience. And not in the touchy-feely sorta way. In the digital way. And its got to be a two-way street.
Stan talked about the importance of this as a means to respond to the changing market. Today’s biggest changes? Shifting demographics (the world is getting older), shifting economic center (its China and India, not the great West), sustainability as a core value (especially with limited resources of water and petroleum), the emerging middle class (expect an additional 800 million by 2020), the connected world (think “world news in a matter of minutes, if not seconds”), and a focus on well-being (the US is fat).
As the world changes, zoos and aquariums must adapt and evolve in our relationships with our market. Baldino pointed out that on-demand entertainment (like Netflix, YouTube, Roku, XBox 360, iPhone, iPad, etc) has skyrocketed in the last two years alone causing a steep decline in non-electronic sources of entertainment. People who like media, use media. All kinds and all the time. People are “watching CNN at home on the couch with their smartphone, pulling stats from the CNN website, investigating things they see on TV.” The younger generation are even more dependent on media, and much more adept at digital multi-tasking.
So, how do we increase our share of the entertainment time budget of our audience? How do we expand the experience to before and after their visit to our parks? Digital media, and more specifically: mobile media.
Heather Baldino from Turner Broadcasting explaining how the digital landscape is changing the world.
Depending on the source, between 28-38% of the US population carries a smartphone. Smartphone users access the internet (or some internet based app) at least four times a day, according to Baldino. More than half of the US population accessed Facebook in June 2011. These users are not just kids. In fact, the majority of these users are between the ages of 25 and 54. What does that mean for zoos and aquariums who tend to focus on content for kids? It means an opportunity for developing a social experience within the family.
According to Baldino, most of the users of the Cartoon Network’s website and Facebook pages are adults on behalf of their kids. They don’t access the pages FOR the kids, they access the pages WITH the kids. These experiences can enhance the zoo visit by “amplifying and extending the experience.”
Of course, it also presents an opportunity to reach out to our heretofore untapped resource of “adults with no kids” market, which as shown in our PGAV Zoo-Goer study, is interested and does exist.
But how do we do that?
On Friday afternoon, a large, happy group of conference attendees met to address exactly that question. Currently, QR code integration and direct texting are the hottest methodologies in use at zoos and aquariums. But, Mobile Excursions, LLC CEO, Dan Shropshire, recommends utilizing hybrid apps for smartphones. Only 20% of the top 80 attractions by attendance are using apps at all, and he thinks its mostly due to price. Hybrid apps are useful to zoos and aquariums with limited budgets as they utilize web content already created thereby bypassing the resource intense content creation phase.
Craig Leonardi, Lead Product Manager Industry Solutions at AT&T, points out that if you want to delve into smartphone apps and mobile web, you must have easy navigation, big buttons, an editor’s eye to content, and ensure proper formatting. If you don’t deliver these things, your guest may use the app once and never return to it. That obviously won’t help us achieve our goals!
Leonardi goes on to suggest the use of QR codes. If you’ve been asleep for the last year or so, QR codes are the funky black and white squares you see on almost every print ad out there. You’ll see them on products and packaging, too. I’ve seen them on Pepsi cups at the Milwaukee County Zoo. As a consumer, you simply download a QR reader app onto your smartphone, then scan the code with your phone’s camera, and you are instantly connected to some specific web content related to that particular brand or attraction. The Pepsi cup took me to a web-only commercial parodying and besting Coca-cola’s famous polar bear ads.
The nice thing about QR codes is that any zoo can utilize them with minimal cost as free QR code generators are accessible and easy to use online. All you need is a computer, a printer, and a video uploaded to YouTube.
That’s exactly what Santa Barbara Zoo is doing right now. Using a QR code generator called Kaywa, the Zoo is able to easily create expanded content for its guests. And they’ve even utilized a fan video, which has gone mildly viral. And I’ll admit, I’m slightly obsessed with it.
If you’re going to use QR codes, Leonardi suggests taking advantage of your guests’ downtime. Meaning, any time they are standing in line, sitting down, or otherwise not actively engaged in an activity, make these opportunities available. Dean Noble from the Santa Barbara Zoo went so far to suggest using them at exhibits that are known to be snoozers. If you’re animals aren’t all that active, offer a code linking to a cool enrichment or training video. It won’t replace the live animal interaction, but it’ll offer another aspect of the animal that the guest is not currently getting to enjoy.
As for texting, Monterey Bay Aquarium is utilizing a simple scheme to help visitors see cool things throughout their visit. Everyone loves watching the critters get fed. So, through a voluntary program where guests opt-in to direct texting for one day, the Aquarium, via text message, suggests guests make their way to certain exhibits minutes before an unscheduled feeding is to occur. The Aquarium can use this system to selectively send guests to one exhibit or another based on attendance and crowding that day, ultimately helping to distribute guests throughout the Aquarium more efficiently.
With all these cool things zoos and aquariums are doing now, we have to understand that currently, today, right now, usage of these apps, QR codes, and direct texting is very low. According to both Shropshire and Mike Chamberlain at Monterey Bay, usage hovers between 1.5-2% of attendance. However, as trust of these new technologies increase over time, usage should also increase.
In order to succeed in integrating these technologies into the guest experience, Baldino suggests that the digital reward must be interactive and short. According to her, smartphone users are looking for quick info, tidbits, immediate gratification. She calls it “snacking.” If the content is too long, you’ll lose the audience’s attention. She went on to say interactivity is absolutely key to digital content especially for kids. Things like polls and voting, the ability to collect electronic prizes, like badges or digital animals, and share their collection with friends, photo tagging, games and live chats enable the audience to get involved, to interact, to connect.
Cartoon Network's Games page
“Digital is here to stay,” said Baldino. It should serve to amplify your product, not be the core experience. It should engage and connect customers. Many times, especially the older generations, feel digital experiences are alienating and isolating, which is the polar opposite of what we are trying to achieve in the zoo and aquarium world. But according to Baldino and Stan, digital is actually community-building. People tell each other about videos and apps, they send each other links, and talk to each other online. ”Its the new water cooler,” said Baldino. ”If you’re going to take advantage of Facebook, do it now.”
September 17, 2011
The importance of zoos and aquariums seemed to be the underlying theme of Friday’s AZA National Conference morning general session which featured talks by several prominent zoo and aquarium personalities including AZA President & CEO, Jim Maddy, AZA Chair of the Board and St. Louis Zoo Director, Jeff Bonner, and keynote speaker, CEO of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, John Racanelli.
John Racanelli
Racanelli’s bold rhetorical question still lingers with me: ”How is there still a question as to why zoos and aquariums matter?”
The U.S. boasts 225 AZA accredited animal facilities. That’s 225 zoos and aquariums, and variations thereof, that have dedicated themselves to achieving the highest husbandry standards possible,fostering an environment for serious scientific inquiry, creating wholesome, fun, educational family experiences, and supporting long-term conservation programs both in-house and in the wild.
In fact, America’s accredited zoos and aquariums invest nearly $115 million annually in direct support of wildlife conservation efforts.
Unlike other non-profits with similar expenditures (ie WWF), supporting conservation efforts is NOT the primary reason zoos and aquariums exist. According to Racanelli, they exist to create social and emotional bonds to wildlife, to inspire {a love of nature}, and to do these things in a manner that the public respects.
Cynthia Vernon, VP of Education, Guest and Research Programs at the world renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium once told Racanelli that people come to aquariums to “find social time, not to be educated.” So how do we create bonds and inspire the guests in a respectful way that allows them to satisfy their need for social experiences?
A family enjoying social time at Brookfield Zoo.
Racanelli suggests to educate when the guest is open to listening. This means inserting the educational aspect while the audience is inspired, not after, as is often the case in a traditional exhibit. Think about it. How often do you see the interactives and informational graphics tucked away in a corner or gathered together as you exit? How often do you feel compelled to explore these educational options? How often are you watching the animals wishing you knew the answer to “what the heck is that walrus doing?”
Racanelli suggests that we “rethink how we do what we do.” We need to build a movement. In order to do so, we need to understand who our audience is today and tomorrow. Today’s audience may still be Boomers, but Millenials are a major segment and will only continue to grow.
Millenials are “selected, protected and connected.” Selected, as in parents today are making a conscious decision when to have their children and exactly how many to have. Additionally, they are protecting them from the world’s dangers like at no time before (ie must be in car seats until they’re 4′ 9″?!?! No more lying in the back of the station wagon watching the streetlights pass overhead!). And of course, they are the permanently wired generation.
Check out this link for more Millenials info.
Other interesting and little known info about our current audience? Hispanic, non-English speaking families are more likely to recognize that humans are the primary threat to oceans than caucasian families. And they are willing to pay more for seafood that is caught responsibly.
So how do we change with the ever-changing visitor market? Be controversial! says Racanelli. We’re often so focused on not being the center of controversy (the target of animal rights smear campaigns) that we forget the old celebrity adage: Any press is good press! Of course, we only want good press when it comes to animal welfare and conservation, but the point is still valid. Be bold. Be confident. Get the audience’s attention!
They sure got mine.
September 16, 2011
I probably should have announced this BEFORE actually getting to the conference so that I might have had a chance to meet a reader or two, but, as they say, hindsight is 20/15, right?
That's me!
It’s Friday, and the AZA National Conference in Atlanta, GA has been in full swing since Wednesday. I, however, just arrived last night, and thus today is my first, and only, full day here. The Conference is jointly hosted this year by the Georgia Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta.
Conference Program
What makes this conference special is the fact that it is all about getting things done and sharing knowledge. Unlike many other professional conferences, whose main draw is a large exhibit hall unveiling new technologies and new products, the AZA Conference is 3 full days filled with concurrent sessions about topics ranging from (picking randomly from the conference program…) “Zoo Elephants: Towards a Sustainable Population with Excellent Welfare” to “The More We Work Together: Successful Departmental Collaboration within Zoos and Aquariums” and “Aquariums, Social Media, and New Initiatives to Engage People with Climate Change.” Additionally, the Conference serves as a meeting place for the very active committees present within the AZA, with multiple days dedicated to these closed door sessions.
I will be documenting the sessions I attend, so keep alert! And if any of you attended a session that I didn’t cover and would like to share your thoughts, please let me know.
Limited Conference Schwag
