Project Summary.
- Our team was tasked with creating an application that explored the cage-free industry yet expanded to focus on the treatment of livestock in the U.S. more broadly rather than focusing solely on cage-free.
- The R Shiny app we created uses an interactive quiz, an interactive map, data visualizations, and researched content written by us to introduce animal/livestock welfare issues in the U.S., display nationwide legislation in a visually interesting way, describe differences in food prices from different suppliers, and show our app’s design process.
- Our app would be useful for people interested in learning some livestock welfare basics and connecting with resources to further their education on the topic.
End Product.
Our goals are to spread awareness about livestock welfare in the U.S:
- Simplify the confusing information about animal cruelty.
- Target visual representations to aid understanding.
- Reinforce learning through fun, interactive quizzes.
Our audience is consumers who may want to eat products from companies with better treatment for animals. Fun and/or interactive aspects are:
- About page: interactive quiz.
- Consumer info page: glossaries.
- Legislative Process: Interactive map.
- Local connection: interactive plots.
Future work would be to elaborate more on the cruelty-free industries, another significant component of general animal welfare. Expand our focus outside of the United States, as many other countries/regions are facing similar ethical progressions and creating new legislation.
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge Tommy Hexter, Prof. Eliott, and JaeChul Jung for their instruction in this course. We would also like to thank our peers in CSC-324-01 (Software Design & Development) and in TUT-100-13 (MacHines, Space, & Topology) for helping us brainstorm and find resources for this project.
References.
– Animal Welfare Institute.
– Legal Protections for Animals on Farms
– Mapping the transition to Cage-Free Eggs State by State
– https://github.com/topojson/us-atlas
