For this week’s blog post, I chose to examine the data set of animal services intake. This data set refers to any type of animals that have been turned into various animal services and shelters.
The ontology of the data set provides us with some information about the animal including the shelter where they came from, animal identification number, intake date, intake type, intake condition, animal type, group, and breed. This data is probably most useful for shelters as a preliminary information about animals that have been brought in. For example, the intake type can give animal shelters a better sense of where these animals come from and how that background has affected their well-being. Animals that were brought in by Animal Cruelty Task Force will be treated differently from animals that were brought in by homeowners.
Other categories are also sufficient for a preliminary categorization. However, the ontology presented in the Animal Service Intake Data probably doesn’t provide enough information for people who are looking for animals to adopt. The intake condition only has three categories: alive, dead, or litter. If people who are looking to adopt animals come across this website, they would not be satisfied with these categories. I would suggest adding another category for “sick” or “injured”. Moreover, for animal type, the categories are bird, cat, dog, equine, livestock, and other. These categories reveal that these are the animals that are most commonly turned in and that birds, cats, and dogs probably have a bigger proportion. The category for breeds are also provide some information as to what the pets look like. However, mixed breeds are harder to identify. If a person is looking for a certain mixed breed, this data would not be very useful for them. I would even suggest adding a column on whether the animal species that are turned in invasive to that area. In my summer class, I learned about the danger of invasive species and how they can be detrimental to the native population, our lives, and the economy. It’s difficult to let people be aware of this issue, so if I were to create another data set, I would add another column to categorize how invasive the animal is. I would also add another column for the age of the animal if possible. Moreover, it would be very useful to show the intake and outcomes for animals over time to see how many animals get adopted and how many are still in the system.
Hi,
This is an interesting analysis on the ontology of animal service. I agree that the intake categories are extremely limiting and are not helpful. It is extremely important for the user to better understand the animal’s background and condition via using more extensive categories in order to make a better decision that would lead to a better match.