Animal Finder Future Users Page
From Katrina Help Info
This page is for GulfpetFinder's Potential Users.
We have 7 questions we hope you can help us with. You can email us your information at katrinadev-petfinder@googlegroups.com. Or you can leave those comments here by scrolling down, clicking the blue edit tab at the right, entering your information, and saving the page. If you leave information on this page you will have to log in.
- 1. What sites have you used for matching lost pets to owners?
- 2. What do you like about those sites?
- 3. What do you dislike about those sites?
- 4.Do you feel current search sites meet your needs?
- 5. If not, why?
- 6. Thinking about those sites that you have used, what information is NOT collected about pets that you feel is important or might help you match lost pets to owners?
- 7. If you believe a better way to search is needed, what would you want to see changed?
You can answer the above questions, along with any other comments either by sending an email to katrinadev@googlegroups.com OR by entering that information here. You can enter the information here as follows:
Scroll down past the Table of Contents. There are many heading for "Comments." Choose any open spot. On the right hand side you will see a small blue word that says "edit." Click that. A new page will open. Answer the questions on that page (or paste information you have written in Word or another word processing program). Click Save page. For further help on how to add text to this page click here. (http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Help:Editing)
Thank you!
| Table of contents |
Response 1
1. What sites have you used for matching lost pets to owners?
http://www.thehorse.com http://www.petfinder.com http://www.nola.com
2. What do you like about those sites?
thehorse.com--ease of use; very short delay in postings after moderators gave materials a cursory glance for content petfinders.com--the very best photo and search link database, with the most options for criteria nola.com--a wide open chat with open subjects and multiple viewpoints
3. What do you dislike about those sites?
thehorse.com--no photos, poor updating once information was initially entered (not typically reliable for anything more than 3days old. petfinders.com--frequent errors in postings (dogs listed as cats and vice versa), little conversational capabilities nola.com--moderators arbitrarily altered and deleted useful commentary, and inappropriate users were allowed to openly interfere.
4. Do you feel current search sites meet your needs?
Not at all.
5. If not, why?
No one site had everything that was needed, and sites made no attempt to communicate with one another to share information. Everyone wanted to be THE site, and that made the entire process more difficult. There was little actual cooperation on the administrative or logistical level.
6. Thinking about those sites that you have used, what information is NOT collected about pets that you feel is important or might help you match lost pets to owners?
Some sites allowed information to be posted that had no owner or contact information whatsoever--just posts of "X-animal found here, please help!" No sites provided reliable data to show which animals had been reached, which were alive and which had been lost. There were huge gaps in the tracking process for animals that were found and rescued; no one knew where they were, nor when they were moved when lodgings changed.
7. If you believe a better way to search is needed, what would you want to see changed?
One site with links to every other available site, divided by region AND alphabetically. Photo databases that aren't linked to search functions. Allow people to screen for animals found in geographic locales, rather than animal-type.
Response 2
1. What sites have you used for matching lost pets to owners?
http://www.nola.com http://www.petfinder.com http://www.petharbor.com http://www.spcamc.org http://www.sbpdogs.atlantapets.org
2. What do you like about those sites?
pictures - they are a big help when contacting owners
3. What do you dislike about those sites?
no pictures and vague descriptions.
4. Do you feel current search sites meet your needs?
yes in some instances but mainly no.
5. If not, why?
seems that pets are everywhere and it's hard to figure out where an animal ended up. with so many shelters taking in animals, how is a finder to know sometimes if he/she is looking at the same animal or a new one.
6. Thinking about those sites that you have used, what information is NOT collected about pets that you feel is important or might help you match lost pets to owners?
Better information on markings besides the obvious. for example, my dog has all black nails on the front paws. two black, two white on one rear paw and two black, two half white/half black nails on the other paw. Also, are there certain names, words or commands that a particular animal will respond to (something no other pet would recognize).
Additional Remarks
My biggest issues are 1) the lack of pictures on some of the sites and 2) no response from owners ... who may not have internet access at all times.
Remarks 3
I would want to be able to enter the basics but special fields for markings such as a bald patch on tail, cysts as mentioned, any scars, maybe what his temperment was, and what I think it may be, favorite games, toys, foods, nicknames, behaviors, likes, dislikes, etc... I'm thinking someone distraught and searching may not think to enter all these in a comment field, so maybe they could be prompted by some questions.
Remarks 4
Would it be possible to expand the space for identifying features? Instead of only being able to put in "red collar" how about "red collar with name Corky and phone number ___inside collar" or "fatty tumors" or "cysts" or "brown diamond on head, striped tail". perhaps some medical information would be appropriate to be input by rescuers/veterinarians, too, since owners are describing dogs that used to weigh 105 pounds and now weigh far less.
Remarks 5
I would like to see a "Print This Page" button on the top of the search site if possible verses the keep note of ID number ect. Also what of a cost? I like the idea of a cross-search. The owner could type in the color of the collar, crossed with the animal type,then the zip code. Those fields could narrow down the search considerably.
Wishlist of Features for Future
- Email Notifications about updates to a particular record
- Zip code search
- # of search results displayed
- Keyword search
- Photo upload feature
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Animal Finder Directory
- Animal Rescue Resources Wiki in use by the public
- Animal Finder Project Wiki in development
- Animal Finder Assignments ++
- Animal Finder Contributors Pages ++
- Animal Finder Coordination ++ Provides a high-level view of the status and activities for the various projects under the Animal Finder Project umbrella
- Animal Finder Data Entry Tips ++
- Animal Finder Funding Plan ++ A plan to explain the value of this project and pursue funding to build out these tools and services.
- Animal Finder Future Developments
- Animal Finder Future Users Page
- Animal Finder Interchange Format or AFIF
- Animal Finder Mission ++
- Animal Finder Outreach ++ Outreach/marketing and press information about the project
- Animal Finder Outreach Lists ++
- Animal Finder Privacy Statement ++
- Animal Finder Task List ++
- Animal Finder Tech ++ automate data interchange between animal shelter databases
- Animal Finder Tech Structured Data Sets
- Animal Finder Volunteer ++ volunteer effort to input unstructured data by hand
- Animal Finder Volunteer Instructions ++
- Animal Shelter Finder ++ project gathering shelters and shelter contact info
- Animal Shelter Finder Usability Issues ++
- Animal Shelter Local Coordination ++
- Animal Finder Database Project Application in development
- Animal Finder Database ProjectMain Wiki Page
- Animal Finder Database Project Forums
- Technical Forum (http://groups.google.com/group/katrinadev-petfinder)
- General Forum (http://groups.google.com/group/DataTrackers-AF) - for community involvement
- Animal Finder Templates:
Notes:
- ++ Major Revisions from PeopleFinder to AnimalFinder are pending
- Redirect Info (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Redirect)
- Stub categories (http://www.katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Category:Stub_categories)
- Source Katrina PeopleFinder Project
