The ambient birdhouse: Bringing birds inside to learn about birds outside

We demonstrate a technology to explore the problem of the disconnect between people and nature, the Ambient Birdhouse. Although people are surrounded by flora and fauna, nature is often hidden and difficult to learn about. Birds are active outside when many people are indoors, seen but not heard, or heard but not seen. So, can technologies play a role in reconnecting us to and through nature? This project researches how to learn about local birds in a non-intrusive, fun calm and engaging manner. The Ambient Birdhouse sits inside the house and plays media of local birds - sometimes giving clues about them. Bird houses are connected. You can share bird media from your phone of your own sightings, challenging a neighbour to identify them. Known calls are interspersed with environmental sound to foster listening and developing an ear for local birds. The Ambient Birdhouse follows principles of ambient interaction. It poses the design research challenge of how to engage people in a gentle, social way over time to build awareness of nature, bringing it back into our lives.