Chew Yunqing

Embracing new ideas, contexts and different ways of working with my teammates throughout the AcrossRCA course has been enriching in many unexpected ways. Initially, my interest in the ‘Being Digital’ theme was about exploring digitally facilitated modes of human (re)connection in the physical realm that can foster unexpected collective experiences. As I interacted with my peers who introduced me to Dr Wikelski’s research at Max Planck Institute and the fascinating notion that our pets can sense impending earthquakes, my AcrossRCA journey developed in somewhat unexpected directions -  I did not expect to end up working on the severe topic of earthquakes, which I knew little of, in relation to animals which I definitely like, in a way that still retained the element of a collective experience through the symbiotic participatory data collection model whereby each data point strengthens the overall system. Given the territorial nature of the Internet of Animals application, my background in architecture and urban analysis allowed me to strategically position and structure our proposal and craft our visuals accordingly.