# A Field Computer for Animal Trackers

> How do you design a computer for expert trackers who cannot read or write? This short 2002 paper tells how trackers in South Africa’s Karoo National Park helped design the icon-based field computer that became CyberTracker, recording their observations with a touch of a pen and a satellite position. The author argues that the system gives trackers recognition and helps turn the art of tracking into a new science for conservation.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2002-blake-field-computer-animal-trackers/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** Edwin H. Blake
- **Year published:** 2002
- **Journal or source:** CHI ’02 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- **Full citation:** Blake, E. H. 2002. A field computer for animal trackers (extended abstract). In: CHI ’02 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2002, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 20-25 April 2002, pp. 532-533. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
- **DOI:** 10.1145/506443.506466
- **Access status:** Publisher link only
- **Where to find it:** https://doi.org/10.1145/506443.506466

## Tags

- **Species:** Humans
- **Region:** Africa > Republic of the Congo; Africa > South Africa
- **Tracking:** Tracking
- **Methods and technology:** CyberTracker; CyberTracker software; Global Positioning System (GPS); Indigenous knowledge
- **Data type:** New field data
- **Observer qualification:** Reported but not validated
- **Discipline:** Indigenous knowledge; Wildlife tracking
- **Year published:** 2002

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** Studied: humans (expert animal trackers as users and co-designers of the system; the trackers Karel Bernadie, Chocolate Bosch and James Minye are thanked by name). No animal species are named.
- **Location and habitat:** Karoo National Park, South Africa (where the system was first tested, June and September/October 1996). The system has also been used in Kruger National Park, South Africa, and Odzala National Park, Congo, and adapted for recording observations on the Cape Floral Kingdom for Cape Nature Conservation. The author is at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. No habitat is described.
- **Topics:** CyberTracker; field computer; graphical user interface for semi-literate and non-literate users; icons; trackers as expert interpreters of signs; empowerment and recognition of trackers; hunter-gatherer knowledge and oral traditions; iterative (participatory) design; critical action research; location-aware and context-aware computing; pen-based handheld computers (Apple Newton, then Palm handhelds); Global Positioning System (GPS) time and location stamps; base station visualisation; free software.
- **Statistics or models:** None
- **Data type:** New field data in the sense of field user testing with trackers (first tests in Karoo National Park, June and September/October 1996; development from February 1996 onward). The two-page extended abstract describes the design and its outcomes in words only; no test results are given. Inconsistencies in the paper: the tracker’s surname is spelled “Bernadie” in the acknowledgements but “Benadie” in references 2 and 3; one sentence about icons is repeated in the conclusion; the sentence on transferring data at base camp breaks off (“onto the base”).

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

The best animal trackers are often found in hunter-gatherer communities with oral traditions, and many cannot read or write. Their knowledge of animal distribution and behaviour is largely missed by other survey methods and is not available to the wider community, mainly because of this literacy barrier. Edwin Blake, at the University of Cape Town, describes a field computer system built so that semi-literate and non-literate trackers could record what they observe.

The system has two parts:

- In the field: a pen-based handheld computer, used with a satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Trackers choose icons on a series of screens until an observation is fully recorded. On saving, the date, time and location are added automatically.

- At base: a desktop computer that stores the data long term and displays it, so scientists can see everything gathered over time.

Development began in February 1996, and the system was first tested in Karoo National Park, South Africa, in June and September/October 1996. It started on an Apple Newton and later moved to Palm handhelds. The author set out three ideas to test: that trackers, being familiar with how signs point to meaning, would easily attach meaning to well-designed icons; that such an interface would give the wider community the benefit of their knowledge; and that it would bring trackers greater recognition and reward.

The project was run as critical action research. Trackers took part at every stage of an iterative design process, commenting on both the look and the behaviour of the interface, and they validated each part of it themselves.

### 2. What they found

- User testing showed that trackers easily mastered the interface and were well able to use icons and other parts of a graphical user interface.

- This held only when the icons were designed with careful thought for the users’ cultural background. The trackers recognised icons by different criteria from those the researchers used.

- Trackers were reluctant to use hierarchies (menus nested within menus) and readily adopted “identity maps.”

- At the trackers’ own request, the interface includes text where it helps. Their literacy ranged from none to limited secondary schooling.

- The system has been used in Karoo and Kruger National Parks in South Africa and Odzala National Park in Congo, and adapted to record observations on the Cape Floral Kingdom for Cape Nature Conservation.

- The original interface design remained essentially unchanged over many years of use. The hardware became smaller and faster, GPS became more accurate, the separate GPS was integrated, and the software was released as free software.

- Publications based on the trackers’ work, and the CyberTracker product’s exposure on the web, are given as the first evidence of wider recognition of the trackers’ expertise.

### 3. What they concluded

- Technology can be developed to enhance human skills in ways that bring social and environmental benefits. Rather than making computers “context aware,” the author preferred to ask how computers can support human awareness. He sees context-aware computing as a distraction for this kind of work: the machines are best seen as “marginal annotators” that simply add the time and place of each observation.

- Trackers, though illiterate, have skills that equip them well to design and use handheld computer interfaces.

- The system empowers trackers rather than taking away their roles.

- At a time when traditional hunting is dying out, the field computer helps revitalise the art of tracking and develop it into a new science with far-reaching implications for conserving biodiversity.

### 4. How tracking was or was not used

Tracking is the subject rather than a method here. The system was designed for expert trackers to record all significant observations they make in the field, including complex observations and inferences about animal behaviour. The design drew on trackers’ skill as interpreters of signs: in the author’s words, the tracker connects a sequence of artificial signs (the icons on screen) with a sequence of natural signs (the tracks and signs on the ground). No specific tracks and signs, species or tracking results are reported.

### 5. Tracker or observer certification

Reported but not validated. The trackers are described as expert animal trackers, but no certification or test of their skill is described in this paper. Karel Bernadie, Chocolate Bosch and James Minye are thanked for their part in creating the system.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- An icon-based graphical user interface for functionally illiterate users, adaptable to different educational, cultural and language backgrounds.

- Pen-based handheld computers (first the Apple Newton, then Palm handhelds and compatibles) with a GPS receiver, later integrated into one unit.

- Automatic date, time and GPS location stamps on each saved observation.

- A base station computer for long-term storage and visualisation of the data.

- An iterative, participatory design method in which users’ input was built into the next version and they could see it acknowledged straight away.

- The software was released as free software and became a product, CyberTracker.

### 7. Implications for conservation (from the paper)

- Trackers provide information on animal distribution and behaviour that other survey methods overlook, and the system makes this knowledge available to scientists and the wider community.

- By helping develop tracking into a new science, the field computer could have far-reaching implications for the conservation of biodiversity.

### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations)

_These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._

- This is an early, first-hand account of how the CyberTracker interface came to be: designed with trackers rather than for them, and built around their skill in reading signs.

- The finding that icons work only when designed with the users’ cultural background in mind, and that trackers judged icons by different criteria from the researchers, is a useful reminder for anyone building data-collection apps for trackers today.

- James Minye, one of the trackers thanked here, is the tracker whose later survey work at De Hoop Nature Reserve is described in Elbroch et al. (2011), also in this library.

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: A Field Computer for Animal Trackers (Blake, 2002). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2002-blake-field-computer-animal-trackers/