Designing user-centered technologies to address the illegal wildlife trade

Species identification by law enforcement is an important part of managing the illegal wildlife trade (IWT). In this paper, we explore how technology might influence the policing of IWT by improving species identification in the illegal songbird trade in Indonesia. Conventional top-down technology design may miss the crucial insights of end-users to define the functionality (e.g., feasibility, usability) that would facilitate integration into practice. Instead, our approach actively involves law enforcement end-users, incorporating their valuable insights and centering the process on their experiences, thereby increasing the likelihood of adoption. We show how technology can be developed using a user-centered design methodology to explore a (hypothetical) automatic species identification app to monitor songbird trade. Indonesian law enforcement officers were positive about using technology, and there was a consensus that this could improve species identification. Using technology as a stimulus for reflection on broader challenges in law enforcement, we reveal how technology might operate as a component of a complex solution to songbird IWT. We also found barriers such as the social acceptability of bird trade, risks of corruption and co-option by traders, and requirements for verbal evidence regarding species identification in court.