From paw prints pressed into the mud to little feathers caught between wires and fences, the study of animals has long been a study of traces. To know an animal was to follow what it left behind: marks in the ground, disturbances in the landscape, a brief appearance. Observation relied on proximity, patience and the assumption that the animal existed independently of the person observing. Today, many animals leave different traces. They appear in images, clips, headlines, datasets, warnings and symbols just to name a few. They circulate through screens as well as they do through landscapes. Media animals come in growing numbers and their traces are no longer physical, they are informational. The encyclopedia collects animals as they appear in media environments. Each entry is not a claim of any biological truth but merely a record of an encounter. As a participant you act as an observer to grow the encyclopedia. The process relies on naming, classification and documentation.

Species registration for media animals

Fieldwork

What animal are you observing?

Use the name as it appears in the source that you are observing.

Where did you encounter this animal? Material evidence

To define a new species you need to provide the community with a physical reference. This will allow the scientific community to study the animal further and prevent misidentification.

Click: place · Click repeatedly: rotate · Final rotation: erase

What stands out the most? Detailed descriptions will allow to distinguish the animal from related ones. (max 3) Which response does this animal invite from you? What does the animal represent in the observed context? Who is responsible for constructing the narrative surrounding this animal? Field notes

Actual scientific naming may take years! By the time a researcher is ready to officially publish their findings, the memory of the afternoon scrolling through news or related media might be faded. Field notes serve as a legal record of what you observed and when. This is to prevent you from accidentally mixing up details between different sites. This can also be a place to drop any existing web-links toward the animal so others may view upon the discovery.

How certain are you about your classification?