As I mentioned before, my focus had changed regarding my class project. So here is Visual Precis version two.

This summary is a brief overview of how rescues can utilize online tools. Some of the captions are headlines from different news I’ve come across online, and others are snapshots of features available on some sites for fundraising or sharing adoptable animals.

Tinykittens is a Canada based rescue that a friend introduced me to. They do an awesome job with marketing their work online. You can watch their different litters of baby kittens via livestream. Because who wouldn’t want to watch streaming video of kittens? They also do great TNR work, which involves an online interactive map to show people where the different colonies of cats are located.

Shelter Animals Count is a group that tries to collect data on shelters nationwide. Since most of these groups are 501(c)3, they have to provide financials as public record. The data is there, but each group has their own data, and no one organization has all the data to try and make sense of anything. Shelter Animals Count tries to encourage the different groups to make the data available to them, so that something can be done with it.

Take TNR, for example. If we could show where TNR programs are strongest, and correlate them to where animal overpopulation has decreased, or decreased intake of stray/feral cats and consequent euthanasia in shelters, then we have a better case for convincing municipalities to spend the money on TNR efforts.

Seriously, if this group were DC based, I’d be begging them for a job. Data mining and animals? Yes please.