Methods

The algorithms for the filters are currently being developed using the research and advise of animal vision scientists and non-scientific experts such as shamanic practitioners and animal communicators. 

The project uses scientific data created through methods such as:

A method used on non-human animals and humans. A contact lens electrode placed on the eye is measuring electrical activity of the retina in response to light of various wavelengths. Color vision is to a large extent researched using this method.

ZooMorph is avoiding scientific research that includes the killing of animals. Some  research is made using eyes from animals that have died from natural causes and  ZooMorph might be using data from such research.

While there is a vast amount of scientific research being done on animal vision, there seems to be a reluctance to use this research to create simulations. Scientists might not be willing or able to assign the agency to non-human animals necessary for imagining the world from their visual perspective. Simulating how someone sees is more feasible if the paradigm one works within acknowledges that there is a someone there that does the seeing. Therefore, the project is including knowledge generated by non-scientific methods, within traditions where there is no conflict in assigning personhood to non-human animals. Those methods include:

Using animal communicators and/or methods of animal communication.

Consulting with people such as Temple Grandin (autistic author and slaughter facility designer) who claim that she can intuitively experience what animals' experience.

Using shamanic or other indigenous practices to gain an understanding of how other species see the world.

Knowledge from myths and stories from a time when people where living closer to animals and where more dependent on understanding them, for example in various indigenous traditions.

The amount of species included in the project will increase over time as new data and experiences are added to the system. Eventually the project will include filters simulating the vision of a large number of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects. Some species might only be simulated according to scientific data if the non-scientific data is impossible to obtain and vise versa.