In the short-term, simpler steps can be taken to make certain behavioural LABWIs into OWIs. For example, with QBA. In the same way that its scoring system can currently be created digitally using online websites to automatically quantify QBA scores, smart phone applications are already capable of allowing farm staff or auditors to immediately quantify their observations of their animal's behavioural expressions (provided QBA terms have been developed and validated for that specific species).

Automated data wrangling and statistical analyses

Pending further developments in easily accessible, automated data analytics platforms, there is potential for data wrangling and statistical analyses to be carried out with minimal involvement from farm staff.

What is data wrangling?

The pre-processing of raw data into a structured and usable / interpretable format. This is often an essential first step in statistical analyses, but requires considerable time for understanding, clearing up, and preparing the data captured in order to identify any meaningful patterns.

'Semi-automated' tools for real-world wrangling have already been developed, making this essential process significantly less time-consuming and laborious.

Automating behavioural assessment

In addition to imminent developments in machine learning and computer vision technologies, there is potential for the majority of behavioural assessments (perhaps including even QBA) to function as practical OWIs for both routine on-farm monitoring and for audits. 

Automating the QBA process would inevitably require breaking down the qualitative, expressive characteristics of the animals into quantifiable features / patterns. To what extent this is possible will depend on how much the gap narrows between human and machine capabilities in terms of cognition and perception. This gap is already significantly smaller than what many would assume.