The Future of Human-Food Interaction

 CHI 2021 Workshop

Exploring the possibility of future human-food interaction with a focus on the design of experiential aspects beyond the instrumental.

There is an increasing interest in food within the HCI discipline, with a number of interactive prototypes emerging that augment, extend and challenge the various ways people engage with food, ranging from growing crops, cooking ingredients, serving dishes, eating together, and disposing the leftovers. Grounding theory is also emerging that in particular draws from embodied interactions, highlighting the need to consider not only instrumental, but also experiential factors specific to human-food interactions (HFI). Considering this, we are provided with an opportunity to extend human-food interactions through knowledge gained from designing novel systems emerging through technical advances.

This workshop aims to provide an enduring community and networking platform for practitioners, researchers and theorists who are interested in the coming together of food and interactive technology, to explore and discuss the future of HFI with a particular highlight on the design of experimental and experiential aspects beyond the instrumental. Furthermore, with this workshop, we hope to identify and articulate relevant theoretical insights and guide future research, understand synergies at the intersection of emerging technologies and current knowledge; nurture the growth of a cross-disciplinary research community around the topics and develop plans for subsequent activities; as well as promote HFI design and research practices that are critical and sustainable from a social, cultural, and planetary perspective.

This is an online virtual workshop organised as part of the CHI 2021 conference on 8-9 May, we aim to bring together diverse opinions and expertise to offer a platform for not only the research community, but a broad range of industry practitioners to learn from each other, highlighting the design of experiential perspectives of engaging with food.

We aim to extend prior community building efforts in this area and hence invites submissions exploring human-food interactions from a plethora of aspects, including but not limited to empirical research, engineering, food science, design, theory, and art.

SUBMISSION 
  • 2-page short paper or project statement including references following the CHI Extended Abstract format.
  • A description of your design, theory, opinion, concept or insight. Where relevant, discuss the broader context and questions that your work promotes reflection upon.
  • Include a short bio and picture of each author, for inclusion on the workshop website.

Submission deadline:

February 21th, 2021 at 12pm (noon) PT – Pacific Time  (provisionally)

* Submissions will be reviewed by the workshop organisers based on relevance to the workshop and the potential for contributing to discussions. Accepted submissions will become the basis of workshop discussion. ​

* A paper on workshop outcomes will be submitted to a relevant venue. At least one author must attend the workshop. Attendees must register for the workshop and at least one day of the conference. 

* Participation without submission is accepted, but paper submissions will be given priority due to max participation size (18). Please submit your paper to submission by 21st February 2021.

More information: https://www.humanfoodinteraction.org/.

Organizers:
Jialin Deng, Exertion Games Lab, Monash University, Australia
Yan Wang, Exertion Games Lab, Monash University, Australia
Carlos Velasco, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Ferran Altarriba Bertran, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
Rob Comber, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Marianna Obrist, University College London, UK
Katherine Isbister, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
Charles Spence, University of Oxford, UK
Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, Exertion Games Lab, Monash University, Australia