Playful Human-Food Interaction Research

Abstract

In response to calls for sense-making in the field of Human-Food Interaction, we offer a systematic review of a subset of HFI works that we call Playful HFI-interventions that use game-or play-inspired mechanisms to add value to foodrelated experiences. To support our review, we offer a conceptual model of Playful HFI informed by: (i) the 34 publications in our dataset; (ii) theories of play, games and HFI; and (iii) previous reviews of play-related HCI. Our conceptual model and review characterise the current state of Playful HFI, highlight resemblances and differences with the broader field of HFI as a whole and surface challenges and opportunities in this new and exciting design space. Our contribution will help HFI scholars to explore new and increasingly playful avenues for the future of food technology and will empower the HFI community to better position (and critically reflect on) future research at the intersection of play, technology and food.

Influencing Motivations Linked to the Adoption of Improved Flame-Based Cookstoves among Indigent South African Households: A Behaviour-Centred Design Approach

“…Play motivations can be linked to learning how to use an improved stove in simulated activities, demonstrating the dangers without the risks of injury [77]. Improved cookstove interventions are frequently accompanied by the controlled demonstration of candidate cookstoves [64,78].…”

Data as a Resource for Designing Digitally Enhanced Consumer Packaged Goods

“…Enhanced CPGs are becoming a growing topic of interest in HCI as the subfields of human-packaging interaction [11] and human-food interaction [10] have found themselves at the forefront of developments by harnessing properties of the packaging and combining food traditions with IoT technologies to create novel product experiences. Velasco and Spence [11] stressed the importance of developing multisensory consumer-packaging experiences, such as augmented reality applications which can change products' colour and shape [24].…”

“…Velasco and Spence [11] stressed the importance of developing multisensory consumer-packaging experiences, such as augmented reality applications which can change products' colour and shape [24]. Altarriba and colleagues [10] cited the opportunity to harmoniously integrate playful and socio-emotionally rich experiences into cooking and eating, thereby adding value to these practices [25].…”

“…The sketches amounted to a total of 58 designs, each representing a different concept. The most common CPGs participants chose to sketch for were oil (14), spaghetti (10), and minced meat (9). The designs employed a mean of 2 pieces of data, 2.6 features cards, and 2.2 technologies cards.…”

“…However, despite recent research in human-computer interaction (HCI) aimed specifically at enhancing interactions with CPGs [10,11], devising enhanced versions of these goods which actually meet people's needs remains quite challenging, and the relatively few which are available on the market have thus far experienced only a fleeting interest [12]. Designing for enhanced CPGs may be even more challenging than for more conventional and durable goods (e.g., a watch [13]) due to CPGs' defining characteristics, including their disposability and frequent need to be repurchased [14], as well as the fact that they are rarely used in isolation, but rather in conjunction with one another as complements [15].…”