Eat, Cook, Grow ― Mixing Human-Computer Interactions With Human-Food Interactions

Our contemporary concerns about food range from food security to agriculturalsustainability to getting dinner on the table for family and friends. This book investigates foodissues as they intersect with participatory Internet culture -- blogs, wikis, online photo- andvideo-sharing platforms, and social networks -- in efforts to bring about a healthy, sociallyinclusive, and sustainable food future. Focusing on our urban environments provisioned with digitaland network capacities, and drawing on such "bottom-up" sociotechnical trends as DIY andopen source, the chapters describe engagements with food and technology that engender (re-)creativeinteractions. In the first section, "Eat," contributors discuss technology-aidedapproaches to sustainable dining, including digital communication between farmers and urbanconsumers and a "telematic" dinner party at which guests are present electronically. Thechapters in "Cook" describe, among other things, "smart" chopping boards thatencourage mindful eating and a website that supports urban wild fruit foraging. Finally,"Grow" connects human-computer interaction with achieving a secure, safe, and ethical foodsupply, offering chapters on the use of interactive technologies in urban agriculture, efforts totrace the provenance of food with a "Fair Tracing" tool, and other projects.

ContributorsJoon Sang Baek, Pollie Barden, Eric P. S. Baumer,Eli Blevis, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Robert Comber, Jean Duruz, Katharina Frosch, Anne Galloway, Geri Gay,Jordan Geiger, Gijs Geleijnse, Nina Gros, Penny Hagen, Megan Halpern, Greg Hearn, Tad Hirsch, JettieHoonhout, Denise Kera, Vera Khovanskaya, Ann Light, Bernt Meerbeek, William Odom, Kenton O'Hara,Charles Spence, Mirjam Struppek, Esther Toet, Marc Tuters, Katharine S. Willis, David L. Wright,Grant Young

Jaz Hee-jeong Choi is Deputy Director of the Urban Informatics Research Lab and ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellow (Industry) at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Marcus Foth is Founder and Director of the Urban Informatics Research Lab, Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow in the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology, and coeditor of From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen (MIT Press). Greg Hearn is Professor and Director of Commercial Programs in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology.