AVI 2018

International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces

Resort Riva del Sole, Castiglione della Pescaia, Grosseto (Italy), 29 May - 1 June 2018

The Future of Computing & Food

Satellite Event of AVI 2018, co-sponsored by the ACM Future of Computing Academy (ACM-FCA).

  • Organizers: Marianna Obrist, Patrizia Marti, Carlos Velasco, Yunwen Tu, Takuji Narumi, Naja L. Holten Møller
  • Expression of interest to participate:
    • 15th April 2018
  • Expression of interest to give a talk:
    • 30th April 2018
  • Event Date:
    • 31st May 2018
  • Contact: m.obrist [at] sussex.ac.uk

DESCRIPTION

The human sense of taste and smell have become a target for interaction design and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research [Spence et al. 2017]. While fields such as sensory science, chemistry, biology, and molecular gastronomy have advanced our understanding on sensory perception, the interactive experiences that can be created based on taste and smell remain widely unexplored within HCI [Obrist et al. 2017]. We have only recently started to understand the dimensions and features of taste and smell for multisensory experience design [Obrist et al. 2016]. However, we still lack guidance on which of those dimensions/features are relevant to account for in multisensory interaction and experience design. Hence, in order to inform the design of future gustatory, olfactory, and ultimately multisensory interfaces/interactions we need to establish a more detailed understanding of the design space for taste and smell in relation to technology.

The goal of this event is to formulate a Manifesto on the interwoven Future of Computing and Food. This manifesto will get inspiration from the debate raised by different and sometimes antipodal perspectives on food like for instance the ‘infamous’ Manifesto of Futurist Cuisine written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909, and the avant-garde’s riposte of the Slow Food Manifesto published by Gambero Rosso on 1987. Our Manifesto will envisage the future of food with the emergence of computing technology that is changing the way we cook, eat, drink and experience food. Moreover, Molecular Gastronomy and Computational Gastronomy are emerging fields of research that enrich the discussion around Computing and Food from an interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspective. New data-driven approaches, such as network analysis and data mining, are explored to illustrate for instance the chemical relationships between culinary ingredients across the globe [Ahnert 2013]. Taken together, this event will address pressing questions on the intersection between technology and food, such as: How will we design and innovate considering food/mouth/digesting system as an interface? How will the future computing landscape explore this interaction design?

This event is co-located with the International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces (AVI) 2018 and co-sponsored by the ACM Future of Computing Academy (ACM-FCA). The ambition of this event is to discuss the above described developments around technology and food through involving a variety of different stakeholders, ranging from local food producers, chefs, artists, to designers, engineers, data scientists, psychologists. We invite participation from representatives of both the computing and food industry, so that we can envisage the future of HCI beyond 2020. We aim to bring together this wide range of people from academia and industry to co-create and shape the agenda for the interwoven future of computing technology and the human sensory capabilities and multisensory potential.

EVENT FORMAT, PARTICIPATION & IMPORTANT DATES

This one-day satellite event will take place in the Resort Riva del Sole, Castiglione della Pescaia, Grosseto, Italy on Thursday May, 31st, 2018.

The format is a combination of

    • Opening Keynotes by 2 invited speakers (from the Computing & Food Community)
    • 10min Inspirational Talks (max of 12 talks, each max 10min) in the morning
    • Spin-out Group work and Plenary Discussion in the afternoon
    • Pre-Evening Tasting Event "Olives & Wine" with local producers and multisensory experimentation
    • Join the AVI'18 party on the beach and meet the community on Advanced Visual Interfaces

To encourage creative and critical thinking, we also foresee hands-on-experiences with emerging multisensory interfaces (e.g. TastyFloats, MetaCookie).

To actively participate we offer:

    • 15th April 2018 - Expression of Interest to participate to m.obrist [at] sussex.ac.uk
    • 30th April 2018 - Expression of Interest to give a 10min Inspiration Talk, please send a max. 400 words Abstract to m.obrist [at] sussex.ac.uk
    • Register for the event (see details below on the two options)

Registration Details

People interested in this event are required to register choosing between the following 2 options (registration details: https://sites.google.com/dis.uniroma1.it/avi2018/registration)

(1) Full conference registration

    • Early : ACM Member € 550 / Non member € 630 / Student € 300
    • Late : ACM Member € 610 / Non member € 700 / Student € 330

(2) Registration for the Special Session only [€ 250 / Student € 100]

As the intended output is a Manifesto on the "Future of Computing and Food" we will liaise with potential publishers (ACM Communications) and aim to involve the local press to release a press release on the event. Interested attendees will have the chance to learn the state-of-the-art developments about the integration of taste, smell, food, and technology.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Chef Jozef Youssef, London, UK

Kitchen Theory Founder & Chef Patron

Jozef Youssef is the creative force behind Kitchen Theory. His years of experience in London’s most highly acclaimed Michelin star restaurants and hotels coupled with his passion for gastronomy, art and science all led to him establishing Kitchen Theory in 2010. Since then Youssef has published his first book; Molecular Gastronomy at Home, and is currently an associate editor at the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science. Youssef designs Kitchen Theory’s Gastrophysics Chef’s Table, corporate experiences and product ‘sensplorations’ , by combining his exceptional culinary skills with ongoing research into the scientific field of gastrophysics, carried out in collaboration with Professor Charles Spence, head of Oxford University’s Crossmodal Department. Most recently, Youssef has created the Gastrophysics Chef’s Table, at which he hosts 10 guests, who are set to experience the most multisensory chef’s table in London.

Dr Kirill Veselkov, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, UK

Waters Lecturer in Data Analytics and Computational Medicine and Member of the WEF Global Agenda Council on the Future of Computing

Dr. Veselkov’s research group focuses on developing computational methods that can make a difference in data-driven global health and disease. He has led the development of a series of field-changing data analytics frameworks to augment emerging molecular (“-omics”) profiling technologies into clinical decision support, and population health management. His group expertise combines the use of a diverse range of computational techniques from signal processing, imaging informatics, machine learning, natural language processing and high performance computing for information extraction from heterogeneous biomedical datasets. His translation interests are precision medicine and digital pathology. Dr Veselkov has received a World Economic Forum (WEF) Young Scientist Award, and currently serves as an active member of the WEF Global Agenda Council on the Future of Computing.

ORGANISERS

Marianna Obrist, University of Sussex, UK

Associate Professor – School of Engineering and Informatics

Marianna is leading the Sussex Computer Human Interaction Lab, a research group dedicated to the investigation of multisensory experiences for interactive technology. The interdisciplinary SCHI Lab team explores tactile, gustatory, and olfactory experiences as novel interaction modalities. She is a member of the newly established ACM Future of Computing Academy.

Patrizia Marti, University of Siena, Italy

Assistant Professor – Department of Social, Political and Cognitive Science. Patrizia is also part time Full Professor at the Industrial Design Department, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. She is director of a university Fab Lab in Siena.

Her research activity concerns designing systems facing cultural, aesthetic and social issues through embodied experiences.

Carlos Velasco, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway

Assistant Professor – Department of Marketing

Carlos' research focuses on crossmodal perception and multisensory experiences, in particular on crossmodal correspondences in the context of multisensory marketing, human-computer interaction, food and beverage, and experience design. Carlos is also a founding member of Neurosketch (Colombia) and of Flying Fish Research (UK).

Yunwen Tu (Tutu), Food Design, San Francisco, USA

Product and Food Designer

Tutu is an experience designer with a special focus on food design. She is pushing current design boundaries around food and explore unchartered territories. Through iterative explorations she is creating moments of wonder and delight in users, resulting in design engagement and innovation.

Takuji Narumi, University of Tokyo, Japan

Lecturer

Takuji is a lecturer at the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. His research interests broadly include perceptual modification and human augmentation with virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. He invented a novel haptic display, olfactory display, taste display and satiety display by utilizing cross-modal interactions.

Naja L. Holten Møller, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Assistant Professor – Human-Centered Computing Section

Naja is interested in the transformational role of technology in professional work settings. She critically explores the diffusion of technology into different types of collaborative work and the evolving possibilities and responsibilities such technological diffusion creates. She is a member of the newly established ACM Future of Computing Academy.

CONTACT

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Marianna Obrist (m.obrist [at] sussex.ac.uk).

AVI 2018 - International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces