Theme and Goals

The workshop aims to build a rich community of researchers, designers, and practitioners interested in the underexplored design space of technologies for mindful eating interventions. The workshop goal is explored through five areas, each with its specific goals focused on support for the role of the body in mindful eating, design exploration of technologies supporting mindful eating interventions, developing theoretical and methodological foundations for designing for mindful eating, exploring ethical aspects of designing for mindful eating interventions, and position mindful eating technology-based interventions within a broader, more sustainable food cycle, i.e., food-related activities such as production, processing, distribution, consumption and management of food waste.

GOAL 1: Support for the role of body in mindful eating

This goal focuses on current design approaches and technologies from both HFI and HCI research on mindfulness that capture bodily aspects. The aim is to discuss and reflect on how current approaches and technologies could be extended to support awareness of sensory aspects of food, and of internal sensations of hunger and fullness. Here we could draw from wearable sensors capturing mindful states such as EEG, together with audio, visual, or haptic neurofeedback interfaces, or ingestible sensors capturing metabolization for instance with AR interfaces for representing internal metabolization processes.  

GOAL 2: Design exploration of technologies supporting mindful eating interventions

This goal explores key mindful eating aspects such as slow chewing, reduced portion size, non-judgmental attitude towards food and eating, limited distractions, healthy food, or gratitude for food. The aim is to explore novel design concepts that could address several such aspects, as well as potential tensions among them, such as increased awareness of chewing speed while limiting non-judgmental attitude. These efforts could help us articulate the affordances and constraints of key technologies such as smart tableware, wearables, 3D food printing, AR/VR, or mobile apps, and how they can be best leveraged for supporting mindful eating interventions such as those informed by the MB-EAT program.

GOAL 3: Develop theoretical and methodological foundations for designing mindful eating interventions

This goal acknowledges the theoretical gap of HCI research and the value of developing a stronger theoretical foundation. To design for mindful eating interventions, we can draw from health research on conceptualizing mindful eating and mindful eating interventions. We can also explore and develop new design methods inspired by the somaesthetics approach or tools such as sensory probes or material food probes.

GOAL 4: Explore ethical aspects of designing for mindful eating interventions

Eating behaviors can also be problematic which over time may present the risk of developing into eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia, or disordered eating such as in the case of diabetes. Previous work has shown the negative impact of technologies for vulnerable users at risk of such conditions, or living with these conditions. In particular food tracking technologies. While ethical aspects of designing for mindful eating have been less explored, we can draw from the growing HCI interest in the ethics of affective health technologies drawing for instance from the four biomedical ethics principles of autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice.

GOAL 5: Position technology-based mindful eating interventions within the sustainable food cycle

While most research on HFI has focused on eating experiences interest in the design of more sustainable food practices has also emerged. We can extend such previous work to account for gratitude towards food and how it has been produced, as an important aspect of mindful eating. In turn, designing to support such gratitude could strengthen appreciation for more sustainable food practices across the entire food cycle from food production to the prevention of food waste.