Eating Alone, Together: New Forms of Commensality

dc.contributor.authorGrevet, Catherine
dc.contributor.authorTang, Anthony
dc.contributor.authorMynatt, Elizabeth
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-08T11:45:07Z
dc.date.available2023-06-08T11:45:07Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractEating with others, or commensality, is an enjoyable activity that serves many important social functions; however, many individuals eat meals alone due to life circumstances, meaning that they miss out on these social benefits. We developed and deployed a simple technology probe providing social awareness around mealtimes to explore how social systems might help alleviate the loneliness of solitary dining. Our findings suggest that these systems can convey a sense of connectedness around a meal; further, our analysis revealed three themes relevant to systems of this type: that contextually-located peripheral awareness engenders connectedness; that such tools can foster a feeling of shared social presence, and that they can be a catalyst for other forms of communication around the meal. These findings suggest that remote commensality" is not only possible, but that it may take on forms entirely different to that which we are accustomed."en
dc.identifier.doi10.1145/2389176.2389192
dc.identifier.urihttps://dl.eusset.eu/handle/20.500.12015/4919
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
dc.relation.ispartofProceedings of the 2012 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work
dc.subjectmealtime
dc.subjecthci
dc.subjectcontextual information
dc.subjectawareness
dc.subjectfood
dc.subjectsocial computing
dc.subjectdesign
dc.titleEating Alone, Together: New Forms of Commensalityen
gi.citation.publisherPlaceNew York, NY, USA
gi.citation.startPage103–106
gi.conference.locationSanibel Island, Florida, USA

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