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Call for Contributions: Frontiers Research Topic on "Computational Commensality"
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Commensality means "the practice of sharing food and eating together in a social group''. This social phenomenon, that is gaining increasing attention from diverse research communities, has been found to, among other effects, influence food choices, time spent eating, amount of food consumed, and the enjoyment of food, as well as triggering positive emotions. Recently, the first attempts to computationally address various social aspects of “eating together” appeared, giving rise to the new research topic of Computational Commensality. For example, newly developed sensors allow the collection of high quality data of commensal behaviors and user experience during food consumption, helping to gain new insights into commensality.

The goal of the Research Topic is to gather recent achievements in commensality-related research with a special focus on (although not limited to) computational approaches, in order to trigger novel interdisciplinary research directions. On one hand, the behavioral, psychological and sociological studies on “traditional” commensality may become an inspiration for researchers in Human-Computer Interaction to create systems facilitating commensality experiences and to design artificial commensal companions (e.g., in the form of social robots). On the other hand, technology can help to address research questions on traditional commensality, for example, by providing tools for accurately and objectively quantifying human behaviors, and to carry out experiments in highly controlled conditions. Last but not least, technology can enable novel forms of commensal experience through, for example, tele-dining, the use of social networks, or sensorial augmentation of food.

Within the Research Topic we seek contributions about commensality in research areas ranging from HCI and Social Robotics to (Social) Psychology and Nutrition Science, including (but not limited to) the following topics:
• socio-psychological theories, models, studies of commensality
• multi-cultural aspects of commensality
• VR/AR/MR for immersive commensality experiences
• tele-dining technologies
• commensality and social networks
• artificial/virtual commensal companions and social robots
• interactive technologies during mealtime
• interfaces for mindful eating
• automatic movement/behavior/group dynamics analysis in commensality settings
• eating activity/food recognition
• technology for joint food preparation
• well-being and positive outcomes for health due to commensality
• food as a social signal

Due to the strong interdisciplinary nature of the Research Topic, accepted contributions will appear in one of the three Frontiers journals:
• Frontiers in Computer Science
• Frontiers in Psychology
• Frontiers in Nutrition

If you are interested in contributing to the Research Topic, please contact the Guest Editors to receive more details about the submission procedure and the official invitation from Frontiers.

Deadlines:

Abstract Deadline - 31 Mar 21
Manuscript Deadline - 30 Nov 21

Best regards,

the Research Topic Guest Editors:

Maurizio Mancini m.mancini@di.uniroma1.it
Nicoletta Cavazza nicoletta.cavazza@unimore.it
Suzanne Higgs s.higgs.1@bham.ac.uk
Gijs Huisman g.huisman@tudelft.nl
Janet van den Boer j.h.w.vandenboer@utwente.nl
Radoslaw Niewiadomski r.niewiadomski@unitn.it