Exploring Opportunities for Multimodality and Multiple Devices in Food Journaling

Abstract

Digital food journaling can support personal goals, such as weight loss and developing healthy eating behaviors. However, traditional manual tracking demands great effort, often leading to lapses or abandonment. We explore opportunities for journaling with multiple input modalities and devices, leveraging people's daily interactions with a range of technologies. We report on an extended analysis of 15 participants' experiences with ModEat, a prototype supporting journaling with several input modalities on phone, computer, and voice assistants. Participants' modality and device preferences were largely influenced by their goals, but they frequently deviated from those preferences depending on device availability, perceived affordances, and characteristics of foods eaten. Participants rarely combined input modalities in entries, but some described that doing so allowed for more detailed journaling or serve as a placeholder for later. We discuss advantages and drawbacks of multimodal tracking and potential strategies for improving interactions.