Poster presented at Workshop on Food and Interaction design at CHI 2012, Austin, Texas. May 2012

1. Recipes:
Instructional Design and Interactional Design
Lucy Buykx, Human-Computer Interaction Group, Department of Computer Science
Recipes are instruction sets
Recipes provide concise procedural instructions for a cook to follow
to recreate a dish. Even confident cooks can become confused by
recipes when they contain unfamiliar techniques and ingredients.
The recipe instructions can also be confusing to follow, especially
when instructions are split between the method section and the
ingredient sections.
Earlier HCI researchers have proposed interactive recipe systems
to help cooks follow recipes. They have embedded systems into the
kitchen, added multi-media and transformed the written recipes into
simple step-by-step formats [e.g. Mennicken 2010]. The systems
were fun to use but few evaluations explored how effective they
were.
In my research I investigate how cooks interact with recipe at the
instruction level. Instructional design research shows us that the
best way to present procedural instructions is linear and segmented
with illustrations [Ganier 2004]. The findings can inform the design
of an interactive recipe system using everyday technology that can
transform traditional recipes into more usable and effective forms.
Research supervised by
Helen Petrie
Funded by White Rose
University Consortium
References
Ganier F. Factors Affecting the Processing of
Procedural Instructions: Implications for Document
Design. IEEE Transactions on Professional
Communication. 2004 Mar;47(1):15-26.
Mennicken S, Karrer T, Russell P, Borchers J. Firstperson cooking: a dual-perspective interactive kitchen
counter. In: Proceedings of CHI2010. CHI EA '10. ACM;
2010. p. 3403-3408
Investigating how instructional design effects ease of use
Method
24 cooks were asked to prepare 3
recipes presented in 3 different
conditions and to think aloud their
activity. All the cooking activities and
the cooks’ interactions with the
recipe were videoed for later
analysis.
Recipe method
instructions
Condition 1: as published
with long paragraphs
Recipes were presented on an iPad.
Each step was presented on a
separate screen. This enabled the
step to be displayed in large text and
be seen from a distance, reduced
distraction for the cook and enabled
easy tracking of the recipe step
being read.
In condition 1 (control condition) the
recipe was presented as published
with preparation instructions in the
ingredients section and long
paragraph steps in the method
section.
In condition 2 the steps in the
method were segmented into short
steps, one task per step. We
hypothesised that short, simple steps
would be easier to follow than long,
paragraph steps.
In condition 3 all recipe instructions
were linearised. The preparation
instructions moved to the method
section and the quantity of each
ingredient was added to the recipe
step. We hypothesised the recipe
would be easier to use if the cook did
not have to switch to the ingredient
section to look up information to
supplement the recipe step.
Condition 2: Segmented
intro short steps
Cooks' comments
Cooks preferred segmented text
"Some bits had lots of
text in one massive
paragraph - means that you
have to read through it a
number of times to find
the bit you need”
Cooks looked at upcoming recipe steps
to interpret the current step....
“What are we aiming at?
Sort of breadcrumbs or…
I’ll just have a look at
what it wants me
to do with them”
Condition 3: Linearised,
preparation instruction and
ingredient quantity in
method steps
...and to plan work in parallel
“I’ll just go on
forward a step to see
if I can do something
while I am waiting”
Discussion
By comparing a control condition
recipe with segmented and
linearised versions we found that
cooks switch attention around
recipe instructions in order to
look up ingredient quantities,
interpret instructions and to plan
parallel activities.
In segmenting the method
section, cooks found the
instructions easier to track
progress through the recipe but
we observed a need to see
upcoming instructions to interpret
the current instruction. This
behaviour and potential design
solutions will be explored further
in future research.
In linearising the instructions the
cooks were able to follow the
instructions without switching
attention to the ingredients
section. The findings support
inserting ingredient quantities
and preparation instructions into
the method section of the recipe
for interactive recipe systems.
This study focused on the
structure of textual instructions
only. Some cooks expressed
interest in pictures of the interim
stages of the recipe making
process to help them understand
and interpret the textual
instructions. Future research will
investigate the effect of adding
pictures to the interactive recipe
format.