What is food poverty? A conceptual framework

Purpose – Recently, food poverty has been subject to much academic, political and media attention following the recent reduction in consumer purchasing power as a result of food and energy price volatility. Yet the lack of consensus related to food poverty terminology acts as an inhibitor in both identifying and addressing the issue in the UK, specifically as a separate problem to that of food insecurity. Misunderstanding of terminology is an impediment to identifying similarities and differentials with both developed and developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues and enhance political and academic discourse. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory approach utilising secondary research was conducted to assemble sufficient information to ensure an extensive examination, consisting of several sources inclusive of academia, government and non-governmental organisations. The literature was screened for relevance following a broad search which primarily focused upon UK publications, with the exception of national data relevant to specified countries of USA, Canada, Yemen and United Republic of Tanzania (Tanzania). Findings – Economic access, quality, quantity, duration and social dimensions were the common features identified in the majority of the literature. Based upon these elements the proposed concise definition was constructed as; food poverty is the insufficient economic access to an adequate quantity and quality of food to maintain a nutritionally satisfactory and socially acceptable diet. Originality/value - – This study provides a conceptual approach in defining food poverty. Comparative to the countries examined, the UK has significant gaps in understanding and providing strategies in relation to individuals experiencing food poverty, causes and symptoms, methods of alleviation and coping strategies. There is no peer reviewed paper clearly discussing the definition of food poverty, hence, this review paper is original in three areas: establishing a definition for food poverty; clarifying the relationship between food poverty and food security; and discuss food poverty in UK with international comparison

Experiencing SenseCam: a case study interview exploring seven years living with a wearable camera

This paper presents the findings from an interview with CG, an individual who has worn an automated camera, the SenseCam, every day for the past seven years. Of interest to the study were the participant’s day-to-day experiences wearing the camera and whether these had changed since first wearing the camera. The findings presented outline the effect that wearing the camera has on his self-identity, relationships and interactions with people in the public. Issues relating to data capture, transfer and retrieval of lifelog images are also identified. These experiences inform us of the long-term effects of digital life capture and how lifelogging could progress in the future

Investigating older and younger peoples’ motivations for lifelogging with wearable cameras

People have a natural tendency to collect things about themselves, their experiences and their shared experiences with people important to them, especially family. Similar to traditional objects such as photographs, lifelogs have been shown to support reminiscence. A lifelog is a digital archive of a person’s experiences and activities and lifelog devices such as wearable cameras can automatically and continuously record events throughout a whole day. We were interested in investigating what would motivate people to lifelog. Due to the importance of shared family reminiscence between family members we focused our study on comparing shared or personal motivations with ten older and ten younger family members. We found from our results that both older and younger adults were more likely to lifelog for the purposes of information sharing and that reviewing lifelog images supported family reminiscence, reflection and story-telling. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for the design of a novel intergenerational family lifelog system

Sport and recreation musculoskeletal injuries in Irish primary school children

Musculoskeletal injury in children can lead to negative physical, psychological and socio-economic effects. This study aimed to examine sport and recreation injury incidence in Irish primary school children. A cross-sectional survey of 842 male and female Irish primary school children (9.62 ± 1.7 years) was conducted. Parents completed a questionnaire examining estimated weekly participation in sport and recreation and any injuries sustained in the previous 12 months that resulted in restricted performance, restricted ability to fully take part in or time lost from sport, recreational activities or school. Overall, 28.3% sustained an injury in one year, of which 30% presented to their local hospital emergency department. Sports injuries (.15 per 1,000 hours) were significantly more common than recreational injuries (.04 per 1,000 hours). Contact injuries were predominant (78.4%), with falling (19.3%), running (16.9%) and tackling/being tackled (16.5%) most common. Finger/thumb and ankle injuries were most common. Knee injuries resulted in the greatest injury burden (4.77 days absent per 1,000 hours of sport and recreation) and 3 in 10 injuries were referred for a scan. A multi-level approach to managing and reducing sport and recreation musculoskeletal injuries in primary school children that targets all relevant stakeholders including parents, teachers, coaches and the children themselves should be considered to promote safe play and sporting participation for children.Financial support for the publication of this article was provided by Athlone Institute of Technology

Sharing as a motivation for lifelogging

With advances in digital devices and web applications it has never been easier to capture and share information with other people. Lifelogging devices such as the SenseCam automatically capture thousands of images per day. Sharing images captured from such a device would provide family and friends with a glimpse of life from the wearer’s perspective. In this study we examined whether the practice of sharing lifelog images would impact the wearer’s lifelogging behaviour. Ten family pairs participated in this study; ten older adults paired with ten younger adults. Each family member was asked to wear a SenseCam over the period of two weeks. The participants were given a SenseCam and a touch screen computer to upload their images. On one of these weeks the participants were advised to capture images for their own personal use and on the other week they were asked to share their images with other people. The participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire at the end of each week relating to their experiences using the SenseCam and also their interactions with the lifelog images. Interactions using the SenseCam browser were also automatically recorded. We analyse the recorded data and user feedback with a focus on the older and younger participants’ frequency of data collection/image browsing and contrast between sharing and non-sharing weeks

A Design-Led, Materials Based Approach to Human Centered Applications Using Modified Dielectric Electroactive Polymer Sensors

This paper describes a design-led exploratory scoping study into the potential use of an industry standard dielectric electroactive polymer (DEAP) sensor for applications in assistive healthcare. The focus of this activity was to explore the physical format and integration of soft materials and sensor combinations with properties that afford an opportunity for accurate and unobtrusive real time body mapping and monitoring. The work involved a series of practical investigations into the capacitance changes in the sensor brought on by deformation through different ways of stretching. The dielectric sensors were selected as a direct mapping tool against the body based on the similarity of the stretch qualities of both the sensor and human skin and muscle resulting in a prototype vest for real time breathing monitoring through sensing thoracic movement. This involved modification of the standard sensors and handcrafting bespoke sensors to map critically relevant areas of the thorax

Technology use in everyday life: Implications for designing for older users

This study examines the experience and attitudes of older adults towards technology and how they compare with younger age groups. Two hundred and thirty seven participants completed an extensive questionnaire exploring their daily lifestyle, use of technology, attitudes towards technology, and perceived difficulty of household devices. The main findings from the study were; (1) there was a strong motivation to learn or to continue learning to use computers by the older group; (2) social connectedness influenced how the older group used or would like to use technology and also why some preferred not to use it; and finally (3) there was an age-related increase in perceived difficulty for many household devices, however some devices maintained intergenerational usability. These finding can be used to inform the design of future intergenerational household technologies