Sofia Gkiousou

This paper focuses on the ways in which food blogs influence the evolution of food cultures in computer-mediated environments. Food blogs provide a unique setting in which to study individual creativity and improvisation, as they make everyday food practices visible, pubic and transmittable. This paper proposes a cultural framework of human–computer interaction (HCI) and applies it to the context of food blogging. It stresses the effects of remediation on hybridisation of disciplines, roles and practices, which in turn lead to individual creative practices in the form of bricolage. Three case studies of Greek food blogs abroad are analysed to illustrate the proposed framework and to develop research implications for human–food interaction (HFI).

In this paper we propose that Second Life (SL) might be an ideal plateau for novice
fashion designers to experiment in their milieu and gains skills in design and a variety of
other fashion related activities such as marketing and customer identification. First, we
address issues of demographics, social interaction and emotional involvement in SL.
Second, we compare and contrast the fashion industry with the SL fashion industry in an
effort to inform future research about the particularities of the SL market. Our analysis
suggests that SL demographics and identity of residents may not be indicative of SL
consumption and that SL fashion departs significantly from real life fashion in terms of
fashion cycles, products and the characteristics of a fashion designer’s occupation.