Food logging: an information literacy perspective
| Pages | 184-200 |
| Published date | 20 March 2017 |
| Date | 20 March 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-12-2016-0208 |
| Author | Andrew Martin Cox,Pamela McKinney,Paula Goodale |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Food logging: an information
literacy perspective
Andrew Martin Cox, Pamela McKinney and Paula Goodale
Information School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of information literacy (IL) in food logging,
the activity of recording food intake and monitoring weight and other health conditions that may be affected
by diet, using applications (apps) accessed through mobile devices and personal computers.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were gathered from a small group of food logging app users
through a focus group and interviews. Analysis was informed by practice theory and the growing interest in
IL outside educational settings.
Findings –Food logging revolves around the epistemic modality of information, but it is the user who
creates information and it is not textual. Food logging is associated with a discourse of focussing on data and
downplaying the corporeal information associated with eating and its effect on the body. Social information
was an important source for choosing an app, but data were rarely shared with others. Food loggers are very
concerned with data quality at the point of data entry. They have a strong sense of learning about healthy
eating. They were not well informed about the data privacy and access issues.
Practical implications –Food loggers need to be better informed about data risks around food logging.
Originality/value –This is the first study of food logging from an IL perspective.
Keywords Information literacy, Health literacy, Mobile health, Practice theory, Diet, Food logging
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Internationally governments and health agencies recognise that obesity is a major health
challenge for this century. In England in 2013, 67.1 per cent of men and 57.2 per cent of
women were classed as obese or overweight (Lifestyles Statistics Team: Health and
Social Care Information Centre, 2015). Being overweight is a critical issue for health and
well-being. It increases the risk of a number of serious health conditions such as type 2
diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer (World Cancer Research Fund and American
Institute for Cancer Research, 2007). Currently the annual cost to the UK economy of
obesity is estimated to be £27bn a year (Public Health England, 2016) and the cost to the
National Health Service (NHS) £5bn a year (Department for Environment Food and
Rural Affairs, 2015). It is recognised by governments and public health organisations that
tackling the “obesity epidemic”is not easy and will require change and input at multiple
levels in society: individual, familial, community and national (Government Office for
Science, 2007).
An important part of the challenge is that resources for health services are under
pressure from many directions. In this context the increasing availability of “mHealth”–
mobile and wireless health applications –is of great interest for managing and improving
health (Nilsen et al., 2012). Mobile digital devices offer quick and easy ways to monitor,
record and share health information (Lupton, 2015). Such apps facilitate self-management of
health conditions, potentially reducing demands on health services, as well as responding to
calls for patient-centred models of healthcare (Handel, 2011). The ubiquity of mobile
(smart) phones, their high technical specifications, connectivity and the overwhelming
attachment people have to them are factors that contribute to their potential for health
interventions (Klasnja and Pratt, 2012). Journaling applications (diaries) are one type of app
that have seen increasing popularity, to measure a range of health-related information
including activity, food intake, stress, blood pressure, risk behaviours and use of particular
medicines (Klasnja and Pratt, 2012).
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 69 No. 2, 2017
pp. 184-200
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-12-2016-0208
Received 12 December 2016
Revised 2 March 2017
Accepted 20 March 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
184
AJIM
69,2
Keeping a food diary to assess diet has been a recommended practice since the 1930s
(Stumbo, 2013). But recording food intake on modern devices such as mobile phones and
tablets –food logging –is seen to be more effective overall than paper-based systems
(Bert et al., 2014). Paper-based diaries are troublesome to carry, do not allow for longitudinal
analysis and can be embarrassing to use in public (Cordeiro et al., 2015). In contrast apps
provide a variety of summaries, reports and charts (Rusin et al., 2013). Some apps offer
motivational e-mail reminders related to the users stated fitness or diet goals, and may
encourage users to share their personal data with Facebook or e-mail contacts. Through
mechanisms such as these, users are invited to develop a body of personal data and become
part of a community (Ackerman, 2013). Given that self-monitoring food intake through a
food diary has been shown to help people eat more healthily (Klasnja and Pratt, 2012),
food logging apps offer one important avenue to begin to address the obesity crisis.
Use of diet and fitness tracking apps is becoming widespread, with one of the most
popular, MyFitnessPal (2014) having amassed 75 million registered users worldwide.
Indeed, it is estimated that there are over 10,000 apps that aim to target diet and weight loss
(Azar et al., 2013). Interest in these apps is increasing: consumer research has shown that
79 per cent of UK adults have some kind of health or fitness goal with 54 per cent of
consumers interested in logging or monitoring aspects of activity or well-being using apps
(Mintel, 2015). However, the accuracy of recording food consumed using apps can be poor,
and errors can be as high as 50 per cent; furthermore these apps rely on large databases of
foods, which contain unverified and incomplete information (Azar et al., 2013). It seems,
then, that the use of these apps and interpreting both the information inputs and the
information outputs is not completely straightforward. Learning how to use these tools
requires new ways of being information literate (Lipponen, 2010).
There have been many studies and reviews of food logging apps and their effectiveness
from a (mobile) health information perspective (Azar et al., 2013; Bert et al., 2014; Klasnja and
Pratt, 2012; Rusin et al., 2013; Stumbo, 2013), and studies that have looked at information
literacy (IL) in relation to health (Lloyd et al., 2014; Yates et al., 2009, 2012) and healthy
eating (e.g. Marshall et al., 2009, 2012; Niedzwiedzka et al., 2014). However, to date there have
been no studies examining the nature of IL in the use of mobile apps to monitor diet.
The central aim of the paper is to uncover what it means to be information literate in the
landscape of food logging. In asking this question the research reflects a turn in thinking
about IL away from purely educational settings, to recognising the multiple and complex
aspects of information use across the life course (Lloyd, 2006) and in everyday life contexts
(Lloyd, 2010b; Yates et al., 2009, 2012). The approach taken here is informed by a practice-
based view of IL. This focusses less on it as a set of approved behaviours for educational
settings and moves towards recognising the very different ways information is defined and
used in different contexts.
The paper is laid out as follows. It starts by placing food logging in a wider context of the
quantified self-movement. The relation of IL to health literacy is then considered and
the practice-based view of IL presented. Details of the method of the study: a focus group
and interviews are then presented. The findings are given, followed by a discussion of the
significance of the paper.
Food logging and the quantified self
Food logging and the use of personal wearable devices that monitor aspects of bodily
function are part of the larger “Quantified Self”movement or “lifelogging”: the systematic
gathering of data about the self (O’Hara et al., 2009). It is recognised that this voluntary
self-tracking can contribute to better health and disease prevention (Lupton, 2015).
Simply providing people with “Information”, e.g. lists of suitable food, has been found to be
ineffective at changing habits and behaviours (Freeland-Graves and Nitzke, 2013;
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Food logging
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