Hartel, J. (2006). Information activities and resources in an episode of gourmet cooking. Proceedings from Information Seeking in Context , July 2006, Sydney, Australia A paper and presentation at the Information Seeking in Context (ISIC) Conference (2006) at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. (Full text available in Information Research, October 2006).

Abstract

Introduction. This paper contributes to what is known about everyday life information seeking ( ELIS ) within serious leisure. It is the first case study of a making and tinkering (or craft) hobby, gourmet cooking. The central activity of the hobby is described and serves as a context to relate and locate information practices and information resources.

Method. In this scientific ethnography, twenty gourmet cooks from Boston and Los Angeles, USA were interviewed in their residences about their pursuit of the hobby and its associated information activities. Then, domestic culinary information resources and spaces were documented via a photographic inventory. Secondary research into popular culinary literature and seminal gourmet cookbooks provided background.

Analysis. Interview transcripts and field notes were studied for themes through an iterative process of inductive and deductive analysis. A visual analysis process was performed on the photographs to produce descriptions of the information resources and spaces.

Results. Hands-on cooking takes the form of a nine step episode. Information activities and resources are instrumental, interwoven, and varied across the process. In any cooking episode use and re-use are the prevailing information activities; the hobbyist is an active producer of information; and the recipe is a primary document.

Conclusion. The study demonstrates how to explicate and conceptualize information phenomena in serious leisure, and sets up lines of inquiry to explore in future research.

 

 

This paper locates information activities and resources within the gourmet cooking process (illustrated above).