Joshua Knowlton Berry

On Thanksgiving day, Americans cook roughly 45,000,000 turkeys. The average turkey is 20 lbs and cooks for 5 hours.

The average home oven is rated at 40,000 BTU/hour energy consumption.

The BTU content in natural gas is 100,000 BTU/therm.

Let’s conservatively estimate that the average cost of gas in late November is $1.00/therm.

Let’s estimate that the average American bastes their Thanksgiving turkey twice per hour, for a total of 10 times in 5 hours.

Let’s estimate that opening the oven adds about 5 minutes each time to the overall cooking time, for a total of about 60 minutes, or one hour.

If a therm costs $1.00, and we consume 40% of a therm every hour we cook our turkey, and we add an additional hour of cooking time by basting twice an hour, we each spend $.40 extra to cook our turkey.

$.40 x 45,000,000 = $18,000,000

That means that as Americans we waste $18,000,000 worth of energy on Thanksgiving day, whereas we could have been eating a finer turkey in less time by simply using the Überbaster!

I. Pre-Production Research, Planning & Needs Assessment, Task Analysis

Audience: Cooks of any skill level.

Materials: Marinade injector, silicone tube, vinyl tube, T joint, two check valves, stainless steel skewer. Assembles in just a couple minutes.

Format: Roasting meats

Technology:

• What hardware and software are optimal? Oven, food, roasting pan, basting liquid
• Any constraints? None yet.

Design: Exposed functionality with familiar pumping action

What is the ideal style? Attitude? Industrial yet playful.

Why? The industrial look and feel of the baster suggests that it works. The playful character behind the website is designed to remind people that yes, cooking is fun, and it’s OK to have fun pumping a big syringe too.

Prior Work: Inspired in part by remote probe thermometers that require the remote wire to be closed into the door.

Setting: Home

Any special needs or requirements? A flavorful basting liquid.

Constraints: Need provisional patent ASAP. No budget. I am the sole expert on remote basting.

II. Usability/User Testing, Prototyping, Audience Feedback

Note: Test users have been issued basters. While the basters are being tested, users are encouraged to use them as built and then, if necessary, modify them to work to their own specification. This technique will allow me to modify my design and study how they would use such a device were it a real product. Basters are still out and research has not yet been gathered.

Small groups of the target audience perform representative tasks with product prototypes (i.e., sketches, paper prototypes, video prototypes, parts of fully functional prototypes) while developers watch and assess problem areas, refine the prototypes based on this feedback, re-test, etc. Methods include observation, interviews, user diaries, self-report, think-aloud protocols, focus groups, pre/post questionnaires. Factors observed include:

Appeal: Is it engaging? Do they like it? Is it relevant to them? Is it useful? What don’t they like?

Comprehension: Do they understand it? What do they take away from the experience? What do they learn? Does it meet their expectations? What is confusing to them about the content, message, goals?

Usability: Can they use it? Is it easy to use? Is it responsive enough?
Is it flexible? Adaptable? Consistent? Is the interface clear
and accessible? Does it take too long to figure it out?

III. Technical Testing, Software Testing, Debugging
Performance Rigor:

Does it work? Yes.

Is it internally consistent? Yes. Rock solid construction.

Reliability:

• Does it hold up over time? So far, so good.
• Is it robust? Yes.

Extensibility:

• Does it work in multiple environments? Yes.
• Is it transportable? Yes.
• Is it scalable? I suppose with a longer tube you could control the baster at a further distance from the oven. It is also possible to automate with electronic pumps.