Learning and Development
Learning
Is the entire ‘action life-cycle’ (including from goal setting to the final outcome) taken into account and/or supported?
The scheme allows for key learning outcomes of participating stakeholders which we believe will result in sustainable lifestyles and lead towards more self-sustaining agriculture. Opportunities for learning are provided on different levels:
- Once a consumer has made the decision to buy local, the system allows to set targets for future purchase behavior. Consumers can learn about their food chain impact. Additionally, consumers are empowered by allowing them to learn about local farming practices using the web but also by going for a visit to the farm or offering to help out on the farm.
- Using the system the farmer learns about local demand and the needs which consumers in the local area have.
Development
The last category of questions covers Development, the developmental transformation of the above components as a whole. In this category we focus specifically on the community and environmental sustainability.
What are the consequences of the implementation of SmartBarrow on:
- target actions within 6 months?
Within 6 months of the introduction of the scheme, we should have developed a substantial user base. The awareness campaign should have helped towards this aim. Consumers will already be more aware on the benefits of local food consumption and will be able to use the website to contact farms online as well as inform themselves about the local farm produces available. Within 6 month the scheme will be mirroring the marketplace of Stroudco but made more efficient.
- in relation to local food systems?
Due to increased awareness and increase in local shopping, local food producers should already perceive an increase in demand. The increased demand will also result in new farming options to be explored in order to support local demand. One of the farmers we visited for example planned to convert nearby agricultural land to produce vegetables and salad.
- community sustainability?
Increased reliance on local food producers is projected to help local community cohesion. More local consumers will become member of the local food cooperative and automatically be able to connect to each other using the website, volunteer labor, or personally through meetings.
- environmental sustainability?
The team believes that within six months there will not yet be a large effect on environmental sustainability. Awareness of consumers for local food will result in smaller quantities ordered and thereby less food waste created by individual households. Effects on local farming will only be perceivable at a later stage when the system has truly developed into a local partnership of producers, sellers, and consumers of food.
Implications for the design of SmartBarrow
“Which part of the knowledge acquired in this project is currently most valid and relevant for embedded technology + environmental sustainability development?
During the research project, the relevance of optimising supply chains on the local level was established as importance. In particular the unique features of such supply chains which incorporate local sellers which are often not technical enabled provide challenges to the implementation of such a product. The research uncovered the need of mapping local food supply chains in order to uncover previously hidden supply chain characteristics.
More specifically, which design insights and empirical results gained in the course of this project apply to future design, evaluation, and use of embedded technology for local food systems/environmental sustainability? ”
Future local supply chains will need to be enabled using relatively easy technology which should ideally be open in nature in order to allow for mass participation in the development of the scheme. After all we succeeded to collaboratively create this document based on our collective thinking and work. We feel that although it should be regarded as a first step and much more work will be needed to be done in taking this initial concept to the implementation stage, the respective project has real life relevance we we are confident that a pilot study would (1) raise interest in wide number of key stakeholders and (2) has the ability to create lasting change.
