Shorter Roads

BEELINE: Final documents

RSA Design Directions: Dott 07 Food Information System
Dawn Danby / Jyoti Stephens / Mary Rick
Bainbridge Graduate Institute

Beeline is a food distribution service for fresh produce in the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD).  Our system significantly reduces miles traveled and carbon emissions, eliminates warehouses and facilities, provides equitable markets for local food, and educates customers.

Download Final files here (as sent to UK in hard copy):

500 Word / Statement of Creative Strategy (.pdf)

Beeline / Shockwave (.swf) streaming

Beeline / Acrobat (.pdf)

Beeline / Flash Projector (.Projector) 7 MB.  Right-click to save, please.

Beeline / PC Projector (.exe) 6.4 MB

Food Miles or Farmer Bob?

IPSOS Reid just published a study on Canadian beliefs toward locally grown foods. The good news is that Canadians do believe that local has many benefits over “regular”. When interviewees were given a list of benefits, however, the environment wasn’t mentioned as a top benefit. The top benefits included helping local economies and supporting family farmers. In some ways this makes sense – we, societally, externalize the environment as being something “out there”, whereas supporting people in our community seems so much more tangible. It appears that if we are to really influence purchasing behavior we need to speak to the values of shoppers; the value of thriving local living economies as opposed to focusing on food miles.

 

The thing with food miles is that it, as a number without context, means little. We do believe that knowing the distance that food travels, when presented in a relevant and compelling way, is valuable to everyone. We also believe that lowering a community’s aggregate Food Miles is extremely challenging unless the people at every stage in the food supply – from the farmers, to the distributors, to the retailers, to the customers - see that value from their own perspective. Each of those stages has people who can benefit from this knowledge.

Localized technology. Democratized information

I just read an article about McDonald’s using barcodes on their Japanese packaging in that people can scan with their cell phones to find the nutritional information of the food they are about to consume.

 

While leveraging this type of technology is great, it doesn’t get down to addressing the root causes of issues pertaining to food miles. It informs, but does little to change the system. In addition, access to the technology, especially in Canada, is limited and its use is dependent on the consumer having this type of cell phone.

 

If we want to reach the greatest number of people, we have to talk to them in the space where they buy their food, using information delivery that is readily available. Information needs to be democratized and new technology localized. If we really want the food system to change, we can’t require every consumer to go out and buy a gizmo to help them make their purchasing choices.

With Beeline, we’ve chosen the driver to be the carrier of new technology. He/she manages its use and is the only person that needs to access it. Information is delivered to the end consumer through signage that everyone can see. If the consumer wants to dig deeper, it’s all available on the website (readily available technology). Finally, Beeline uses new technology to not only inform the system but to change it through creating markets and leaning and optimizing transportation routes.

RFID TECH: Email Conversation with Julian Bleecker

Julian Bleecker heads the Mobile and Pervasive Lab, a near-future think tank and research and development lab at the School of Cinema-TV and the Annenberg Center at the University of Southern California.... His background in electrical engineering and computer science, coupled with his work on emerging technology design allows him to provide a unique perspective on the near-future possibilities of technology-based mobile, location-based, social and networked applications, products and services.
(much more of his Bio over at Techkwondo)

Julian has been in Amsterdam running a workshop called Mediamatic, RFID & Internet of Things, where he and others were playing with some compelling (and to us, very relevant) gizmos, such as the Nokia 3220 RFID phone which reads and encodes RFIDs (pictured).  He was kind enough to answer some of my specific questions about the application of RFID technology to distribution.  Here're some notes from our email conversation.

100 Mile's Foodshed Project

Hot off the press from the good people at the 100 Mile Diet, here in Vancouver..

The 100-Mile Diet experiment has forced us to ask: “Where does my food come from?”, “What grows in this region and when?”. Walk into an average supermarket for your weekly groceries and the answers to those questions are far from clear.

To help answer these questions we have initiated a project to create a local foodshed map of southwestern British Columbia. The map will illustrate the location and seasonal availability of local foods, where foods are processed and where they are available.

It's nice to see this work, especially since we've been mapping the British Columbia-sourced food supplying the Greater Vancouver Regional District over the last couple of weeks.  Our scope goes outside the 100-mile limits and into the BC interior, but defining "local" - which is commonly defined by provincial lines, not distance - is an ongoing conversation.

UPS Paves the way

The fastest trucks on the road: UPS drivers have a lot of tools to help make their routes fast and effective.  The DIADs used by drivers are helping them find the quickest routes and reduce processing times.  This system has Just in Time written all over it.

The UPS Press Room explains their latest technology:

"The UPS Delivery Information Acquisition Device (DIAD IV)  UPS revolutionized the package delivery business in 1991 when it developed and deployed the first Delivery Information Acquisition Device, known as the DIAD. More than a decade later, UPS continues its pioneering development efforts with the fourth generation of the DIAD - the DIAD IV.

The Multiplier Effect / Video Clip

The Multiplier Effect is an essential concept to understand with regard to supporting locally owned businesses.  There are many groups trying to "localwash" their products, but in truth, there is a great value in support businesses that have a commitment to place.

This is a great visual on how The Multiplier Effect works.

See also: Multiplier (Economics) in Wikipedia ("The local multiplier effect specifically refers to the effect that spending has when it is circulated through a local economy.")

The Multiplier Effect / Research

Civic Economics, the Andersonville Development Corporation, and the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce collaborated on this study, designed to evaluate the economic role played by the independent businesses of this dynamic district on Chicago's North Side.

Key findings:

• Every $100 spent with a local firm leaves $68 in the Chicago economy; $100 spent at a chain store leaves $43 in Chicago.
• For every square foot occupied by a local firm, the local economic impact is $179 vs. $105 for a chain store.

View the report here.

SAN FRANCISCO Creative Session / Debrief

This was the second of two Creative Sessions we held to talk openly about local food, food miles, markets and barriers.  This one was hosted in San Francisco, California, with representatives of BALLE's National office (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) and Investors' Circle. As in Toronto, while the focus was on Food Systems and Local Food, the application of ideas was North American in context, and was useful to consider in relation to the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

BRINGING LOCAL FOOD TO LOCAL MARKETS / Creative Session Debrief / Facilitated Dec. 4th, 2006

THE CHALLENGE
Food is one of the core building blocks of a local economy. We all need it, we all love it, and more and more people are thinking about where it comes from.

Starter Questions:

• What do you love about local food?
• The county of “Po” has a perfect local food system—what does it look like?

Top ideas included everything from inventory software compatibility to IP searchability for regional screening.

RETAILER INTERVIEW: Gourmet Grocer

We interviewed a representative of a small gourmet grocery store owned by a large corporate chain; San Francisco.  (We're not at liberty to disclose their identity.)  After a greeting and quick tour of the grocery floor, we headed to the back storage and prep area.

How often do you get deliveries?
We get deliveries for re-shelving twice a week.   This way even if we run out of something it’ll be down the line shortly.  We don’t have to stress out about food going bad or not getting the freshest ingredients.

Is there a reason the coolers are not that big?
Well, it takes a lot of energy to keep all those coolers and walk-in refrigerators on.  We try to order what we need so that we need less storage space.  The seafood area in particular, always requires the freshest fish and there’s no sense in holding it in a back room.  In general, what you see on the shelves or on display is what we have in stock.