Digital Solutions to Real-World Problems: Food for Thought at SXSW Interactive 2011

At Food+Tech Connect, we are interested in how the digital world can be leveraged to make the real world a better place.  We are huge fans of IBM’s City Forward platform, New York City’s open data discussions, and other open collaboration platforms that are gaining momentum.  We spend a lot of time thinking about and building partnerships, collaborative space, accessible data sets, action-oriented research, and tools that enable data capture and communication from human and environmental systems.

If you, too, are interested in how a transformation of the real world can be facilitated through digital world innovation, we think you’ll like some of these panel proposals. Let us know what you think and comment away if you find other proposals that we should highlight!

Be sure to check out our panel proposal: Networked Food Systems: Models for Open Information Design

• Beyond Amazon: Sustainable Retail Models of the Future (Elizabeth Mcvay Greene, Zocalo)
• Social Marketing Lessons Learned on the Farm (Nathan Wright & Lava Row)
• Sensing and Communication in Social Systems: Disruptive Approaches (Nadav Aharony, MIT Media Lab)
• Agvocacy 2.0: Adding a Human Voice to the Farm (Kelly Rivard, AgChat Foundation)
• Why Visualizing Government Data Makes Taxpayers Happy (Michael Castellon, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)
• Public Transit Data, APIs and City Governments (Julie Blitzer, Advomatic)
• New Technology, Global Citizenship, and World Peace (Lovisa Williams, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
• How Farmers Get Serious Business Done With Mobile (Jeff Caldwell, Meredith Corporation)
• Apps For Healthy Kids: Government Government Challenges FTW (Amanda Eamich, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
• Raw Data Now: Building An Open Data Ecosystem (Jordan Hatcher, Open Knowledge Foundation)
• Open Data and What it Means for You (Gil Elbaz, Factual)
• Yes We Scan: Making Government Information More Accessible (Timothy Vollmer, Creative Commons)
• The Networked EV: Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles (Rick Thompson, Greentech Media)
• A Guide To Long-Term Perspective On Trends (Kyle Studstill, PSFK)
• Your Web Developer Things You’re An Idiot (Babette Pepaj, Bakespace.com) Check out Babette’s post to find out about more of the food-themed panels.