Hacking Meat: 6 Meat + Data Icons

Hacking Meat is an online conversation exploring how can information and technology be used to hack (or reimagine) a more sustainable, profitable and healthy future of meat. Join the conversation and share your ideas or product requests in the comments, on Twitter using #hackmeat, on Facebook or at the Hack//Meat hackathon happening December 7-9 in NYC.

Guest post by Carl DiSalvo and Thomas James Lodato of Georgia Institute of Technology  

We're excited by the opportunities at the intersection of design, food, and technology. But sometimes things get complicated, and we want something simple. Icons are simple. Or at least relatively simple.

Over the past year, in addition to thinking about databases and agriculture, and hackathons and food systems, we've been designing icons for bread and bread-making (Thomas) and cheese and cheese-making (Carl).

When the call came to contribute to  the online conversation for the upcoming Meat Hackathon, rather than writing a short essay or reporting on our current research, we decided to quickly develop some icons. They're meant to be playful – simple representations to help us think about the intersection of meat and information technology. Feel free to use them if you'd like, we've provided an eps file (if you do use them, we'd love to know about it!).

How do these icons help you think more clearly about the connection between meat and information technology? Are they useful

for you or your work? Let us know on Twitter using #hackmeat, on Facebook or at the Hack//Meat hackathon happening December 7-9 in NYC.

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Carl DiSalvo is an Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research is broadly concerned with the social and political uses of design.  For the past year he has been developing a series of projects exploring the intersection of information, interaction, service design and food systems. Other current research topics include hackathons as design events and new practices of public design. Learn more at http://carldisalvo.com

Thomas James Lodato is a third-year PhD student at Georgia Institute of Technology in the Digital Media program. Interested in theories and methods of empathic design, Thomas often focuses on food and agricultural systems to ground his research. Currently Thomas is researching hackathons and their potential as forms of sociopolitical engagement through design and computing. Learn more about at theminutewaltz.com.