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In our Lo-fi prototype milestone we sketch and lay out the major considerations of our system. From our previous milestones and additional interviews with different stakeholders, we discovered that the primary factor that inhibits people's consumption of fresh, local food is in fact, the
Our design involves a tracking system for local produce that will be used by local producers, retailers, and consumers. The system also consists of incentive-based, rewards system that will educate consumers, promote local produce, and encourage consumption and demand for locally grown food. The system will feature:
• economic incentives: consumers will participate in a rewards system for buying local and eating healthy - this works like the "mileage" point systems of air-flight companies and people can redeem the rewarded points by different formats.
• educational information: personalized information and food recipes will be provided in different situations to encourage people to learn more ways of eating local food;
• entertaining interactions: coupons will come with using a good shopping plan of local fresh food and also some fun games: people will be given sample food to try when there is a promotion.
placing a sticker
Our system's underlying infrastructure is a footprint tracking system for the local produce. Non-profit organizations and government agencies will need to work together to develop this system. They will authorize local farmer, identify their produce, and provide them with a unified sticker / barcodes. These stickers will have two major functions:
• containing produce and location information
• creating local food awareness with a unified logo.
A marketing campaign will be conducted to promote "local food" as a healthy and environment-concerned idea to the public. We are interested in promoting local food - such that it might even become a "fashion food" much like organic food is viewed as. This tracking system will enable us to calculate total footprint for a person's purchases and thus give back reward incentives. As a result, grocery stores will also benefit from increased demand and sales. In addition, a real-time tracking system will help food distribution and future farming schedules.
The system's information and interactions will be accessed at the check-in and check-out stations in selected grocery stores (and even convenience stores in the future!). For the check-in station, we want to provide upfront information and recommendations for people before they begin shopping. This will be an opportunity to provide consumers with personal data (such as EBT balance) and promote local food. Check-in stations will be kiosk-like stations placed in the storefronts to catch consumer's attentions as they enter. A big screen display will promote local food, show promotions, and grab consumer's attention. Through the check-in and check-out stations, consumers will receive personalized promotions, coupons, recommendations, and recipes. They will also be able to participate in different kinds of rewards systems for using the system. In the long run, the system will modify, influence, and even change people's shopping plans and behaviors.