Archive for Category: "Open Government"
Publicly Releasing Data Would Improve Food Safety, Says Government Report
The National Research Council released a report today stating that “publicly posting enforcement and testing data…on the Internet could have substantial benefits, including the potential to favorably impact public health.”
Infographic of the Week: Time Spent on Food
This week’s Infographic of the Week is a collection of data essential for those interested in the restaurant, shopping and meal preparation habits of those in the
National Agricultural Library Data Now Open, and Linked
The USDA’s National Agricultural Library (NAL) announced that its Agricultural Thesaurus is now available as Linked Open Data, making possible connections with data from other agricultural databases.
Report Shows Business Opportunities for New Food-Education Tools
Entrepreneurial Opportunity: There is huge potential for creating recipe, restaurant nutrition and grocery shopping tools that cater to non-English speakers. Additionally, educational tools targeted at different age groups and those trying to follow specific diets are also promising ventures. Like our past overuse of credit cards and our habit of buying homes priced far beyond
8 Simple Steps to Hackathon Epiphany
Up until a couple of weeks ago, the largest event I had ever organized were dinner parties for 10 in my apartment. Then the Food+Tech Hackathon came along. With 12 days of lead time, a $100 budget from Gojee, and big aspirations, I joined Danielle Gould (founder of Food+tech Connect), Marc Alt (CEO of Opensourcecities),
CEO Brian Witlin On ShopWell & Their Data Driven Business Model
If you’ve been following this blog, you may have noticed that many of the startups I’ve interviewed are data-driven. Why? Because addressing even the seemingly most basic food system challenges, such as what to eat, requires the management of large amounts of data. I’ve spent the last eleven months speaking with people about ways t0
Hacking For Social Good — Using Open Data to Make Sense of our Food System
It was 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning in Soho, the streets lay quiet and Broadway was not yet filled with shopping tourists. Though one floor above, at co-working space Soho Haven, there was a bustle of energy as developers, designers, statisticians, urban farmers, public officials, and researchers from across the city gathered for the
Initial Data Posting and the Food+Tech Hackathon
It’s been a while since I’ve worked on this site, but thanks to the Food+Tech Hackathon I’ve taken the time to really think about how the data and tools I’m building should evolve. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to email me at ewpatton [at] gmail [dot] com so we
Food Safety Information, Interoperability & Standardization In the Age of Twitter
Yesterday, the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) debate began in the Senate. The contentious S. 510 legislation will significantly expand the FDA’s regulatory authority over processed foods and fresh produce. The public debate was raging all day throughout my twitter feed, which inspired me to peruse google for food safety infographics. What I found
USDA Built The Dataset & Map, Now You Can Design a Farmers Market App!
In 2010, the USDA National Farmers Market Directory counted over 6,200 operational farmers markets in the country. That’s more than a 16 percent growth in farmers markets from 2009. In every state and season, shoppers flock to nearby farmers markets in search of healthy, fresh foods. Farmers markets can offer it all: from seasonal, fresh
Gaming For Better Health: Apps for Healthy Kids
In the spirit of President Obama’s call for innovation, the USDA decided to take a different approach toward fighting obesity- gaming & competition
Digging Deeper Into Obesity Visualizations
Rina Peterson’s “Fit & Fat in America” enable users to examine various factors associated with obesity
NYC DOH Goes Viral With Man Eating Sugar Video
“Would you ever eat 16 packs of sugar?” That’s what NYC Department of Health is asking in their newly released internet “Pouring On the Pounds” campaign video
