Open Food Facts @ FOSDEM: How Open Source and Open Data have a positive impact on our daily lives
Last weekend, Open Food Facts was at FOSDEM 2024! Anca, Ludo, Alexandre, Pierre and Christian from the Open Food Facts crew got the chance to connect with many European libre lovers on the campus of the University of Brussels.
FOSDEM, standing for Free and Open Source software Developers’ European Meeting, is an annual conference and attracts over 5,000 participants. It regularly welcomes well-known figures from the world of free software, such as Richard Stallman and Jon “Maddog” Hall. 😎
Pierre presented Open Food Facts on Saturday, and his morning was jam-packed with two talks:
- Perl Devroom (Watch in replay🎦): In the Perl & Raku devroom, Pierre showcased how Perl code is helping transform the food system thanks to Nutri-Score and Eco-Score. It was awesome connecting with Perl maintainers who care for many of the libraries we depend on. It was also the occasion to show how we bring new people to the Perl language in 2024, for the purpose of contributing to Open Food Facts.
- Lightning Talk (Watch in replay 🎦): During the lightning talk, we gave a 15 minute overview of Open Food Facts’ 2023 accomplishments and what’s brewing for 2024, in addition to a general presentation of the projects. We highlighted how open source and open data are key contributors in tackling the food system’s health and environmental challenges.
From Code to Consumer Power
Both our talks illustrated how through open source and open data, Open Food Facts is transforming the food system to reduce its impacts on health and the environment.
- We went through how Open Food Facts helps create a treasure trove of information, and turn it into actionable data for consumers, researchers and policy makers. We also gave a glimpse of the technology behind it, including mobile crowdsourcing, artificial intelligence and more classic tech.
- We told the story of Nutri-Score, and how the Open Food Facts community helped shape food policy, going from a digital deployment to real-life impact. Finally we updated the audience on the on-going projects with Eco-Score and Open Products Facts.
After the talks, the teams did not rest, launching a “special operation Trash Bin” to let FOSDEM attendees discover Open Food Facts whilst discarding their beer bottles.
Attendees who wanted to buy drinks also had the chance to discover Open Prices, our latest project to collect prices on all food products in the world.
In the evening, we had the chance to connect over dinner or beers with the Perl community 🙌.
FOSDEM was really a unique chance to connect with a European audience deeply invested in building more open computing, and in the end a more open society.
Missed our talks or want to dig deeper? Check out the links below:
- 1️⃣ Perl Devroom Talk: https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3743-open-food-facts-learning-and-using-perl-in-2024-to-transform-the-food-system-/
- 2️⃣ Lightning Talk: https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3595-open-food-facts-acting-on-the-health-and-environnemental-impacts-of-the-food-system/
You can join us on our mission to transform the food system! Together, through open source and open data, we can empower people, promote healthy choices, and build a more sustainable future for all.