INTEROP: Building Information Sharing Networks to Support Consumer Choice (I-Choose)
Most products consumed within the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) are produced and distributed through low cost supply chains that typically do not reveal certain types of information to end consumers. Without this information it is difficult for consumers to assess the quality of the products they buy or exercise their preferences for safe, environmentally sustainable, and economically just products and services. Producers also have much less of an incentive to provide such goods without an effective, trustworthy way to inform consumers. In order to provide full information about how, when, and by whom manufactured goods were produced, the producers, supply chain operators, and third party certifiers will need to agree on a data architecture that can facilitate exchange and sharing of information that comes from production systems, supply chain distribution systems, and systems used to determine compliance with voluntary and government-mandated product standards.
This project will create I-Choose; a data interoperability framework to support the provision of a wide range of information about how, where, and by whom commodities are manufactured and brought to market. This includes information about ?green? supply chains, production methods, wages paid to producers or workers in the supply chain, working conditions, environmental impact, and a wide range of other information about the products can be delivered to consumers. A data architecture designed to enable interoperability will be generated through a multi-stage iterative process of sequential consensus building activities. These activities will include the stakeholders involved in Mexican coffee production for distribution in Canada and the US, along with researchers from the fields of information science, computer science, economics, and political science. We will explore interoperability with three types of specific information systems: (1) Those designed and maintained by government regulators, (2) Those designed and maintained by consumer advocates using social networking technologies, and (3) proprietary data systems from individual firms in the producer, supply chain, or retail systems.
The I-Choose data interoperability network will be unprecedented in nature as it will involve consumers, producers, government regulatory agencies and supply chain/distribution across multiple domains and countries. It will allow more information into market transactions allowing consumers more informed decision-making that maximize their specific utility preferences and align the strategies of these stakeholder groups through market mechanisms rather than through cumbersome regulation. These diverse stakeholders will collaborate to create a series of technical products of the increasing granularity and specificity (ontology, taxonomy, data architecture) necessary for supporting interoperability while gradually expanding their network. The result of this process will be a fully-formed research and practice network and a high quality set of deliverables produced through the consensus of all relevant stakeholder groups, thus ensuring maximum interoperability of information systems. The knowledge gained through constructing and expanding I-Choose will inform a wide range of future collaborations in terms of how to create a trusted environment where incentives for collaboration and competition are complementary, not mutually exclusive. The study is relevant for a wide range of actors who are already experimenting with new forms of collaboration such as labor, environment, and agriculture departments and agencies in the NAFTA region, interested legislators, businesses, trade unions, environmental NGOs, consumer groups, and agricultural associations.
