In 2012, in Melbourne, Australia, Kirsten Larsen and Serenity Hill started the Open Food Network. From the start, they really made it *open*. By working and sharing knowledge in public forums and by creating a platform with open-source code that is publicly available for anyone to use, copy or modify, they laid the foundations for the hive of activity and the global network it has become today.
Across the world 100s of people are working and volunteering to help build a better food system through the network. On any given day people are participating in all sorts of areas…
- Translating the platform into 21 different languages.
- Marketing and promoting the network.
- Writing and updating a guide for shoppers and shop-owners. A guide which is shared world-wide among all countries using the Open Food Network and is also available in multiple languages.
- Helping shoppers and food producers get set up and use the platform effectively.
- Programming code for the platform (over 150 people across the world have contributed code so far)
- Managing the IT infrastructure the platform runs on.
- Fundraising
- Planning and designing what the platform needs next.
- And more…
And again because it’s open, it’s all there for you to dig in and see what’s happening. From the discussion and planning at https://community.openfoodnetwork.org/ or in Slack, to all the programming happening on Github and all the way to the busy translators in Transifex.
At Open Food Network Ireland we set up as a cooperative because we want to be open too. We want to let you know that we welcome new members to get involved and bring your own experience to the table. We have a good mix of people so far but the more the merrier and the stronger the network in Ireland can become. If you’re interested in getting involved with anything, send us an email at lovelocal@openfoodnetwork.ie, we would be delighted to hear from you!