Christopher Brewster

Knowledge, Food and Society

Research Interests

Knowledge

My research concerns the nature of knowledge, how we create it, convey it, represent it. As a computer scientist I am particularly concerned with what can and cannot be represented in computer systems and what the limits and possibilities are. Most of my research up to now has been a contribution to Web Science, which is the science of decentralised information system, expressed currently most actively in Semantic Web technologies (ontologies, OWL, SKOS, RDF, microformats, etc.) and related developments such as Web 2.0. From a practical perspective the research areas that interest me currently are:

• Practical applications of Semantic Web technologies (in business and for the wider good of society)
• The flow of knowledge in organisations
• Open Data
• The social and economic impact of knowledge
• The application of Semantic Web technologies in the Food and Agriculture sector, and more generally in Supply Chains.

Food and Agriculture

The interaction of ICT in general and Food and Agriculture is a major interest of mine. The agrifood sector has historically used relatively little computer technology but this is now growing. The kind of questions that interest me concern what the opportunities and challenges are with using a greater range of ICT in agrifood. How does this benefit farmers, and society more widely? What are the limitations or unintended consequences of the wider uptake of ICT? Topics that interest me include:

• The use of social media in food and agriculture. What is the impact? What are the opportunities?
• Architectures and technologies to enable greater from of data through the supply chain. What technology is needed? What solutions can we create?
• Data in the food supply chain. How is it captured? How is it lost? How is data used?
• Open Data in the Food system, its uses and application.
• Social and environmental implications of greater use of technology in the food and agriculture sector
• The wider implications of the food system on society, the environment, climate change, social justice, health, and the economy. What role does technology play, and what are the unintended side effects?

Society and Sustainability

Knowledge affects the decisions people make in everyday life and in organisations. I am interested in how to make more knowledge available, the right sort of knowledge so that people can make appropriate decisions concerning the environmental, societal and ethical impact of the choices. Historically people have used price exclusively as the criterion for purchasing decision. We now have an an opportunity, using current ICT and advanced knowledge representation methods, to provide a much 'fatter pipe' of knowledge so as to enable rather different decisions to be made which are conscious of the environment and the world around us. Fundamentally:

• Can we use ICT to effectively reduce our carbon foot prints?
• How can knowledge based systems contribute to changing human impact on the environment?
• What role can computational sustainability have in combating climate change?
• The societal implications of ICT, especially concerning surveillance, privacy and creativity.

For current and past research projects, please consult my projects page.