Abstract:

Learning is a challenge we face in all spheres of our lives, from the everyday to the highly epistemologically prescriptive. Without learning, it is impossible to navigate the fast-changing and uncertain world affected by globalization, technological innovations and climate changes. More recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragilities of our learning systems and widened the inequalities in access to education. As we adapt to the new normal world, the question arises: how can learning and life go together to provide inclusive and quality lifelong learning opportunities for all, a goal declared in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? Conceptually, quality is mainly related to the creation and exchange of meanings and therefore, to communication processes. In this paper we search for inspiration on the distinctive meaning of quality developed by Slow Food, a movement born in Italy in the late 1980s with the aim to replace the dominant food culture by a new and productive alternative. According to Slow Food, the quality of a product is first and foremost a narrative, that begins with the territorial origins of the products and includes cultivation techniques, processing, preservation methods and the organoleptic and nutritional characteristics. On those grounds, Slow Food launched, in 2011, the narrative label project. A narrative label is not a commercial label and does not replace mandatory ones. It is supplementary and self-certified by the producer. It is intended to bring greater transparency to food labelling so consumers can be properly informed on the quality, wholesomeness and traceability of the foods they consume, and make conscious choices. But does a narrative label tell a complete story about the value of quality? Not entirely. As the movement itself acknowledges, the statements on a narrative label are the indispensable minimum. Actually, the movement encourages producers to register online a QR code, linking the label to their website, where other relevant multimedia content becomes accessible to consumers. It is a Slow Food goal to raise consumers awareness not only of products, but also of the narrative strategy that blends protection of biodiversity, fight against climate change, development of local economies and small-scale production, and safeguard of local knowledge, traditions and culture. In this paper, after an introduction to the Slow Food narrative label project, we explore the possibility of bringing awareness to a new epistemological level by means of short stories built on this idea of “quality as an integrated narrative”. We illustrate our approach with a series of animations in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) style, created with the help of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) platform. From a discussion of the animations, we propose that narrative labels, enriched with digital short stories, can anchor inclusive learning ecologies. Learning ecologies comprise the processes and set of contexts, relationships and interactions that provide opportunities for people to learn over time, across both the day and the lifespan. They help to prepare people for novel actions, and to integrate new information into existing knowledge structures. They help to secure a high quality of learning for life.

Keywords:

Slow Food, quality as narrative, narrative labels, DIY animation, learning ecologies.