Istiaq Ahmed, Faiza Omar Arpita, Ashraful Islam, Rashedur Rahman, M Ashraful Amin
Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
In: Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
ACM, pp. 1-8
The rapid digitization of urban food systems in Bangladesh has split into two distinct operational models: centralized Commercial Platforms (e.g., Foodpanda, Pathao) and decentralized F-commerce (Facebook-based commerce). Using a critical adaptation of the Food Movement Values framework, this study compares these models across Food Security, Food Justice, and Food Sovereignty. Our multi-source study analyzed the two market-leading commercial apps and directly observed 45 F-commerce seller pages, alongside a manually coded corpus of 2,150 posts and 6,800 comments from active community groups. Commercial Platforms optimize for speed but perpetuate “digital food deserts" and reinforce class hierarchies. In contrast, F-commerce demonstrates superior alignment with ethical values, empowering marginalized female entrepreneurs, preserving regional culinary heritage, and maintaining direct links to local agriculture, despite experiencing logistical friction. While corporate platforms modernize logistics, F-commerce sustains the social integrity of the food system, necessitating future hybrid infrastructures that combine technological efficiency with community autonomy.
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)Human-Computer Interaction, AI for Social Good, AI for Public Health, AI for Impact