Digital technologies, social appropriation of knowledge and food security: a scoping review with best-fit framework synthesis

Abstract

This scoping review maps how digital technologies applied to food security (remote sensing, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, mobile and digital platforms, decision support systems, blockchain and digital traceability) engage with the social appropriation of knowledge, understood as the participatory processes through which communities and territories exchange, adapt and use scientific and technological knowledge. The review follows the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and will be reported according to PRISMA-ScR and PRISMA-S. Stream A (systematic mapping) searches Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection for primary studies published from 2020 onwards in which a digital technology is the object of study and food security, or at least one of its pillars (availability, access, utilisation, stability), is an explicit aim or outcome. Records will be screened with ASReview using active learning and a pre-specified stopping rule, with a second reviewer verifying a random sample of at least 20% of decisions, following the Cochrane rapid review guidance. Data will be charted from full texts with a piloted form. Stream B (conceptual sources) is a purposive selection of literature on social appropriation of knowledge, science communication, co-design and agricultural innovation systems, used to build an a priori framework. Expected outcomes: (1) an evidence map of technologies, food-security pillars and levels of social appropriation; (2) a synthesis of barriers and enabling conditions for adoption and appropriation; and (3) a conceptual framework, derived through best-fit framework synthesis, that articulates technology, social appropriation, governance and food-security outcomes, together with testable propositions for subsequent empirical research. The full protocol is attached.