When most people think of the Brazilian Amazon, they imagine a dense jungle and twisting river, cut off entirely from the industrialized world around it. Certainly not a place where smartphones would be necessary — or even welcome, for that matter.
Jeffrey Mansfield, a masters candidate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, disagrees. Three weeks ago, he launched a Kickstarter project to introduce solar-powered digital toolkits to the people who live in the Amazon Rainforest, in hopes of bringing increased opportunity and communication outlets to the often overlooked community.
The project, Taking Charge, will be an extension from an existing effort called the Luz Portátil Brasil initiative — an organization Mansfield worked for and traveled with in Brazil over the summer.
The Luz Portátil Brasil's primary goal is to bring portable, solar energy to developing communities through the use of solar-powered pads, which have the ability to charge an Android phone fully in about three hours. Taking Charge, then, is raising money to create digital toolkits that complement the pads — the kits will include Android phones, a handful of apps and an instruction manual. Additional funding will go toward a trip to Brazil this winter, where Mansfield will personally introduce the kits and lead workshops in 10 different communities along the Amazon River.
"A smartphone is a digital multi-tool with a plurality of uses; uses that store information, facilitate communication, and allow citizens to create and take charge of their own representation and development," he tells Mashable. "With this project, I'm interested in exploring ways that citizens can tap into the strategic pairing of portable solar energy and wireless networks."
Taking Charge will focus specifically on the Tapajos-Arapiuns — an isolated and ecologically sensitive region of the Amazon.
"The smartphone is our generation's answer to the Swiss Army Knife," he says, "and it only made sense to explore a strategic pairing between the Luz Portátil kits and smartphones — especially with the growing presence of GSM [global system for mobile communications] and 3G in the Amazon."
The guide books explain how to use the smartphones for kite mapping, include a biodiversity catalogue of the region's flora and fauna, and feature local entrepreneur profiles conducted from Mansfield's trip during the summer.
But what about reception out there in the jungle? Mansfield says 3G and GSM cover a surprisingly large portion of the area.
"Some of the further villages remain out of 3G range but within reasonable distance to GSM range," he says. "While I was there on the river, I didn't feel 'disconnected' from the world — I was actually able to send emails and post on Facebook!"
Plus, he says, 3G is expected to grow significantly throughout the Amazon region in the next few years. Community members can also purchase pre-paid SIM (subscriber identity module) cards at a nearby town, he adds.
Beyond his previous work in the Amazon, Mansfield feels an additional connection to the work he's doing. Since birth, Mansfield has been deaf — a challenge that he says is relatable to the isolation the Amazon communities face.
"Now, imagine for a moment what it's like to have someone else speak for you," he signs in his Kickstarter video. "The reality is part of the deaf experience, as we use interpretors, family members and advocates to voice our concerns, needs, issues and opinions — not too different from the inhabitants of the Amazon."
The romanticized notion of the area as an uninhabited forest, he says, is the driving force behind policy decisions and its top-down representation — something he wants to see changed with the introduction of his toolkits.
"Interlocutors, foreigners and outsiders continue to speak for the region and its inhabitants on issues ranging from energy, agriculture, biodiversity and conservation," he says. "Largely missing from this global conversation is the voice of the people that actually live in the forest."
Until now, he hopes. At press time, the project had raised $2,525 of its $12,800 goal. 35 days are left. Does this sound like the type of project you'd back? Let us know what you think.
Image courtesy of Flickr, CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture.
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