An open source tool to collect and safeguard indigenous knowledge as well as raise awareness about biodiversity with a p2p offline-first methodology.
Ana Rosa de Lima Tovstiga, André Fincato, Erick Lavoie, Ivan Txaparro, Sina von der Heyde
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Showcase at the UNLOCK Demo Day in October 2022:
Indigenous knowledge is being lost, together with even unknown biodiversity. Currently, rural and indigenous communities and researchers at local universities are mostly working offline, given the lack of access to stable internet connection. Sometimes knowledge is also being shared by using commercial instant messaging services throughout different chats and channels, which often leads to the information and knowledge being lost.
The project seeks to create a p2p, offline-first tool to assemble information in partnership between local communities and universities. The rural and indigenous communities can add entries to a shared catalog of biodiverse material (plants, bees and other insects) using their phone and other community members, as well as researchers, can enrich and expand upon them. The combination of field-research and lab analysis would create a catalog based on indigenous and scientific knowledge. As a result of that, the project would be able to safeguard indigenous knowledge and raise awareness about the local biodiversity, sharing this knowledge with the world.
