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Participatory design of a smart forest in the Brazilian Amazon using smartphones, algorithms, and ethnographic methods

Participatory design of a smart forest in the Brazilian Amazon using smartphones, algorithms, and... This article reports on the participatory design of a smart forest project in a state forest reserve in the Brazilian Amazon in collaboration primarily with local community residents and secondarily with forest reserve managers and environmental scientists. The Smart Forest project was collectively proposed to use low‐cost digital technologies for forest‐carbon monitoring and sustainable development. Our research includes a feasibility test and impact assessment of the proposed components of the Smart Forest. It combines ethnographic fieldwork methods, such as interviews and focus groups on using recycled smartphones and sound‐recognition algorithms to remotely detect illegal logging, with innovative methods, such as field experiments using an open‐source smartphone app for participatory mapping of local traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Our research findings, including unexpected ones, are helpful for community development, continuous participatory design, and academic research. This research was developed based on the first author Zhang's multiyear ethnographic field research in Amazonia and on the second author de Silva's local life experiences and action‐research interests. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annals of Anthropological Practice Wiley

Participatory design of a smart forest in the Brazilian Amazon using smartphones, algorithms, and ethnographic methods

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References (82)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2023 American Anthropological Association.
ISSN
2153-957X
eISSN
2153-9588
DOI
10.1111/napa.12201
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article reports on the participatory design of a smart forest project in a state forest reserve in the Brazilian Amazon in collaboration primarily with local community residents and secondarily with forest reserve managers and environmental scientists. The Smart Forest project was collectively proposed to use low‐cost digital technologies for forest‐carbon monitoring and sustainable development. Our research includes a feasibility test and impact assessment of the proposed components of the Smart Forest. It combines ethnographic fieldwork methods, such as interviews and focus groups on using recycled smartphones and sound‐recognition algorithms to remotely detect illegal logging, with innovative methods, such as field experiments using an open‐source smartphone app for participatory mapping of local traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Our research findings, including unexpected ones, are helpful for community development, continuous participatory design, and academic research. This research was developed based on the first author Zhang's multiyear ethnographic field research in Amazonia and on the second author de Silva's local life experiences and action‐research interests.

Journal

Annals of Anthropological PracticeWiley

Published: Nov 1, 2023

Keywords: smart forest; participatory design; collaborative research; applied anthropology; climate change

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