A group of students and two faculty members traveled during spring break to investigate the impact of digital technology on people living in rural and less affluent areas of Brazil.
Assistant Professor of Digital and Computational Sciences Fernando Nascimento and Assistant Professor of Computer Science The trip was organized and led by Sibele Freire, who are both from Brazil. They were hosted by UNISAL, the Salesiano de São Paulo University Centro Universitario de São Paulo in Lorena, a small city in the state of São Paulo.
Nascimento started planning the trip two years ago after receiving a call from a friend who is the dean of UNISAL and was involved in a grant project to bring internet access to remote villages. It all started when I was told that.
Just about 18 months after that conversation, Bowdoin's group had the opportunity to visit one of these communities, San Miguel Island, to see what had changed.
“This is something we often talk about in our Digital Computational Studies (DCS) classes about the impact of new technologies on people's lives,” Nascimento says. “We had a special situation here: a community that didn't have broadband access in 2022 and now suddenly has broadband access. That's where the idea started.”
This week's host is UNISAL's Bowdoin group.
Eventually, he and Freire expanded the scope of their expeditions, looking at different aspects of technology and the public good. Their final itinerary includes a visit to an organic farming cooperative to learn how technology can increase productivity and a visit to an organization that teaches technology skills to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. was also included.
Bowdoin students majoring in DCS or Computer Science were invited to apply for one of eight spots on the trip. Up to 70% of students' travel costs were covered by Bowdoin. *
“At DCS, we often talk about the digital divide, the difference between those who can use technology and those who cannot,” Nascimento says. “In Brazil, we were able to see this firsthand.”
How the Internet Changed San Miguel
San Miguel, a village of 400 people, is a 90-minute drive from the nearest city on a rough dirt road. When it rains, roads become impassable and communities are cut off.
Villagers did not have access to the internet until 2023, when UNISAL engineering students installed a mobile phone base station near the town center. If you wanted to use your cell phone, you had to climb a nearby hill to catch a signal.
The small center on Sao Miguel Island consists of a few houses, a small grocery store, a school, a church, and a clinic.
“What the university did was to solve the technical problem of providing cell signals, but solving the technical problem can lead to other problems,” Nascimento said.
When Bowdoin's group visited in March, they spoke with village leaders and young students to discuss how technology has impacted the community.
Nascimento said he, Freire and Bowdoin students at the small school were shocked to see an empty soccer field. Nearby, a small group of students huddled over their phones.
“They told us they spend eight to 10 hours a day on social media and video games,” Nascimento said. “They don't play soccer, they don't talk to their parents like they used to, and their parents don't know what's going on because they don't know technology.”
Another view of the city center.
A participant on the trip, Mason Daugherty ’25, said that introducing the web to the village so quickly was like “turning the dial from 0 to 60,” adding that “…all of a sudden, deep inside the whole thing… “It really changed the community that we had access to.” internet. “
Village leaders told Bowdoin students that they believe children as young as 7 may already be exposed to pornography. “All of these issues are also faced in the United States,” Dougherty said. “But we've had connections for decades, and we've had time to strengthen them even more. Even as technology advances, people's ability to cope with and react to technology has taken off. But there it was disproportionate.”
But the Internet has also had a positive impact. Teachers have access to more materials. High school students can prepare for college exams and take online courses. Local business owners can expand their market. A village leader who is also a nurse said the community now has more consistent access to health care.
Young people from the community met with Bowdoin's group to discuss how the Internet has changed their lives. Translated by Nascimento and Freire.
Anya Workman '25, another student on the trip, said the doctor typically visits the village once a week unless it's raining. Since the advent of mobile phone base stations, people can also use the instant messaging service WhatsApp to contact distant hospitals whenever they need to. She noted that the potential impact of this is greater than simply people receiving more consistent care.
“When we asked the kids why they wanted to stay in the community, one of the answers was to have a hospital,” she said. “Having access to health care is a big part of keeping the next generation in the community.”
But Workman added that the technology could do much more. Clinics can incorporate larger screens and telemedicine sensors to measure vital signs and pass data to doctors and nurses. Nascimento also mentioned the possibility of installing sensors in local wells that could test for contamination and send alerts if bacteria are detected.
“The bottom line is that the common good must drive the technology. Technology does not create the common good,” Nascimento said. “Simply deploying technology can lead to problems and uncertain outcomes.”
“I hope this experience inspires students to think about the common good in a broader sense. Not just as a conceptualized concept that we hope to achieve through targeted action, but as a It can also be practiced through small gestures.
—Sibele Freire, DCS Professor
Small Farmers and the Internet of Things
After their trip to São Miguel, the group drove to a farm in Canas, another small municipality in São Paulo, and spoke with the founder of the oldest organic cooperative in the area.
The visit was of particular interest to Ben Israel '25, who left a study abroad program in Ireland to become part of the group in Brazil. Last summer, he designed a small but sophisticated sensor that monitors conditions such as humidity, sunlight, temperature, and soil moisture, and automatically turns water pumps on and off when crops dry out.
The students visited an organic farm in Kanas.
Israel said the past week in São Paulo state has reaffirmed the importance of designing technology in collaboration with the people who should benefit it.
After speaking with farmers, he said he believed “systems that are understandable and inexpensive are most effective, fit the farmer's situation and solve problems that the farmer has identified for himself.” Farmers told the students they needed more reliable irrigation systems and natural ways to avoid pest infestations.
A co-op founder who prefers to walk barefoot around the farm.
Furthermore, Israel said it is not enough to introduce technology and withdraw. “The importance of education along with implementation was the biggest takeaway for me from this trip, and something we returned to again and again in our discussions: how education and continuing education will evolve as technology evolves. This means that it is essential to implement the technology in the following locations: “
This kind of effort helps ensure a long lifespan. “I asked one farmer if he wanted his children to continue in this business, and he felt very strongly that he wanted to pass this on to his children,” Israel said. Technology also needs to be operated and taken ownership of. ”
Nascimento agreed. “The goals of technology need to be defined by efforts to create human capabilities, not simply by solving technical problems,” he said.
“We hope that Bowdoin students will spread this message further and consider how far they want to take the ‘common’ within the common good.”
—Fernando Nascimento, DCS Professor
Bowdoin students pose with teenagers in a coding class.
bridging the digital divide
For the final leg of the trip, Bowdoin's group visited a center in Lorena that teaches technology skills to children and teens from low-income families. Bowdoin students participated in a coding class where the Brazilian students were “very excited to show us their projects,” Nascimento said.
He and Freire designed this part of the tour to demonstrate how technology reinforces inequality rather than uplifting the majority. This is often the objective. In particular, he pointed to the disconnect that he and his students observed at the center.
Students in technology classes were learning advanced skills like robotics, but some of the students' parents didn't even know how to use a word processor, let alone apply for jobs online. , I couldn't even write a resume.
“Rather than becoming a mechanism of empowerment, technology can become an additional layer of division on top of financial, economic, and social divisions,” Nascimento said. “This is another area where he could benefit from a DCS perspective.”
After her week in Brazil, Kavya Doraswamy '24, a computer science and psychology major, said her perspective on technology has changed.
“I look at technology differently, from a common good perspective,” she said. “Wherever I go next, I'm going to embrace that mindset more and think more holistically about technology and talk about it more deeply.”
*Through the generosity of the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Fund, Bowdoin was able to provide financial aid to all student participants at all aid levels. The Student Affairs Division contributed to vaccinations.
Nascimento and Freire are grateful for the support they received from Christine Wintersteen, director of international programs and extramural studies, and the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs.
issued
