{"id":123061,"date":"2012-11-14T10:54:44","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T15:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"\/gazette\/?p=123061"},"modified":"2012-11-14T10:54:44","modified_gmt":"2012-11-14T15:54:44","slug":"taking-charge-with-cellphones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/11\/taking-charge-with-cellphones\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Charge with cellphones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tScience & Tech\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tTaking Charge with cellphones\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tCorydon Ireland\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tStudent taps smartphones, solar power to protect Amazon basin\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

Jeffrey Mansfield was aboard the riverboat Juan Felipe last August as it eased down the Arapiuns River, a branch of the Amazon a mile wide. In the distance was the lush green rim of the Brazilian rain forest. Despite the remote locale, Mansfield took out his iPhone and in moments was posting real-time pictures on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Mansfield, a master\u2019s degree student in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design,<\/a> was taking advantage of a fact that is little known in North America: Remote corners of the vast Amazon River basin are increasingly covered by 3G networks. (3G is short for the third-generation networks widely used for cellphones, the Internet, video links, and other wireless communications.)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest surprises was how accessible the Internet was,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cI never felt I was in a romanticized wilderness, completely separate from the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brazil itself has one of the highest densities of cellphone use in the world, and by 2014 even its most remote riverine forest regions will have reliable 3G coverage of the kind Mansfield enjoyed on the Arapiuns. A year ago, Vivo, Brazil\u2019s largest wireless provider, distributed 200 Samsung smartphones to residents of the Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve,<\/a> an ecologically sensitive region inhabited by the mixed-race caboclo<\/em> people.<\/p>\n

These farmers, fishermen, and artisans of Ameridian descent live under thick jungle cover, managing beehives, and clearing little plots to grow maize, onions, cassava, and tree fruits. (Sustainable farming in these conditions is called agroforestry.) But these Amazon forest residents are also under pressure from large-scale soybean operations that clear swaths of endangered forest.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t

\"\"
The cellphone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d Mansfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n

Power in the region is scarce and expensive, often parceled out in 15-minute increments from portable diesel generators. In some locations, there are solar-powered telecenters that use fixed solar panels. But that\u2019s not enough in the power-short Amazon.<\/p>\n

In August, Mansfield was in Brazil with the <\/strong>Portable Light Project,<\/a> a nonprofit research, design, and engineering initiative developed by Boston-based Kennedy Violich Architecture Ltd. (Add in the Brazilian partners, and the project is called the Luz Portatil Brasil initiative.) At the heart of the project is a lightweight, flexible solar fabric that comes with a rechargeable battery pack and a USB port. A user can sling a solar fabric bag over the shoulder, go about the day, and return home at night with enough juice to power cellphones, lights, and other USB-powered devices.<\/p>\n

The solar textile, with its flexible photovoltaics and solid-state lighting, can also be made into traditional-patterned dresses, hats, tarps, and household curtains.<\/p>\n

During the 10-day sojourn, Mansfield and the others in his group conferred with Coopa Roca, a women\u2019s sewing cooperative in Rio de Janeiro that reworked the solar fabric. The group also set up a base of operations in Santarem, a former rubber plantation boomtown blanketed by a haze from burning trash. Mansfield and the rest navigated hundreds of miles of the Tapajos and Arapiuns rivers to conduct solar-fabric workshops in 10 riverine villages. Quite happily, the visitors slept in hammocks, watched forest parrots at play, and ate a lot of fish, cassava, and native corn.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t

\"\"
Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region.\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n

Mansfield, a first-time visitor, was awakened to both the charms of the remote Amazon and the ecological threats to it \u2014 and to what sensitive stewards of the lands its jungle residents are. He said cheap solar power and widening 3G networks provide a \u201cdouble confluence\u201d of factors that could help to protect rain forest ecology, improve the lives of residents, and empower them politically. \u201cSo many times, outsiders speak for people there,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cThey had to trust foreigners to speak for them, and it wasn\u2019t always accurate. The portable light kit and cellphone allows them a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mansfield, who is hearing-impaired, felt a kinship with the Amazon residents, since they can rely on others to talk for them. (Interpreter Jolanta Galloway, a freelancer who often works for Harvard, was present during Mansfield\u2019s interview.)<\/p>\n

The Amazon trip inspired Mansfield to suggest a \u201cuser guide\u201d that enables residents to employ smartphones as digital multi-tools. (\u201cThe smartphone in my generation,\u201d said Mansfield, \u201cis like the Swiss Army knife.\u201d) Forest residents could use technology to improve farming, health, banking, trade, and health practices. They have the cellphones \u2014 but they lack a tool kit and training for life-changing applications. He called that \u201cthe missing link.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back at Harvard this fall, Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region. Available in PDF form too, the guide would contain content from Amazon residents, including tips on beekeeping, husbandry, irrigation, and trade, along with foldout maps on the location of fuel stops, solar stations, and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Accurate maps are at the heart of the Taking Charge tool kit. On a balcony at Gund Hall, Mansfield unfurled a kite that can be used to loft a cellphone 500 feet or more into the air. The phone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d (Google just recently started to use kites and hot air balloons as mapping platforms.)<\/p>\n

At his Gund Hall workstation, where Mansfield also writes a Taking Charge blog, he showed a prototype of the users\u2019 guide. It will contain kite-mapping instructions, a biodiversity guide, and profiles of regional entrepreneurs, who are experts in beekeeping, fishing, organic farming, weaving, and food processing.<\/p>\n

This winter, during a second Portable Light Project trip to the Amazon, Mansfield will gather more local content and conduct workshops on kite mapping and mobile-phone applications. He reached his Kickstarter goal, and will distribute 15 copies of the user guide \u2014 more if he has the funding. The target is for at least one copy in each of 10 villages, which may have as few as 20 families and as many as 100.<\/p>\n

A scheme like this can be scaled up, said Mansfield. He sees the 2,500-square-mile Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns region as a pilot locale for the whole Amazon, which is dotted with villages whose residents yearn to connect with one another.<\/p>\n

Mansfield sees a future in which cellphones help Amazon residents scour the Internet for new farming methods of sustainable agroforestry, advice on do-it-yourself engineering projects (like tractor repair), and tips from regional entrepreneurs. They should be able to document their livelihoods, their lands, and any threats to either. They will be able to gather weather information \u2014 important in an ecosystem where sealike rivers can rise by 60 feet. And Amazon forest residents may be able to study distant markets, jumping past middlemen to get the best prices for their goods. Smartphones can also be a way for people to tell their stories, to one another and to the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s our goal,\u201d said Mansfield of the multifaceted smartphones, \u201cto make them part of every day life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harvard architecture student Jeffrey Mansfield launches a project designed to combine solar power and smartphones to protect the Amazon basin, link forest entrepreneurs, and give Amazonian people a voice in the world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":123199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":0,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"","document_color_palette":null,"author":"Corydon Ireland","affiliation":"Harvard Staff 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reserves\",\"vivo\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2012-11-14T15:54:44Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-14T15:54:44Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-14T15:54:44Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/news.harvard.edu\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_160-cr2_605.jpg","has_blocks":true,"block_data":{"0":{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/article-header","attrs":{"blockColorPalette":"","coloredHeading":"","creditText":"","displayDetails":"","displayTitle":"","categoryId":1387,"mediaAlt":"","mediaCaption":"","mediaId":"","mediaSize":"","mediaType":"","mediaUrl":"","poster":"","title":"Taking Charge with cellphones","subheading":"Student taps smartphones, solar power to protect Amazon basin","className":"is-style-square","backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","centeredImage":false,"coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaHeight":0,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","mediaWidth":0,"posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"","innerContent":[],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-square has-light-background has-colored-heading\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tScience & Tech\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tTaking Charge with cellphones\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tCorydon Ireland\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2012-11-14\">\n\t\t\tNovember 14, 2012\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t7 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tStudent taps smartphones, solar power to protect Amazon basin\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>Jeffrey Mansfield was aboard the riverboat Juan Felipe last August as it eased down the Arapiuns River, a branch of the Amazon a mile wide. In the distance was the lush green rim of the Brazilian rain forest. Despite the remote locale, Mansfield took out his iPhone and in moments was posting real-time pictures on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, a master\u2019s degree student in architecture at the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gsd.harvard.edu\/#\/news\/all-news\/feed.html\"> Harvard Graduate School of Design,<\/a> was taking advantage of a fact that is little known in North America: Remote corners of the vast Amazon River basin are increasingly covered by 3G networks. (3G is short for the third-generation networks widely used for cellphones, the Internet, video links, and other wireless communications.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the biggest surprises was how accessible the Internet was,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cI never felt I was in a romanticized wilderness, completely separate from the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brazil itself has one of the highest densities of cellphone use in the world, and by 2014 even its most remote riverine forest regions will have reliable 3G coverage of the kind Mansfield enjoyed on the Arapiuns. A year ago, Vivo, Brazil\u2019s largest wireless provider, distributed 200 Samsung smartphones to residents of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.protectedplanet.net\/sites\/351776\">Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve,<\/a> an ecologically sensitive region inhabited by the mixed-race <em>caboclo<\/em> people.<\/p>\n<p>These farmers, fishermen, and artisans of Ameridian descent live under thick jungle cover, managing beehives, and clearing little plots to grow maize, onions, cassava, and tree fruits. (Sustainable farming in these conditions is called agroforestry.) But these Amazon forest residents are also under pressure from large-scale soybean operations that clear swaths of endangered forest.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>Jeffrey Mansfield was aboard the riverboat Juan Felipe last August as it eased down the Arapiuns River, a branch of the Amazon a mile wide. In the distance was the lush green rim of the Brazilian rain forest. Despite the remote locale, Mansfield took out his iPhone and in moments was posting real-time pictures on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, a master\u2019s degree student in architecture at the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gsd.harvard.edu\/#\/news\/all-news\/feed.html\"> Harvard Graduate School of Design,<\/a> was taking advantage of a fact that is little known in North America: Remote corners of the vast Amazon River basin are increasingly covered by 3G networks. (3G is short for the third-generation networks widely used for cellphones, the Internet, video links, and other wireless communications.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the biggest surprises was how accessible the Internet was,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cI never felt I was in a romanticized wilderness, completely separate from the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brazil itself has one of the highest densities of cellphone use in the world, and by 2014 even its most remote riverine forest regions will have reliable 3G coverage of the kind Mansfield enjoyed on the Arapiuns. A year ago, Vivo, Brazil\u2019s largest wireless provider, distributed 200 Samsung smartphones to residents of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.protectedplanet.net\/sites\/351776\">Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve,<\/a> an ecologically sensitive region inhabited by the mixed-race <em>caboclo<\/em> people.<\/p>\n<p>These farmers, fishermen, and artisans of Ameridian descent live under thick jungle cover, managing beehives, and clearing little plots to grow maize, onions, cassava, and tree fruits. (Sustainable farming in these conditions is called agroforestry.) But these Amazon forest residents are also under pressure from large-scale soybean operations that clear swaths of endangered forest.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>Jeffrey Mansfield was aboard the riverboat Juan Felipe last August as it eased down the Arapiuns River, a branch of the Amazon a mile wide. In the distance was the lush green rim of the Brazilian rain forest. Despite the remote locale, Mansfield took out his iPhone and in moments was posting real-time pictures on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, a master\u2019s degree student in architecture at the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gsd.harvard.edu\/#\/news\/all-news\/feed.html\"> Harvard Graduate School of Design,<\/a> was taking advantage of a fact that is little known in North America: Remote corners of the vast Amazon River basin are increasingly covered by 3G networks. (3G is short for the third-generation networks widely used for cellphones, the Internet, video links, and other wireless communications.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the biggest surprises was how accessible the Internet was,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cI never felt I was in a romanticized wilderness, completely separate from the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brazil itself has one of the highest densities of cellphone use in the world, and by 2014 even its most remote riverine forest regions will have reliable 3G coverage of the kind Mansfield enjoyed on the Arapiuns. A year ago, Vivo, Brazil\u2019s largest wireless provider, distributed 200 Samsung smartphones to residents of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.protectedplanet.net\/sites\/351776\">Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve,<\/a> an ecologically sensitive region inhabited by the mixed-race <em>caboclo<\/em> people.<\/p>\n<p>These farmers, fishermen, and artisans of Ameridian descent live under thick jungle cover, managing beehives, and clearing little plots to grow maize, onions, cassava, and tree fruits. (Sustainable farming in these conditions is called agroforestry.) But these Amazon forest residents are also under pressure from large-scale soybean operations that clear swaths of endangered forest.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"sizeSlug":"full","align":"none","id":123218,"caption":"The cellphone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d Mansfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_004-cr2_.jpg","alt":"","lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_004-cr2_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123218\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The cellphone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d Mansfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t","innerContent":["\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_004-cr2_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123218\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The cellphone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d Mansfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"],"rendered":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_004-cr2_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123218\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The cellphone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d Mansfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Power in the region is scarce and expensive, often parceled out in 15-minute increments from portable diesel generators. In some locations, there are solar-powered telecenters that use fixed solar panels. But that\u2019s not enough in the power-short Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>In August, Mansfield was in Brazil with the<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/portablelight.org\/\">Portable Light Project,<\/a> a nonprofit research, design, and engineering initiative developed by Boston-based Kennedy Violich Architecture Ltd. (Add in the Brazilian partners, and the project is called the Luz Portatil Brasil initiative.) At the heart of the project is a lightweight, flexible solar fabric that comes with a rechargeable battery pack and a USB port. A user can sling a solar fabric bag over the shoulder, go about the day, and return home at night with enough juice to power cellphones, lights, and other USB-powered devices.<\/p>\n<p>The solar textile, with its flexible photovoltaics and solid-state lighting, can also be made into traditional-patterned dresses, hats, tarps, and household curtains.<\/p>\n<p>During the 10-day sojourn, Mansfield and the others in his group conferred with Coopa Roca, a women\u2019s sewing cooperative in Rio de Janeiro that reworked the solar fabric. The group also set up a base of operations in Santarem, a former rubber plantation boomtown blanketed by a haze from burning trash. Mansfield and the rest navigated hundreds of miles of the Tapajos and Arapiuns rivers to conduct solar-fabric workshops in 10 riverine villages. Quite happily, the visitors slept in hammocks, watched forest parrots at play, and ate a lot of fish, cassava, and native corn.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Power in the region is scarce and expensive, often parceled out in 15-minute increments from portable diesel generators. In some locations, there are solar-powered telecenters that use fixed solar panels. But that\u2019s not enough in the power-short Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>In August, Mansfield was in Brazil with the<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/portablelight.org\/\">Portable Light Project,<\/a> a nonprofit research, design, and engineering initiative developed by Boston-based Kennedy Violich Architecture Ltd. (Add in the Brazilian partners, and the project is called the Luz Portatil Brasil initiative.) At the heart of the project is a lightweight, flexible solar fabric that comes with a rechargeable battery pack and a USB port. A user can sling a solar fabric bag over the shoulder, go about the day, and return home at night with enough juice to power cellphones, lights, and other USB-powered devices.<\/p>\n<p>The solar textile, with its flexible photovoltaics and solid-state lighting, can also be made into traditional-patterned dresses, hats, tarps, and household curtains.<\/p>\n<p>During the 10-day sojourn, Mansfield and the others in his group conferred with Coopa Roca, a women\u2019s sewing cooperative in Rio de Janeiro that reworked the solar fabric. The group also set up a base of operations in Santarem, a former rubber plantation boomtown blanketed by a haze from burning trash. Mansfield and the rest navigated hundreds of miles of the Tapajos and Arapiuns rivers to conduct solar-fabric workshops in 10 riverine villages. Quite happily, the visitors slept in hammocks, watched forest parrots at play, and ate a lot of fish, cassava, and native corn.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Power in the region is scarce and expensive, often parceled out in 15-minute increments from portable diesel generators. In some locations, there are solar-powered telecenters that use fixed solar panels. But that\u2019s not enough in the power-short Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>In August, Mansfield was in Brazil with the<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/portablelight.org\/\">Portable Light Project,<\/a> a nonprofit research, design, and engineering initiative developed by Boston-based Kennedy Violich Architecture Ltd. (Add in the Brazilian partners, and the project is called the Luz Portatil Brasil initiative.) At the heart of the project is a lightweight, flexible solar fabric that comes with a rechargeable battery pack and a USB port. A user can sling a solar fabric bag over the shoulder, go about the day, and return home at night with enough juice to power cellphones, lights, and other USB-powered devices.<\/p>\n<p>The solar textile, with its flexible photovoltaics and solid-state lighting, can also be made into traditional-patterned dresses, hats, tarps, and household curtains.<\/p>\n<p>During the 10-day sojourn, Mansfield and the others in his group conferred with Coopa Roca, a women\u2019s sewing cooperative in Rio de Janeiro that reworked the solar fabric. The group also set up a base of operations in Santarem, a former rubber plantation boomtown blanketed by a haze from burning trash. Mansfield and the rest navigated hundreds of miles of the Tapajos and Arapiuns rivers to conduct solar-fabric workshops in 10 riverine villages. Quite happily, the visitors slept in hammocks, watched forest parrots at play, and ate a lot of fish, cassava, and native corn.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"sizeSlug":"full","align":"none","id":123202,"caption":"Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region.","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_186-cr2_500.jpg","alt":"","lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_186-cr2_500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123202\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region.\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t","innerContent":["\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_186-cr2_500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123202\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region.\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"],"rendered":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_186-cr2_500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123202\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region.\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Mansfield, a first-time visitor, was awakened to both the charms of the remote Amazon and the ecological threats to it \u2014 and to what sensitive stewards of the lands its jungle residents are. He said cheap solar power and widening 3G networks provide a \u201cdouble confluence\u201d of factors that could help to protect rain forest ecology, improve the lives of residents, and empower them politically. \u201cSo many times, outsiders speak for people there,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cThey had to trust foreigners to speak for them, and it wasn\u2019t always accurate. The portable light kit and cellphone allows them a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, who is hearing-impaired, felt a kinship with the Amazon residents, since they can rely on others to talk for them. (Interpreter Jolanta Galloway, a freelancer who often works for Harvard, was present during Mansfield\u2019s interview.)<\/p>\n<p>The Amazon trip inspired Mansfield to suggest a \u201cuser guide\u201d that enables residents to employ smartphones as digital multi-tools. (\u201cThe smartphone in my generation,\u201d said Mansfield, \u201cis like the Swiss Army knife.\u201d) Forest residents could use technology to improve farming, health, banking, trade, and health practices. They have the cellphones \u2014 but they lack a tool kit and training for life-changing applications. He called that \u201cthe missing link.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Back at Harvard this fall, Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region. Available in PDF form too, the guide would contain content from Amazon residents, including tips on beekeeping, husbandry, irrigation, and trade, along with foldout maps on the location of fuel stops, solar stations, and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Accurate maps are at the heart of the Taking Charge tool kit. On a balcony at Gund Hall, Mansfield unfurled a kite that can be used to loft a cellphone 500 feet or more into the air. The phone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d (Google just recently started to use kites and hot air balloons as mapping platforms.)<\/p>\n<p>At his Gund Hall workstation, where Mansfield also writes a Taking Charge blog, he showed a prototype of the users\u2019 guide. It will contain kite-mapping instructions, a biodiversity guide, and profiles of regional entrepreneurs, who are experts in beekeeping, fishing, organic farming, weaving, and food processing.<\/p>\n<p>This winter, during a second Portable Light Project trip to the Amazon, Mansfield will gather more local content and conduct workshops on kite mapping and mobile-phone applications. He reached his Kickstarter goal, and will distribute 15 copies of the user guide \u2014 more if he has the funding. The target is for at least one copy in each of 10 villages, which may have as few as 20 families and as many as 100.<\/p>\n<p>A scheme like this can be scaled up, said Mansfield. He sees the 2,500-square-mile Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns region as a pilot locale for the whole Amazon, which is dotted with villages whose residents yearn to connect with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield sees a future in which cellphones help Amazon residents scour the Internet for new farming methods of sustainable agroforestry, advice on do-it-yourself engineering projects (like tractor repair), and tips from regional entrepreneurs. They should be able to document their livelihoods, their lands, and any threats to either. They will be able to gather weather information \u2014 important in an ecosystem where sealike rivers can rise by 60 feet. And Amazon forest residents may be able to study distant markets, jumping past middlemen to get the best prices for their goods. Smartphones can also be a way for people to tell their stories, to one another and to the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s our goal,\u201d said Mansfield of the multifaceted smartphones, \u201cto make them part of every day life.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Mansfield, a first-time visitor, was awakened to both the charms of the remote Amazon and the ecological threats to it \u2014 and to what sensitive stewards of the lands its jungle residents are. He said cheap solar power and widening 3G networks provide a \u201cdouble confluence\u201d of factors that could help to protect rain forest ecology, improve the lives of residents, and empower them politically. \u201cSo many times, outsiders speak for people there,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cThey had to trust foreigners to speak for them, and it wasn\u2019t always accurate. The portable light kit and cellphone allows them a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, who is hearing-impaired, felt a kinship with the Amazon residents, since they can rely on others to talk for them. (Interpreter Jolanta Galloway, a freelancer who often works for Harvard, was present during Mansfield\u2019s interview.)<\/p>\n<p>The Amazon trip inspired Mansfield to suggest a \u201cuser guide\u201d that enables residents to employ smartphones as digital multi-tools. (\u201cThe smartphone in my generation,\u201d said Mansfield, \u201cis like the Swiss Army knife.\u201d) Forest residents could use technology to improve farming, health, banking, trade, and health practices. They have the cellphones \u2014 but they lack a tool kit and training for life-changing applications. He called that \u201cthe missing link.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Back at Harvard this fall, Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region. Available in PDF form too, the guide would contain content from Amazon residents, including tips on beekeeping, husbandry, irrigation, and trade, along with foldout maps on the location of fuel stops, solar stations, and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Accurate maps are at the heart of the Taking Charge tool kit. On a balcony at Gund Hall, Mansfield unfurled a kite that can be used to loft a cellphone 500 feet or more into the air. The phone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d (Google just recently started to use kites and hot air balloons as mapping platforms.)<\/p>\n<p>At his Gund Hall workstation, where Mansfield also writes a Taking Charge blog, he showed a prototype of the users\u2019 guide. It will contain kite-mapping instructions, a biodiversity guide, and profiles of regional entrepreneurs, who are experts in beekeeping, fishing, organic farming, weaving, and food processing.<\/p>\n<p>This winter, during a second Portable Light Project trip to the Amazon, Mansfield will gather more local content and conduct workshops on kite mapping and mobile-phone applications. He reached his Kickstarter goal, and will distribute 15 copies of the user guide \u2014 more if he has the funding. The target is for at least one copy in each of 10 villages, which may have as few as 20 families and as many as 100.<\/p>\n<p>A scheme like this can be scaled up, said Mansfield. He sees the 2,500-square-mile Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns region as a pilot locale for the whole Amazon, which is dotted with villages whose residents yearn to connect with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield sees a future in which cellphones help Amazon residents scour the Internet for new farming methods of sustainable agroforestry, advice on do-it-yourself engineering projects (like tractor repair), and tips from regional entrepreneurs. They should be able to document their livelihoods, their lands, and any threats to either. They will be able to gather weather information \u2014 important in an ecosystem where sealike rivers can rise by 60 feet. And Amazon forest residents may be able to study distant markets, jumping past middlemen to get the best prices for their goods. Smartphones can also be a way for people to tell their stories, to one another and to the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s our goal,\u201d said Mansfield of the multifaceted smartphones, \u201cto make them part of every day life.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Mansfield, a first-time visitor, was awakened to both the charms of the remote Amazon and the ecological threats to it \u2014 and to what sensitive stewards of the lands its jungle residents are. He said cheap solar power and widening 3G networks provide a \u201cdouble confluence\u201d of factors that could help to protect rain forest ecology, improve the lives of residents, and empower them politically. \u201cSo many times, outsiders speak for people there,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cThey had to trust foreigners to speak for them, and it wasn\u2019t always accurate. The portable light kit and cellphone allows them a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, who is hearing-impaired, felt a kinship with the Amazon residents, since they can rely on others to talk for them. (Interpreter Jolanta Galloway, a freelancer who often works for Harvard, was present during Mansfield\u2019s interview.)<\/p>\n<p>The Amazon trip inspired Mansfield to suggest a \u201cuser guide\u201d that enables residents to employ smartphones as digital multi-tools. (\u201cThe smartphone in my generation,\u201d said Mansfield, \u201cis like the Swiss Army knife.\u201d) Forest residents could use technology to improve farming, health, banking, trade, and health practices. They have the cellphones \u2014 but they lack a tool kit and training for life-changing applications. He called that \u201cthe missing link.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Back at Harvard this fall, Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region. Available in PDF form too, the guide would contain content from Amazon residents, including tips on beekeeping, husbandry, irrigation, and trade, along with foldout maps on the location of fuel stops, solar stations, and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Accurate maps are at the heart of the Taking Charge tool kit. On a balcony at Gund Hall, Mansfield unfurled a kite that can be used to loft a cellphone 500 feet or more into the air. The phone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d (Google just recently started to use kites and hot air balloons as mapping platforms.)<\/p>\n<p>At his Gund Hall workstation, where Mansfield also writes a Taking Charge blog, he showed a prototype of the users\u2019 guide. It will contain kite-mapping instructions, a biodiversity guide, and profiles of regional entrepreneurs, who are experts in beekeeping, fishing, organic farming, weaving, and food processing.<\/p>\n<p>This winter, during a second Portable Light Project trip to the Amazon, Mansfield will gather more local content and conduct workshops on kite mapping and mobile-phone applications. He reached his Kickstarter goal, and will distribute 15 copies of the user guide \u2014 more if he has the funding. The target is for at least one copy in each of 10 villages, which may have as few as 20 families and as many as 100.<\/p>\n<p>A scheme like this can be scaled up, said Mansfield. He sees the 2,500-square-mile Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns region as a pilot locale for the whole Amazon, which is dotted with villages whose residents yearn to connect with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield sees a future in which cellphones help Amazon residents scour the Internet for new farming methods of sustainable agroforestry, advice on do-it-yourself engineering projects (like tractor repair), and tips from regional entrepreneurs. They should be able to document their livelihoods, their lands, and any threats to either. They will be able to gather weather information \u2014 important in an ecosystem where sealike rivers can rise by 60 feet. And Amazon forest residents may be able to study distant markets, jumping past middlemen to get the best prices for their goods. Smartphones can also be a way for people to tell their stories, to one another and to the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s our goal,\u201d said Mansfield of the multifaceted smartphones, \u201cto make them part of every day life.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\r\n\t\n\t\r\n\r\n\t\n\t\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\r\n\t","\n\t\r\n","\r\n\t","\n\t\r\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>Jeffrey Mansfield was aboard the riverboat Juan Felipe last August as it eased down the Arapiuns River, a branch of the Amazon a mile wide. In the distance was the lush green rim of the Brazilian rain forest. Despite the remote locale, Mansfield took out his iPhone and in moments was posting real-time pictures on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, a master\u2019s degree student in architecture at the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gsd.harvard.edu\/#\/news\/all-news\/feed.html\"> Harvard Graduate School of Design,<\/a> was taking advantage of a fact that is little known in North America: Remote corners of the vast Amazon River basin are increasingly covered by 3G networks. (3G is short for the third-generation networks widely used for cellphones, the Internet, video links, and other wireless communications.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the biggest surprises was how accessible the Internet was,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cI never felt I was in a romanticized wilderness, completely separate from the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brazil itself has one of the highest densities of cellphone use in the world, and by 2014 even its most remote riverine forest regions will have reliable 3G coverage of the kind Mansfield enjoyed on the Arapiuns. A year ago, Vivo, Brazil\u2019s largest wireless provider, distributed 200 Samsung smartphones to residents of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.protectedplanet.net\/sites\/351776\">Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve,<\/a> an ecologically sensitive region inhabited by the mixed-race <em>caboclo<\/em> people.<\/p>\n<p>These farmers, fishermen, and artisans of Ameridian descent live under thick jungle cover, managing beehives, and clearing little plots to grow maize, onions, cassava, and tree fruits. (Sustainable farming in these conditions is called agroforestry.) But these Amazon forest residents are also under pressure from large-scale soybean operations that clear swaths of endangered forest.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_004-cr2_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123218\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The cellphone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d Mansfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n<p>Power in the region is scarce and expensive, often parceled out in 15-minute increments from portable diesel generators. In some locations, there are solar-powered telecenters that use fixed solar panels. But that\u2019s not enough in the power-short Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>In August, Mansfield was in Brazil with the<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/portablelight.org\/\">Portable Light Project,<\/a> a nonprofit research, design, and engineering initiative developed by Boston-based Kennedy Violich Architecture Ltd. (Add in the Brazilian partners, and the project is called the Luz Portatil Brasil initiative.) At the heart of the project is a lightweight, flexible solar fabric that comes with a rechargeable battery pack and a USB port. A user can sling a solar fabric bag over the shoulder, go about the day, and return home at night with enough juice to power cellphones, lights, and other USB-powered devices.<\/p>\n<p>The solar textile, with its flexible photovoltaics and solid-state lighting, can also be made into traditional-patterned dresses, hats, tarps, and household curtains.<\/p>\n<p>During the 10-day sojourn, Mansfield and the others in his group conferred with Coopa Roca, a women\u2019s sewing cooperative in Rio de Janeiro that reworked the solar fabric. The group also set up a base of operations in Santarem, a former rubber plantation boomtown blanketed by a haze from burning trash. Mansfield and the rest navigated hundreds of miles of the Tapajos and Arapiuns rivers to conduct solar-fabric workshops in 10 riverine villages. Quite happily, the visitors slept in hammocks, watched forest parrots at play, and ate a lot of fish, cassava, and native corn.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/102612_amazon_186-cr2_500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123202\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region.\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n<p>Mansfield, a first-time visitor, was awakened to both the charms of the remote Amazon and the ecological threats to it \u2014 and to what sensitive stewards of the lands its jungle residents are. He said cheap solar power and widening 3G networks provide a \u201cdouble confluence\u201d of factors that could help to protect rain forest ecology, improve the lives of residents, and empower them politically. \u201cSo many times, outsiders speak for people there,\u201d said Mansfield. \u201cThey had to trust foreigners to speak for them, and it wasn\u2019t always accurate. The portable light kit and cellphone allows them a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield, who is hearing-impaired, felt a kinship with the Amazon residents, since they can rely on others to talk for them. (Interpreter Jolanta Galloway, a freelancer who often works for Harvard, was present during Mansfield\u2019s interview.)<\/p>\n<p>The Amazon trip inspired Mansfield to suggest a \u201cuser guide\u201d that enables residents to employ smartphones as digital multi-tools. (\u201cThe smartphone in my generation,\u201d said Mansfield, \u201cis like the Swiss Army knife.\u201d) Forest residents could use technology to improve farming, health, banking, trade, and health practices. They have the cellphones \u2014 but they lack a tool kit and training for life-changing applications. He called that \u201cthe missing link.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Back at Harvard this fall, Mansfield launched Taking Charge, a Kickstarter-funded project that will donate cellphones \u2014 loaded with helpful apps, along with a user guide printed on waterproof paper \u2014 to the region. Available in PDF form too, the guide would contain content from Amazon residents, including tips on beekeeping, husbandry, irrigation, and trade, along with foldout maps on the location of fuel stops, solar stations, and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Accurate maps are at the heart of the Taking Charge tool kit. On a balcony at Gund Hall, Mansfield unfurled a kite that can be used to loft a cellphone 500 feet or more into the air. The phone\u2019s camera, set on continuous shoot and held in a cut-off soda bottle with rubber bands, can snap high-resolution photos impossible to get from a higher-altitude plane. \u201cYou get phenomenal resolution,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s low-tech, high-impact.\u201d (Google just recently started to use kites and hot air balloons as mapping platforms.)<\/p>\n<p>At his Gund Hall workstation, where Mansfield also writes a Taking Charge blog, he showed a prototype of the users\u2019 guide. It will contain kite-mapping instructions, a biodiversity guide, and profiles of regional entrepreneurs, who are experts in beekeeping, fishing, organic farming, weaving, and food processing.<\/p>\n<p>This winter, during a second Portable Light Project trip to the Amazon, Mansfield will gather more local content and conduct workshops on kite mapping and mobile-phone applications. He reached his Kickstarter goal, and will distribute 15 copies of the user guide \u2014 more if he has the funding. The target is for at least one copy in each of 10 villages, which may have as few as 20 families and as many as 100.<\/p>\n<p>A scheme like this can be scaled up, said Mansfield. He sees the 2,500-square-mile Tapaj\u00f3s-Arapiuns region as a pilot locale for the whole Amazon, which is dotted with villages whose residents yearn to connect with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Mansfield sees a future in which cellphones help Amazon residents scour the Internet for new farming methods of sustainable agroforestry, advice on do-it-yourself engineering projects (like tractor repair), and tips from regional entrepreneurs. They should be able to document their livelihoods, their lands, and any threats to either. They will be able to gather weather information \u2014 important in an ecosystem where sealike rivers can rise by 60 feet. And Amazon forest residents may be able to study distant markets, jumping past middlemen to get the best prices for their goods. Smartphones can also be a way for people to tell their stories, to one another and to the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s our goal,\u201d said Mansfield of the multifaceted smartphones, \u201cto make them part of every day life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13530,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2006\/08\/lecturer-administrator-delba-winthrop-mansfield-dies-at-60-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":123061,"position":0},"title":"Lecturer, administrator Delba Winthrop Mansfield dies at 60","author":"gazetteimport","date":"August 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Delba Winthrop Mansfield, a lecturer at Harvard Extension School for 27 years and director of the Program on Constitutional Government since 1984, died of cancer on Aug. 16 in Cambridge, Mass. As a teacher, Mansfield will be remembered by generations of students for her sharp wit and deep learning, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43790,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2004\/12\/mansfield-receives-neh-award\/","url_meta":{"origin":123061,"position":1},"title":"Mansfield receives NEH award","author":"gazetteimport","date":"December 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvey Mansfield, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government, was at the White House Nov. 17 to receive a National Endowment for the Humanities Award from President Bush.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8336,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2007\/04\/harvey-mansfield-named-2007-jefferson-lecturer-in-the-humanities\/","url_meta":{"origin":123061,"position":2},"title":"Harvey Mansfield named 2007 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Political scientist Harvey Mansfield, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard, will travel to Washington, D.C., in May to deliver the 2007 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11516,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2007\/10\/harvey-mansfield-on-politics-the-humanities-and-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":123061,"position":3},"title":"Harvey Mansfield on politics, the humanities, and science","author":"harvardgazette","date":"October 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvey Mansfield wants to reintroduce the concept of thumos into political science. As employed by Plato and Aristotle, thumos refers to the \u201cpart of the soul that makes us want to insist on our own importance.\u201d Mansfield believes that modern political science has excluded thumos, and as a result has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arts & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts & Culture","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/arts-humanities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":381970,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2024\/03\/why-democrats-republicans-who-appear-at-war-these-days-really-need-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":123061,"position":4},"title":"Why Democrats, Republicans, who appear at war these days, really need each other","author":"harvardgazette","date":"March 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Political philosopher Harvey C. Mansfield says it all goes back to Aristotle, balance of competing ideas about common good","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harvey C. Mansfield speaking","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/032124_Harvery_Mansfield_008.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/032124_Harvery_Mansfield_008.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/032124_Harvery_Mansfield_008.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/032124_Harvery_Mansfield_008.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":206935,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2003\/04\/manliness-an-obsolete-concept-discuss\/","url_meta":{"origin":123061,"position":5},"title":"‘Manliness,’ an obsolete concept? Discuss.","author":"gazetteimport","date":"April 10, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"A few years back, an editor from Harvard Magazine called Harvey Mansfield and asked if he would contribute a short quote for a profile of a fellow faculty member. Mansfield replied that the quality that had always impressed him about this colleague was his manliness.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105622744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123061"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=123061"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=123061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}