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Expanding the map:
Local knowledge systems for technology builders


Between July and October 2026, we sat down with 35 people living in mountain villages in southern Spain and southern Greece. We asked them how they find and share knowledge, how digital technology fits into their days, what it gives them, what it takes away, and what they would say to the people who build it. These are not people on the margins of technology. 

Everyone we spoke to has access to at least a smartphone, many to other digital devices too, and most to reliable broadband. Some have chosen not to use them. What they don’t have is a seat at the table where technology is imagined. This page explains how we listened.



All quotes are translated into English. Many Spanish answers are the interviewer's notes rather than word-for-word transcripts; Greek answers come from the English or Greek originals.  



"I love the countryside in the mornings: how the leaves change every day, how they wilt without water, how the sunlight changes. A sense of knowing where I am. It relaxes me and I enjoy the beauty. How lucky I am to come home."
-Osteopath, Sierra de Aracena.



01


"I lived for years in community without earning money and I've never lived better."
- Music teacher, craftswoman and farmer, Sierra de Aracena.
02
"This area has different ways ofliving, thinking and feeling.There are families with many generations here, and also many people from other parts of Spain and the world."
03
 "They subsidise you if you keep an uncastrated donkey, so it doesn't go extinct."
"Knowing how to use the resources here: the chestnut, pruning it every 4 years, harvesting. Ham, cured meats, bottled tomatoes."
— Builder, livestock keeper and cork harvester, Los Marines.


Local knowledge and what is being lost

33 of 34 people say local knowledge is at risk; these quotes name which knowledge and why it is disappearing.  

 "Certain folk styles are only accessible at certain local festivities or through local people who know them"
— Musician, Sierra de Aracena.
04
 "Manual work has become too expensive, they say it's not profitable anymore. The village olive mill no longer works."
— Physiotherapist, Andalusia.
05
"Living with nature, making cheese, finding mushrooms. A barter group, car sharing, a clothes market."
— Educator and researcher,  Sierra Norte de Huelva. "Ways of building that are typical here. People from here do it without calling it ecological. We are disconnected, but we depend on each other."
— Teacher, Sierra de Huelva.

“I’m not managing to do an interview in less than two hours, because of the stories. Maybe that means people do have a say, and feel very strongly about it. So much of the information comes in conversation, not in the answers.”
— Sol, interviewer, Spain.
06
 "Now the vegetable gardens have less water and it's harder . Early chestnuts."
— Sports coordinator, Los Marines.



If the digital world disappeared tomorrow: what I would miss


 "Nothing."
— A farmer and a retired shepherd, Vlachokerasia.
07
 "TikT ok videos."
— Retired taverna owner,  Alepochori.

"Talking to my family who live on another continent."
— Musician, Sierra de Huelva.
 ”Seeing my mom in Australia.”
— Elderly support, Vlachokerasia.
 "Receiving calls from family who live abroad."
— Electrician, Arcadia.
 "Relationships with people far away. Access to so much information: recipes, films, solving things."
— Electronics technician, Sierra Norte de Huelva.
 "International communication; access to professionals around the world; artistic
inspiration; getting my work out there."
— Musician, Sierra de Aracena.
 "I got WhatsApp to be part of the group. Every day, everyone at once. Sharing."
— Teacher, Sierra de Huelva.
08
 "The convenience of Google Maps and surf and weather reports."
— Writer and filmmaker, Arcadia.
09
"Viber , YouTube and Google."
— Giorgios (anonymous), driver , Vlachokerasia "Music tutorials, being able to listen to music and watch music videos."
— Musician, Sierra de Huelva.
10
 "The immediacy. You want to cut corners so much, but in the end you can't."
— Educator and researcher, Sierra de Aracena..



If the digital world disappeared tomorrow: what I would gain

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12
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“People wouldn't have two lives: the virtual one, what they want to be, and the real one, what's true."
— Rural postman, Sierra Norte de Huelva. “If someone calls your house and you're not there, nothing happens. Being more present."
— Sports coordinator, Los Marines.
"What matters to me is avoiding a situation where devices dictate how people function."
— Mechanic and olive grower, Arcadia.“We'd go back to talking, and to letters, which express so much; you take your time making them."
14

“Back to reality."
— Music teacher and craftswoman, Sierra de Aracena. "I use my phone a lot because I manage my whole life on it. If it disappeared it would be a mental relief."
— Sports instructor, Sierra Norte de Huelva.
15
"I'd have more mental clarity. I'd be more patient when solving problems."
— Physiotherapist, Sierra de Aracena. "I'd like to see our attention return to ourselves."
— Writer and filmmaker, Arcadia.
16



Ideal technology

For almost everyone, ideal technology is an optional tool: useful, not addictive, with a person as the alternative.  

 "It would be a strictly work relationship: help me with my job (like the postman's handheld), and stay out of my personal relationships."
— Rural postman, Sierra Norte de Huelva.
 "Only as a tool to use when you want, but not essential. There should be alternatives (paper, a person). Design without the addictive part."
— Teacher, Sierra de Huelva.
17
 "If I could avoid using it, I wouldn't. Right now I can't, because people depend on me being connected."
— Sports coordinator, Los Marines
18
 "Digital tech only for: medical progress, helping with disability, environmental research."
— Music teacher and craftswoman, Sierra de Aracena.
 "That it doesn't interfere with natural cycles, and that we can still feel."
— Educator and researcher, Sierra de Aracena.
 “Everything in its right measure. We already have what we need."
— Builder, livestock keeper, Los Marines.
19
 "I like science fiction, cyberpunk. I'm f ascinated by the idea of browsing with all the senses."
— Physiotherapist, Andalusía.
 "It would be a free, fast, open source to all."
— River kayak instructor, Mount Mainalo.

“People choose to be here, even when they know the big cities. If you want future-proof technology, maybe you should look at the rural.”
— Sol, interviewer, Spain.
20. 
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 "As close to the truth as possible… and fewer ads."
— Driver, Vlachokerasia.
22



On AI

AI mostly brings up fear and distrust; the few voices in favour see it as inevitable, or useful within limits.  


 "Turn it off , please. Young people can't do anything without asking AI. Handing all your decision-making to a machine, to a system whose input nobody knows."
— Sports coordinator, Los Marines.
23
 "I'm very afraid it will turn against us. A dictator with power is a person, I can understand him better than a machine. […] If something is 50/50 good and bad, that's enough not to go on."
— Builder, livestock keeper, Los Marines.
 "Once again a weapon in the hands of children."
— Musician, Sierra de Aracena.
"Absolute panic, fear, distrust. And the experts themselves want to stop it; I don't know whether to trust that either. "
— Music teacher and craftswoman. "I'd like to know more about AI. I hear a lot and read a lot, but I have no basic knowledge. From what I know, it scares me. That they know so much about me freaks me out."
— Rural postman, Sierra Norte de Huelva.
24
25
 "The decline of the human capacity to solve problems, think, write, ask for help."
— Musician, Sierra de Huelva.
26
 "I don't see AI itself as the problem, but the intention behind how it's designed. If its goal is the common good, it could be very good."
— Elderly care, Alájar.
 "I think humans have to get on board or we'll be left out of the system."
— Botanical crafts, Sierra de Aracena.
 "We know more than enough to legislate AI and we're not doing it, and that's very dangerous."
— Farm work, Sierra Norte de Huelva.
 "If you don't adapt to using it, sooner or later you'll become obsolete."
— Forestry work, Alájar.
27
 "Are we going to send AI to fetch cigarettes from the kiosk, or to milk the goats, shear them, or plough the field?"
— Retired shepherd, Vlachokerasia.
28
 "I don't know how to answer this; I'd like a few more years to pass."
— Farmer, Georgitsi.
29
 "AI? I don't know much about it. When I see most videos, I believe they are real."
—Retired taverna owner, Alepochori.



Messages to developers

These are the answers to what they would say to the people who build technology; the most direct ones for a MozFest room.  


 "Stop using us as raw material."
— Elderly care, Alájar.
 "Be human in your decisions."
— Farmer and livestock keeper, Sierra Norte de Huelva.
30
 “Don't target children in ways that could harm them."
—Writer and filmmaker, Arcadia.
31

 "Innovation and profit shouldn't be the goal of any technological development, but the consequence of good work."
— Physiotherapist, Sierra de Aracena.
32
 "Technological progress must serve human beings, not the other way round."
— Youth educator, Sierra de Aracena.
 "Nothing, because I don't depend on it."
— Vehicle mechanic, Arcadia.
 "Put it at the service of the human and environmental common good. A degrowth vision."
— Music teacher and craftswoman, Sierra de Aracena.
 "Regulate the digital parasitism we've been covertly subjected to."
— Youth educator, Sierra de Aracena.
33
"Not anti-tech. Anti anti-human use."
— Educator and researcher, Sierra de Aracena.
34
 “Technology pulls you like a donkey: you can't see left or right. […] You live once. If you're on the internet and the phone 15 hours a day , it's not life."
— Electrician, Alepochori.

“Most of them were shy about being asked about technology: ‘Why do you want to know? I don’t know anything.’ They felt almost intimidated.”
— Athena, interviewer, Greece.
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Others

 "I like to be free. The phone is the glue. Not for me."
— Electrician, Alepochori.

“We have access to all this knowledge, but then we don’t trust it, and we don’t retain it.”
— Sol, interviewer, Spain.
36
 "I like to drive my life myself , not with technology."
— Electrician, Alepochori.
37
38
 "There is knowledge from the elders that is being lost because it wasn't shared."
— Farmer, Georgitsi.
39
 "Most of the vet vaccination and medicine information and instructions were not in Greek."
— Retired shepherd, Vlachokerasia.
 "TikTok recipes and videos aren't in Greek."
— Retired taverna owner, Alepochori.
40
 "Some elders haven't upgraded their phones because of the economic cycle of buying again, new chargers, etc."
— Athena, interviewer, Greece.
41
 "I have to use Google Translate for any paperwork or written notices."
— Writer and filmmaker, Arcadia.
42
 "I want to make sure we're all on the same page that no raw data or results go into any AI. This was raised in my interview."
— Sol, interviewer, Spain.
43
 "There wasn't a 'Never' option, which in T asso's case was his answer… and so the whole section of D questions was not applicable."
— Athena, interviewer, Greece.
 "The human connection element was a constant point."
— Sol, interviewer, Spain.