The challenge

Nomadic populations in remote countries such as Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan often don’t have the tech or stable internet connection required to access vital information online. More importantly, when their lands are exploited by private companies, and their traditional routes to water and grazing become blocked, they also lack the means to make official complaints or defend their basic human rights.

Our clients at The University of Oxford wanted to remedy this situation by making critical information more accessible to those who need it.

The response

The University’s researchers proposed a mobile application containing a curated content list of news, legal and human rights’ guides, as well as information about local mining activity. It would need to retain access to viewed articles even if internet connection was lost.

We recommended a Progressive Web Application (PWA) built on web and cloud technologies. A PWA uses a regular web browser, can typically be installed on any device and was clearly the most cost-effective choice for the front-end part of this project.

To feed it, we also needed to develop a CMS, one requiring minimal setup and maintenance, offering full customisation and supporting content internationalisation.

Contentful is a cloud-based solution that ticks all those boxes and more. Self-hosted, managed and maintained, it provides a simple admin dashboard for users to create content models with customisable fields.

Bringing it all together involved a single page application (SPA) with React, hosted in AWS and serving the website through CloudFront.

Consisting mainly of cached JS and CSS files, and with Apollo GraphQL pulling through data from Contentful, the finished app is secure, always available and installable on any device.

The outcome

Our collaboration with the University has resulted in a powerful PWA with Contentful as its data source, built to run on and offline, as well as cross-platform.

With minimal training, our client’s research teams are able to add their own content, bringing together important and relevant resources with easier access for people living in remote and challenging circumstances.

The project is still in its infancy, with more content to be added prior to official launch, and is already on course to achieve its objectives.

The boost

After assessing the requirements, Bluetel proposed to build a progressive web application (PWA) utilising technologies and services like React, Contentful, and AWS. The PWA offers mobile support, offline availability, and cross-platform functionality, with prerequisites like responsive design, SSL certificate, and modern browser support.