Asha: Reuniting Refugees Across The World

Asha is an enquiry into the possibility of using mobile phones and Bluetooth to create ad-hoc communication networks in situations where phone and internet fail. Designed as an iPhone application, Asha helps reunite families and loved ones torn apart by disasters and conflict, through simple relay-based networks using humans and cell phones to carry tiny packages of information – like a name cross-referenced with a location/time stamp.

Using simple Bluetooth technology, Asha would allow rescue workers to automatically collect names and locations of people they meet during their normal routines and sync them across platforms. Meeting a person who is missing a loved one, the resulting database can be searched – revealing where and when the loved one was in the vicinity of an Asha equipped phone.

“Asha is such a simple idea that was built on technology that has been readily available for ages on even the simplest phones. On top of that, it´s cheap, light weight and takes advantage of the increasing penetration of mobile phones in even developing areas. With a little coordination and effort from mobile manufacturers, what started as a simple design inquiry could end up make an enormous difference in peoples lives.”

says the team behind Asha.

Watch a video about the project below.

Asha was created by Anders Højmose, Martina Pagura and Ulrik A. Hogrebe as part of a Graphical User Interface class at The Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID).

The Interaction Design Programme at CIID is an incubator for some of the most insightful designers on the block. This 12-month intensive curriculum is an onslaught of skills-based and investigative workshops – which means that students are not just able to do great things – they can tell you why they are doing them.