Butter Digital Inclusion - Mayan Style!

The Butter Box and Engine Room teams joined forces at the Digital Mayan Fair 2026 in Chiapas, México, and we showed up with a clear misión: run guided usability tests with Mayan community members, gather firsthand feedback, and deploy Butter kits with selected candidates ready to close the digital divide in their communities.

Cacu( Guardian Project) and Nathy (The Engine Room) the amazing facilitators presenting Butter Box at the fair.

For those who don't know, Butter helps where internet is unreliable or simply nonexistent, bringing a digital communication channel, a content distribution platform, and an offline app store, all packed into one portable, easy-to-use device. ¡Todo en uno!

The Universe Gave Us the Perfect Demo Opportunity

On the night of our arrival, the city lost power for two hours, apagón total. With the streets dark and our hotels temporarily off-limits, we did what any reasonable group of technology enthusiasts would do: found a café, ordered something warm, and waited it out.

But the universe had other plans.

As it turned out, two people who had previously tested Butter were at the same café, along with several event participants. What started as an unexpected shelter from the blackout quickly turned into one of the most organic, unscripted conversations of the entire trip. A veces, la mejor demo no está planeada. Sometimes the best demo isn't planned at all.

We talked about Butter the way it deserves to be talked about, casually, honestly, in the middle of a real situation it was literally designed for. No slides, no stage, just candlelight and a genuine conversation about what it means to communicate and access information when centralized services go dark. Previous users shared their own experiences and use cases, and new listeners leaned in.

The next day, we brought that story into the workshop. It became our opening example, a live, real-world illustration of how a Butter Box running on a power bank can keep people connected and informed when the grid goes down. No internet, no problem.

The blackout lasted two hours. The impression it left? Much longer.

Day One: El Taller (The Workshop)

One happy recipient of a Butter Box Kit

More than 30 participants joined our workshop on day one, where we introduced the full Butter Box ecosystem and then handed it over to the audience to test live. We carefully observed new users interacting with the platform for the first time — identifying pain points, technical hiccups, and the features people gravitated toward most. Watching someone use your product for the first time, with fresh eyes? No tiene precio. Priceless.

Day Two: El Booth

The Butter Box booth

Our two-hour booth on day two brought an even bigger crowd, members of the Global Voices community, local groups from across the region, and plenty of curious faces. We demoed Butter live, handed out stickers featuring the Spanish version of our website, and ran polls to rate the system's features. The booth got muy, muy busy, the good kind of busy. The kind that tells you you're onto something real.

Taking Home More Than Souvenirs

We are heading home with una maleta llena! a suitcase full of valuable feedback, new partnerships, and experiences that will shape the future of the Butter Ecosystem in meaningful ways.

A huge ¡Gracias! to the Global Voices team for the invitation and for squeezing us into their session program and booth lineup at the last minute, we owe you one. And a big thank you to The Engine Room for this wonderful partnership. ¡Hasta la próxima!