My interviews notes here.
Speaking with Stephanie was extremely helpful for better understanding how to get data and information to map the supply chain of products. She talked about how Sourcemap finds the suppliers at each tier. Surprisingly, the process of tracing the supply chain is more analog then I expected – it is really about finding out from the supplier who they receive and send to. As suspected, part of the reason the supply chain of electronics are not mapped is because of how truly complex this becomes. There are thousands of components, thousands of materials, thousands of human hands, thousands of locations that have come together to make an electronic product. The supply chain for digital devices is not as easy to trace as a product like coffee.
Other great references she provided:
E-Cycle: The Making & Discarding of Electronics 