In the Public Lab Community Newsletter this week, vote for the Homebrew Oil Testing Kit at Engadget.com’s Insert Coin competition and check out a great series of notes on Sensor Journalism from Emerson College students.

Announcements

The Homebrew Oil Testing Kit has been chosen as one of the 16 contenders for Engadget.com's Insert Coin competition -- and now there's a public vote for who will make it to the top 10 semi-finalists. Votes will be accepted until October 15th, 2014, midnight PST. Please support Public Lab's entry and support the development of affordable pollution testing! Vote here!

Kickstarter Updates! The DIY Tar Sands Kit has been a community favorite!

The Fall Public Lab Barnraising will be November 14-16 in Cocodrie, LA. Save the date and sign up today!

Upcoming events

As part of The Hacktory’s fall workshop series, Sean McGinnis will be leading a workshop (in Philadelphia) on October 18th on the basics of balloon, kite and pole mapping and using Raspberry Pi as a sensor base while mapping.

Mark your calendar for the next Toolshed raising Saturday, December 6 at Parts and Crafts in Somerville, MA, featuring short presentations, open working time, and workshops on Public Lab projects and anything related. RSVP here.

New and ongoing projects

Students from MAST @ FIU BBC, a public high school that’s part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and housed at Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay Campus, with the support of FIU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, spent Wednesday morning building Public Lab’s Coqui sensors that they will use for their upcoming King Tide Day events on Alton Road in Miami Beach on Oct. 9. Read more here.

Research Note highlights

A great series of notes on sensor journalism from Emerson journalism students
From GMF #6, “Mapping (in)formal and formal recycling sites and flows: Nicaragua to Boston” by eblaine and posted by MollyDanielsson Shorter spectrometer geometry with two slits by Mathew
PVC pipe fitting modification to 3-d printed body by bsugar
NIR and Water by cfastie
Mapping the Tar Sands Healing Walk by ann
Newtown Creek EPA Superfund CAG Meeting by liz Question: Can an infrared modified camera distinguish between eelgrass and other aquatic flora by code4maine

Public Lab in the media We've been spotted! Chris Staudinger of NOLA Defender wrote up an excellent piece about the Public Lab Urban Waters Mapping Project and BLITZ event this weekend.

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