When: April 5th - June 30th
Where: This fellowship is not geographically restricted (*note on the time commitment below),
Commitment: 200 hours over approx. 8-12 weeks. During this fellowship, we require 2 hours of work per week to be during the hours of 9am-5pm ET, preferably overlapping with Public Lab’s Tuesday Open Call at 3pm ET.
Fellowship Stipend: $2,500

The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (Public Lab) is a community, supported by a 501(c)(3) non-profit--which develops and applies open-source tools to environmental exploration and investigation. By democratizing inexpensive and accessible Do-it-Yourself techniques, Public Lab creates a collaborative network of practitioners who actively re-imagine the human relationship with the environment.

Fellowship Summary

Public Lab is opening up a fellowship for an individual or group to work on local balloon or kite mapping project. The goal of this project is for the mapping participants to engage with the Public Lab coding community throughout the map making process, and to help identify how Mapknitter.org (the open source online software for building individual mapping images into maps) can better support the needs of mappers.

During the fellowship, the fellow will:

• Conduct two local balloon or kite mappings between April 5th and June 15th (mapping often requires 3-5 people, the Fellow or Fellowship team will be responsible for organizing and running the mappings locally).
• Build out one map from each mapping on www.mapknitter.org.
• Help brainstorm (with the MapKnitter team) what a webpage displaying your maps could look like and how it connects to your local issue.
• Attend Public Lab’s weekly open call on Tuesdays at 3pm ET, or be available for two working hours weekly (9-5pm ET) to meet with people working on the project and offering project support.

For this project, the Fellow will need to have personal access to a computer with a camera, microphone, and stable internet. Resources for the Fellow for this project will include:

• $2,500 for project and Fellowship team,
• One Balloon or Kite mapping kit (with a budget for a camera, and helium for two mappings up to $200 if balloon mapping is selected), and
• Remote support from the Public Lab community and non-profit.

Skills, knowledge, and abilities required:

• Excellent communication skills in online, written, and verbal formats,
• The ability to work collaboratively, both in-person and with remote colleagues, and
• To maintain and adhere to nonprofit policies and procedures, Public Lab values, and the Code of Conduct.

For this fellowship, you do NOT need experience with: balloon or kite mapping, using the online mapknitter.org, or coding. Mapping projects featuring the impacts of climate change, the oil and gas industry, or land use change are encouraged to apply.

Public Lab is committed to a diverse, multicultural work environment. We encourage people with different ability sets, people of color, and people of diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions, and identities to apply.

To Apply: Send a resume and the answers to the below questions in a single document to jobs@publiclab.org by March 30th. No phone calls please.

1.) Why are you interested in this fellowship?
2.) Please describe the mapping project you are interested in doing. (where, with who, when it would be done, why you are interested in mapping this area?)
3.) How would you and your community benefit from this mapping project?
4.) If awarded the fellowship, what would you hope to learn, and what would you hope to accomplish?
5.) Please describe any barriers you see to your completing the requirements of this fellowship?