Water Hackathon
What: The Water Hackathon is a collaborative effort between Pachube, Ushahidi, Citizen Sensor, DontFlush.Me and Public Laboratory -- and is open to all comers!
Where: Parsons the New School for Design 6 E 16th Street, 12th Floor. Bring a state-issued ID to sign in.
When: March 23-25, 2012 Schedule overview: We will start with an evening mixer on Friday night to form groups and talk about projects, hack all day Saturday and show our work in a public session that evening. On Sunday, some software teams will continue to work in the Parsons space, while hardware teams will head out to the Gowanus to test their creations.
Friday 23 7:00pm (space opens at 6pm) Ignite talks by: Water for the People -- Ned Breslin Don’t Flush Me -- Leif Percifield Public Laboratory -- Eymund, thermal fishing bob "GO SCUM" Public Laboratory -- Sara -- environmental estrogen yeast bioassay, spectroscopy Water Voices -- (this one may come with a ca$h prize) Pachube -- services available Ushahidi -- Dale, SudanWater Atlas Scientific -- Jordan Press North Brooklyn Boat Club -- Jens Rasmussen' EPA volunteer water monitoring program -- Paula (cancelled)
Saturday 24 10:00 - 6:00pm Hacking -- we'll start by organizing into teams. 7:00 - 9:00pm Public Presentations -- come see what everyone's made!
Sunday 25 Two concurrent events -- pick one as they are located an hour away from each other: Test it outside: canoeing on the Gowanus. NEW LOCATION Meet at the Gowanus Dredgers 2nd Street Canal Launch Site: Take the F or G to Carroll Street - exit to front of Bklyn-bound train, cross Smith Street and walk three blocks down 2nd Street to the Canal. Keep coding: Software teams working on the Ushahidi <-> Pachube bridge may continue to work in the Parsons space.
Meetup Page: bit.ly/waterhack Meetup Description: Come hack water with Pachube, Ushahidi, and PublicLaboratory.org. We will be exploring how we can crowdsource water quality information, connect real-time data and citizen observed reports with a Pachube<->Ushahidi linkup, build our own investigative tools, and contribute to social issues affecting our local area here in NYC.
Ideas: The Public Laboratory community will be bringing some water quality related tools/parts/ideas to hack on, for example, a hand-held near-infrared spectrometer that can identify commonly found contaminants like polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), two options for a turbidity meter (one featuring an inexpensive light sensor and LED to create controlled lighting conditions, the other based on a smart phone), and a thermal “fishing bob” which changes color depending on the temperature of the water it touches. Also up for discussion is the yeast-based YESassay which changes the color of a reactant when in the presence of environmental estrogens (like BPA).
Other ideas include "sewer surveillance," dye tracing during rain events, and underwater acoustic mapping. The BioBoard is a related initiative emerging from NoiseBridge in SF.
Support: We are seeking sponsorship for materials and supplies from Pachube and Future Electronics/Melexis.