Lots of updates in the Public Lab community newsletter this week... WinterCamp is moving along at a rapid pace with great projects in the works, media mentions include a Kickstarter "best of", and the 200th public domain map was just posted (it was also the highest resolution map to date!).

1. WinterCamp next week. WinterCamp has been flying by, but there's still one week left to go. This past week we worked on kite building, filmed footage for tutorials on flying kites from small boats (don't worry, there will be a bloopers reel), map annotation, developing a landing page for new users on the website and building out workbooks on organizing around use of a Public Lab tool. This upcoming week, these ideas will be further developed and we'll be holding additional sessions on co-teaching models, advocacy and education.

2. Public Lab in the media. The Public Lab community received lots of great press this past week, being featured in the Kickstarter Best of 2012 for aerial imagery integration in Google Earth, FastCompany for the DIY spectrometer in an article titled A DIY Kit to Determine if your Water is Contaminated and in Teach STEM Now in an article titled Turn a School Laptop into an Inexpensive Spectrometer.

3. 200 public domain maps published to the archive. Last week the archive reached 200 public domain aerial maps. Map 200 also holds claim for being the highest resolution map yet produced at .8 cm/pixel resolution!

4. Bayou Bienvenue mapping on Thursday. If you're in the Gulf Coast region, a group of Public Labbers will be getting together to map Bayou Bienvenue (New Orleans) on canoes and kayaks this Thursday (January 17). Mapping will begin around 9am and go through mid-afternoon. More information will be posted on the Gulf Coast Public Lab list.

5. Eighteen new maps posted to the archive. Check out new maps from Houston, Newark, Atlantic City, Agonges (France), Brooklyn, Bronx, Virginia, Santa Barbara, Mendoza (Argentina), Delaware, Michigan, Livermore (Cali), Pittsburgh, [Big Sur}(http://publiclaboratory.org/map/big-sur-coastline-big-sur-california/2012-09-14), Lee (New Hampshire) and map 200 (also from Lee, NH).

6. Map annotation coming soon. Many people have asked for the ability to do map annotations because of various needs. The map annotation project has been revived within the last week so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming changes to MapKnitter. In the meantime, here a few brainstorming notes from a session at WinterCamp last week. If you have thoughts about how annotation could be useful for you, please leave a comment.

7. Research notes First measurement with Public Lab desktop spectrometry kit (posted by pluharj) Jelly Belly (posted by cfastie) Cognitive delineation from Public Lab photography (posted by eustatic) DIY desktop spectrometer- camera quit working after two days of usage posted by pluharj) Desktop spectrometer built (posted by ajtarnas) Public Lab desktop spectrometry kit arrived (posted by pluharj)

If anything was missed, please email to the list, post a research note or email shannon@publiclaboratory.org for inclusion in the newsletter next week. Have a great week everyone, Shannon