Public Lab Wiki documentation

How to start a local environmental monitoring project

If you are facing an environmental health concern and want to undertake a research project that will address it, please read this page on designing an appropriate research project: https://publiclab.org/wiki/start-enviro-monitor-study

How to start a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to develop and/or refine a DIY environmental science method. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea. Engage in discussion with people who respond. Perhaps there's a topical list that relates as well -- check that mailing lists page for "plots-waterquality" or "plots-airquality"
• Create a wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating. New template being drafted up here: https://publiclab.org/wiki/method-template
• Following that template will prompt you to define a unique tag for your project, also choose other topic-related tags to add to your wiki
• Share your ongoing work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Nominate yourself to the organizers group to get connected with Public Lab leaders from around the world

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes before engaging with staff on:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processing data from the hardware -- see https://publiclab.org/wiki/funding-partnerships-with-public-lab
• coordination of bulk buys
• Assistance with tool distribution and bulk mailing

How to start a community-based technology development project in Public Lab:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea. Engage in discussion with people who respond to your original post.
• Create a wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Define a unique tag for your project, also choose other topic-related tags to add to your wiki
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Nominate yourself to the organizers group to get connected with Public Lab leaders from around the world
• As your project grows, create a “publiclab-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processing data from the hardware
• coordination of bulk buys
• Assistance with tool distribution and bulk mailing

How to start an environmental monitoring project

If you are facing an environmental health concern and want to undertake a research project that will address it, please read this page on designing an appropriate research project: https://publiclab.org/wiki/start-enviro-monitor-study

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Create a wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Define a unique tag for your project, also choose other topic-related tags to add to your wiki
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Nominate yourself to the organizers group to get connected with Public Lab leaders from around the world
• As your project grows, create a “publiclab-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processing data from the hardware
• coordination of bulk buys
• Assistance with tool distribution and bulk mailing

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Create a wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Nominate yourself to the organizers group to get connected with Public Lab leaders from around the world
• As your project grows, create a “publiclab-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processing data from the hardware
• coordination of bulk buys
• Assistance with tool distribution and bulk mailing

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Create a wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• As your project grows, create a “publiclab-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• coordination of bulk buys
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board with a request for collaborators (link forthcoming)
• Create a wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• As your project grows, create a “publiclab-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• coordination of bulk buys
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board with a request for collaborators (link forthcoming)
• Create a wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• As your project grows, reate a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board with a request for collaborators (link forthcoming)
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have expressed interest in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool. That's great -- it's one reason we started Public Lab in the first place -- and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board with a request for collaborators (link forthcoming)
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have been interested in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool, and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board with a request for collaborators (link forthcoming)
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have been interested in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool, and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board with a request for collaborators (link forthcoming)
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support: Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have been interested in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool, and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board (link forthcoming) with a request for collaborators
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support: Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have been interested in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool, and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board with a request for collaborators (link forthcoming)
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support

Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance and advice with tool manufacturing and distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have been interested in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool, and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board (link forthcoming) with a request for collaborators
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support: Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have been interested in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool, and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board (link forthcoming) with a request for collaborators
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support: Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Five points from Public Lab on starting a community-based technology development project:

Lots of people have been interested in using the Public Lab network as a platform to build a DIY environmental science tool, and we've found this checklist to be a good starting point for such collaborations.

• Start by writing to the main Public Lab mailing list to introduce your problem or idea
• Try posting to our "requests" board (link forthcoming) with a request for collaborators
• Create a Tool wiki page to introduce your project and explain the environmental or health concern you're investigating
• Share your work in Research Notes with a consistent tag so people can follow your work as it develops
• Create a “plots-projectname” mailing list as your group of collaborators grows, so that others can take part

Staff support: Once you've completed the above, we're happy to help, but given our limited staff resources, we ask that you post a minimum of three research notes, and try to bring ten or more people together on a mailing list, at which point we can potentially provide the following:

• Mentorship sit-down sessions
• Listing your mailing list on the Public Lab mailing list page
• Helping you grow your community through matchmaking
• Assistance on joint fundraising for tutorials, tool assembly diagrams, videos, research supplies, community workshops and software for processgind data from the hardware
• Assistance with tool distribution

Project Launch Checklist

Seven points from Public Lab on community-based engagement:

• have a compelling environmental or health concern driving development or need for dev
• Reach out to the community for collaborators: post on our “new idea” form
• If you are looking for collaborators, we suggest you post on our “missed connections” wall and:
• attempt to create community around tool:

    - begin with writing to the main mailing list request to gather collaborators 
    - post Research Notes so people can follow along 
    - create a Tool wiki page 
    - create a “PLOTS-MyTool” mailing list
  

Once you have 20 people on a dedicated mailing list and 3 or more contributors, this is the kind of support we can give

Support for community building: - mentorship sit-down sessions - staff will participate in your mailing lists and list it on our mailing lists page - matchmaking - we help you grow your community Support for Logistics: - assistance with fundraising (IOBY) - commercialization: we can take on tasks of receiving and shipping orders * this comes along with giving % of sales/overhead to us (if they want us to distribute) Together, we can work toward joint funding for: - information design for tutorials, diagrams about tool assembly, video - research supplies - community workshops - software for processing data from the hardware Possible outcome: - endorsement

Long-term: - Fellowship/incubation program (goal was to start in mid-2014) (for people who follow the rules)

Project Launch Checklist

Seven points from Public Lab on community-based engagement: - have a compelling environmental or health concern driving development or need for dev - fill out our “new idea” form - If you are looking for collaborators, we suggest you post on our “missed connections” wall and: - attempt to create community around tool: - begin with writing to the main mailing list request to gather collaborators - post Research Notes so people can follow along - create a Tool wiki page - create a “PLOTS-MyTool” mailing list

Once you have 20 people on a dedicated mailing list and 3 or more contributors, this is the kind of support we can give

Support for community building: - mentorship sit-down sessions - staff will participate in your mailing lists and list it on our mailing lists page - matchmaking - we help you grow your community Support for Logistics: - assistance with fundraising (IOBY) - commercialization: we can take on tasks of receiving and shipping orders * this comes along with giving % of sales/overhead to us (if they want us to distribute) Together, we can work toward joint funding for: - information design for tutorials, diagrams about tool assembly, video - research supplies - community workshops - software for processing data from the hardware Possible outcome: - endorsement

Long-term: - Fellowship/incubation program (goal was to start in mid-2014) (for people who follow the rules)