sandbox-contribute

This is a revision from April 22, 2022 23:04. View all revisions

We’re so glad you’re here, thanks for your interest in getting involved with Public Lab! 👋🏽 🎈

Public Lab is an open community -- you're welcome to simply start contributing in a variety of ways. Check out some examples of different ways to contribute below and get started with any that interest you. Whether you’re looking to connect with people at public events, ask or answer questions, develop and test tools or software for environmental research, or write about community science, there’s something for everyone! 🙋🏽 By contributing to the Public Lab community, you’ll be building shared knowledge on environmental issues and the ways that we can address them together.

Please also read and follow Public Lab’s Code of Conduct, which ensures a respectful space for everyone 💚

On this page:

Getting started with contributing

If you’re new to Public Lab, here are some first activities to try:

🔍 Find & follow topics 👋🏼 Come to an event ❓ Ask or answer a question 📝 Make your first post 💬 Join the conversation 💻 Work on software & code

Find environmental topics that interest you and follow topic tags to keep up-to-date with new posts

Meet people at public events. Drop into an Open Call and talk with someone about your interests and ways to get involved

Ask a question on PublicLab.org and reach out for collaborators, or help answer questions that others have asked

Visit the wiki page on first-time posters to learn more about posting on PublicLab.org

Leave a comment on posted research notes and activities on PublicLab.org, providing feedback or encouragement!

Interested in software and coding? You can contribute to that, too!

Getting more involved with the community

And here are some ways to further engage and contribute to the Public Lab:

🪁 Try an activity 🔬 Create an activity ✏️ Document methods 👀 Compare methods ⚙️ Develop methods & hardware 💁🏽 Host an event

Try out an activity post on PublicLab.org and comment to share back how it went. You can find some getting-started activities spanning different topics here

Create a step-by-step activity for a method that others can try

Improve documentation on methods for community science by creating tutorials or diagrams, editing wikis, or commenting on associated activities

Analyze and compare methods and tools for investigating an environmental topic and post a research note with your findings (example here)

Enjoy building, making, tinkering, or open hardware? You can also develop and improve methods and hardware for community science

Host an event! You could present a live build or demonstration of your favorite piece of open science hardware, or share your lived or learned experience with environmental advocacy as a guest speaker

Contributing to software and code

code community graphic

A wonderful community of coders and developers contribute to Public Lab everyday by supporting our website infrastructure and open source software programs. Check out the links below if you’d like to get involved, newcomers are welcome and encouraged to join!

Learn more at the Public Lab code community welcome page here: https://code.publiclab.org/
Visit the Public Lab chat room and see who's currently also online
Check out the software that Public Lab maintains: MapKnitter, Infragram, and Spectral Workbench

Contributing to hardware

dust sensor

Image: warren

Some of the activities listed above involve testing and documenting methods and tools for community science, but there’s much more you can do!

Our Community Kits program is designed to support the creation of new tools, kits, and resources by inviting designers, developers, researchers, tinkerers, community organizers, inventors (and anyone else who is interested) to consider working with the Public Lab Kits Initiative to develop, produce, and distribute your open source research tools!
Have you purchased a kit from the Public Lab store? You can help improve the kit by sharing on PublicLab.org: How did the assembly go? How have you used the kit? Do you have any ideas for improvements? Did you use any Public Lab software to collect or analyze data from your kit?

For educators

balloon mapping workshop in Houston

Image: a1ahna

If you’re an educator or someone who works with schools, universities, or public workshops, there are some additional ways to get involved with Public Lab.