The Transforming Citizen Sensing Design Sprints are about to start. Click here for more information.
In many corners of the world, people choose to measure local air quality out of concern for their neighbourhood, their health, the climate or agriculture. These citizens collect data with the help of affordable and accessible sensor technology and sometimes come together to be part of a citizen sensing network - think of the global networks of open source hardware such as GOSH and Hackteria. And then there are international sensor communities, such as global platform Sensor.Community, Public Lab and Smart Citizen kit, and Dutch initiatives, such as Snuffelfiets, Meet je stad and Hollandse Luchten. These citizen sensing initiatives now have a wealth of knowledge and experience in making open source sensors. They form sensing communities that collaborate successfully on a local level. This often takes root in top-down measurement programmes aimed at a specific group in a specific location. But air quality knows no borders — it is an urgent matter across the globe. It’s about time we share knowledge, learn from each other, and make sensor technology accessible to a broad and international group with a common environmental concern.
On Wednesday December 9th and Thursday December 10th Waag and SODAQ will organise the Transforming citizen sensing conference. During this two-day conference, a wide variety of citizens, environmental activists, makers, ecologist, technical experts and researchers will come together to discuss their concerns and needs around air quality measurement. Global sensing initiatives are invited to share their knowledge. The goal is to identify the requirements a sensor should meet in order to address the common issue and to discover the limits of what is technically possible.
Involve the user in the design process
The production process of (sensor) technology is often inaccessible to the consumer, who has little or no say in the subject of the product. During this conference, the communities that use sensor technology will be involved in the first phase of the design process. This open production process is also referred to as open source hardware (OSH). Open source hardware is not only about transparent, accessible and reproducible hardware, but is mainly aimed at a participatory and community-driven design process. The experiences of communities form the basis of the design and the entire process (from design to prototype to product) is transparent for users.
What concerns are most pressing globally? What design challenges do these concerns present to sensor making? And what can we learn from experienced open source hardware initiatives around the world? Join us to find out.
Your input will be considered during the development of Sodaq and Waag’s open source prototype.
Day 1 | sensor making: from use case to design challenge
On day one we will start with presentations by sensing initiatives. What prompted them to start the initiative, what lessons have they learned, what was the biggest design challenge and how do they involve the community? After this there will be a joint discussion about the bottlenecks in measuring air quality and we will go deeper into why and what air quality sensors can help for. We will end this day with a clear overview of the needs of the participants and the related design challenges. In addition, we will let you know what role participants have in the further development of the sensor.
When: Wednesday December 9
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:15 pm
Programme
19:00 hrs - Introduction programme
19:05 hrs - Presentation use cases:
- Lukas Mocek, Sensor.Community
- Rico Euripidou, Groundworks and Bongani Mthembu, SDCEA
19:40 hrs - Q&A
19:50 hrs - Break
20:00 hrs - Sharing concerns and identify needs
20:30 hrs - Formulate design challenges
21:15 hrs - End
Day 2 | from design challenge to first sensor concepts
On day two, sensor makers will share their knowledge on: electricity, internet connection, sensor technology, modularity, software, data quality and data visualisation. In groups, researchers, data specialists and citizen initiatives will work on the design challenges of day one. Your input and knowledge will therefore have a direct impact on the sensor that will be developed in 2021. At the end of the day, you will know the latest developments in (air quality) sensors, you will have gotten to know other makers, you will have made an active contribution to the design of a new air quality sensor and you will be part of a worldwide network of sensor makers.
When: Thursday December 10
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:15 pm
Programme
19:00 hrs - Introduction programme
19:05 hrs - Presentation use cases
- Nuria Castell, NordicPATH
19:40 hrs - Q&A
19:50 hrs - Break
20:00 hrs - Design challenge
20:35 hrs - Presents results
21:15 hrs - End
* Speakers will be announced on this page shortly.
Do you have experience in making sensors and would you like to share your knowledge with others in the field? And do you want to be part of a worldwide, open source hardware community?
Join us online on December 9 & 10
Open Next
The Transforming citizen sensing conference is part of the European Open Next project. This open source project links to the maker movement. This movement reduces the distinction between professional makers and amateurs. Open source hardware (OSH) is an important part that contributes to this. It makes knowledge sharing available in an accessible way, so that innovation and the do-it-yourself culture is reflected in the home and at work.
This means that products or services are no longer designed to be patented, expensive or closed, but rather accessible and transparent. A well-known platform for OSH is Wikifactory. Here everyone can share his or her idea, but also improve and recreate ideas or products from other people. For proprietary rights, you can choose from several tested and established certificates such as, FOSS (based on OSH), Creative Commons (which is linked to different creative products) or CERN, which focuses on specific OSH and offers a choice of both commercial and non- commercial goals. For example, a non-commercial certificate no longer protects a complete product, but can be opened up under a number of conditions. Consider releasing construction drawings of an air quality sensor so that they can be downloaded from anywhere in the world. In this way you give people at home or at work the opportunity to build something themselves with which to measure their air quality and you increase the range and reliability of the measurements. This way of working has an impact on the traditional business model and deserves a redefinition in today's society. The certificates mentioned make it possible to enter into an inclusive collaboration during the design and development phase and can be extended to the development of new versions. Citizens and communities can then be involved based on their needs and/or skills.
Waag and Sodaq
Waag previously developed the HoLu sensor with participants from the local measurement communities of Hollandse Luchten. They deal with air pollution on a daily basis and are concerned about their health, environment and climate. By formulating the design questions together with them, we ensure that the technology serves what the citizen scientists need. Waag and Sodaq are working together and are investigating how the HoLu sensor kit can be further developed into a sustainable sensor based on open source hardware. Sodaq is specialised in developing sensor technology with an interest in open-source hardware developments. Together we work towards the goal of developing an air quality sensor based on input from a wide audience, so that we can make sensor technology accessible at a global level and thus connect with other communities where the theme of air pollution is urgent. The results of the conference and the design drawings will be shared here at a later stage. In January we organise a series of design prints that you can be part of.
