Public Lab community newsletter 7.20.12

[Shannon Dosemagen]

A mapping trip to Bayou Bienvenue in New Orleans, articles in the NYTimes and Americas Quarterly, a new Public Lab workspace in NYC, and a number of exciting research notes on hydrogen sulfide sensing, spectrometry and thermal imaging, all highlighted in the Public Lab community newsletter this week. Enjoy!

1. Mapping Bayou Bienvenue in New Orleans. If you're in the Orleans/St. Bernard area, people are getting together around 8am on Tuesday morning (7/24) at the Martin Luther King, Jr. School in the Lower 9th Ward. They're going to be mapping restoration in Bayou Bienvenue and need a couple of folks to take up paddles, steer the canoes and launch balloons. Email eust...@gmail.com if you're interested in joining.

2. Subscribe now! The second edition of the Grassroots Mapping Forum is wrapping up this week, what better time to get your subscription to the quarterly publication?

2. PLOT-NYC workspace. PLOTS-NYC is in the early stages of opening a space where people can work and meet. Please get in touch with Liz (l...@publiclaboratory.org) if you are interested in an affordable co-working space. 

3. Peruvian Escuelab and Gowanus Canal features. The New York Times blogged about the investigations of Eymund Diegel and the Gowanus Canal Conservancy crew at the Gowanus Canal and Lima based Escuelab was featured in the Summer 2012 Americas Quarterly edition.

4. UAS surveillance testimony. Amie Stepanovich of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), who participated in a Dialog on UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Ethics in the upcoming Grassroots Mapping Forum, testified on Wednesday before the House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on UAS surveillance.

5. Report back on the early July NYC kite workshop. Read the narrative report on NYC’s kite and solar balloon workshop from iLAND intern Lizzie Ingraham here.

6. Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) explained. Updates were made to the "Flying within 5 miles of an airport" section of the Balloon Mapping Regulations page. A highly recommended read!

7. And last, but not least, LOTS of research notes from the past week:

Surface Stations: citizen science about government science (posted by mathew)

IR + VS Timelapse (posted by hunter)

Easy cut delta kite plans (posted by mathew)

Bayou Sauvage results 2: degree of canister openness (posted by sara)

Fluorescence from oil spill residue and diverse spectrometer use (posted by warren)

UMass Open Hardware workshop (posted by cfastie)

Bayou Sauvage H2S expectations, questions (posted by eustatic)

Thermal images for community environmental college (posted by sara)

Mylar delta kite design (posted by warren)

FABAnorth arrow (posted by juan)

USGS historical topography maps- free downloads (posted by gonzoearth)

Failed 3d print of mobile spectrometer attachment (posted by warren)

Bayou Sauvage results 2: reflections on fixing process (posted by sara)

Thermal flashlight calibration nomogram (posted by mathew)

Lots of interesting updates this week everyone, looking forward to more in the week to come! As always, if anything was missed, please email it to the list, post a research note or email sha...@publiclaboratory.org for inclusion in the newsletter next week. Have a great weekend, Shannon

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Shannon Dosemagen
Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science
publiclaboratory.org

@PublicLab