Several groups have expressed interest in running a weekend hackathon/make-a-thon in Summer 2015 around open hardware for science, along the line of Open Data Day. The aims of this are to:
- Bring scientists into makerspaces/FabLabs
- Demonstrate the power of open/DIY hardware and distributed manufacturing to provide custom, serviceable and cheaper solutions to lab instrumentation and equipment.
- Have fun and bring together an international community around open hardware for science and related topics.
There was soft launch of the idea and a planning pad created [1]. This process will now move to a more structured doc (link on the way) in order to incorporate more themes and focus on bringing together a month of activities in this area to catalyse activities and ensure that each event has a greater impact than it would alone.
We are now actively seeking:
- Themes which could fit into an overall set of events and an overarching title/focus. This need not be confined to science per se but could include environment, sustainability and agriculture as just a few examples.
- Spaces to host a make-a-thon or satellite event/conference.
- Ideas for creating an event of value.
This endeavour is a decentralised effort supported by several groups including Open Knowledge and will therefore try to demonstrate open and collaborative working as far as possible.
Jenny
[1] Riseup Pad