It is strange that in an age where technology has connected people in a wide variety of ways that we seem so disconnected as citizens. This disconnection becomes the challenge of our society.
Though we have immediate access to tons of information we seem incapable of finding commonsense solutions to the problems we face. The culture and context of our communities need to be reestablished-(Roberts, 2006).
As technologists and organizations, we create many civic tools. But sadly most of it ends of up remaining with organizations or a specific group of people and is never put to use by others.
RHoK (Random Hacks of Kindness) iS organising the Citizenry Day – an event to share DIYs, apps, websites and knowledge amongst the citizens of Bangalore. In many ways, knowledge cities derive their beauty from their openness to varied voices inside them, and their ability not only to tolerate diversity but also to use it as a source for knowledge and development. There is no doubt that the city’s biggest knowledge pool lies nowhere else but in the minds of its citizens.
Participants include folks from Gubbi Labs, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, Citizen Matters, Co Media Lab and individuals who have worked on civic issues.
Date: November 5th 2016
Time: 10 AM to 1 PM
Venue: Center for Internet society
Parallel sessions
10 am: Fighting a Bio diversity Battle – How to By Gubbi Labs & Fighting the garbage crises and using open data – How to By Co Media Lab
11:20 Build your own air pollution monitor By Thejesh G N & Bystander Intervention – How to By Durga Group
Registration is only by invite, limited entries. Interested participants can send a mail to rhokindia@gmail.com or call 9880791171.
Garbage mapping looks at how data can be gathered and how it can be used to make a difference. Bystander intervention covers how citizens can help diffuse emergency situations. For example. Durga Alarms is fitted into buses as a main panel above the driver and as multiple switches in different parts of the bus. When a woman feels violated or vulnerable she or a alert by-stander can press the alarm switch closest to them.
Sensor Workshop by Thejesh GN – DataMeet
Air pollution has become a mainstream environmental issue in India, and concerned citizens are looking for ways to keep their environment pollution-free. At the same time, the global maker movement has made great strides, and a large number of pollution sensors are now available at very affordable prices. Sensors have been deployed by environmental groups and civic organizations to measure and analyze their surroundings.
This workshops aims to include citizen in this movement, and our objective is to introduce citizen hackers to the hardware sensors and help them understand how they can measure their surroundings with small and cheap sensors.
Plan
1. Introduce the electronics and its organization
2. Build the sensor system, may be temperature, pressure sensor and simple air quality sensor
3. Deploy and have fun
4. Ideas to extend and collaborate
A Bill of Materials
If you are in Bangalore, you can buy all these on SP Road. You can also buy them on Amazon or Ebay.
1. Arduino Uno R3 Compatible Development Board ATmega328P – 1 Nos
2. USB cable for Arduino Uno R3 – 1 Nos
3. AC to USB power (Same as the ones used by android phones) – 1 Nos
4. DHT22 / AM2302 Digital Temperature and Humidity Sensor – 1 Nos
5. Breadboard – 1 Nos
6. Breadboard Wires (M2M, M2F) – 15 Nos each
7. Led -1 Nos
8. 10K Potentiometer – 1 Nos
9. A few resistors 10K, 1K, 230 – A couple of them
10. Air Quality Sensor (We will let you know exactly which one depending upon the availability on Amazon.in. As of now we have at least six that were donated by http://indiaopendata.com. We can give away depending on the need) – 1 Nos
11. A multimeter – cheap one, costs around Rs. 150. Very useful – 1 Nos
12. Laptop with Arduino Software (IDE) installed
Reference
1. https://github.com/thejeshgn/env_sensor_workshop_children_part1
2. http://openenvironment.indiaopendata.com
3. https://thejeshgn.com/2016/05/16/environment-sensor- workshop-for-children-at-odcblr2016/
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