What a Research Firm Learned When It Dipped Its Toe in the Maker Movement.

Prototyping a Device to Measure Child Body Fat: What a Research Firm Learned When It Dipped Its Toe in the Maker Movement.

NORC at the University of Chicago serves the public interest and improves lives through objective social science research that supports informed decision making. Working extensively with the federal government, one of NORC’s key functions is to collect high-quality data.

Historically, NORC has collected data through surveys. In recent years, NORC has also begun to capture objective measurements of the “real world” using remote devices and sensors.

To deepen its capabilities, NORC identified a pilot project where it could learn more about the Maker Movement and hackerspaces. This project was inspired by a major federal research effort designed to help scientists understand the causes of a wide variety of childhood illnesses. For this project, NORC could not find an off-the-shelf body fat measurement device that met its needs. So they embarked on an effort to prototype their own device, working with a maker consultant who is an active member of the PS:One community.

Join us for an interactive talk to see the device they developed and share what they learned about the device and about partnering with makers to create a new hardware solution.
Speakers:

Brian Whiteley is an IT Director at NORC. Among his other responsibility, he currently leads NORC’s mobile and sensor based initiatives.
Randy Horton is Managing Principal of 94 Westbound Consulting and is a product and innovation consultant to NORC.
Randy Horton
Ed Bennett is a maker consultant and an active member of the PS:One community.

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The NORC presentation on August 17th is on the PS:One calendar in a slot normally used by NERP. NERP is not exclusively Raspberry Pi, the small computer and embedded systems interest group and Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/NERP-Not-Exclusively-Raspberry-Pi/) at Pumping Station:One in Chicago (https://pumpingstationone.org). NERP meets every other Monday at 7pm at Pumping Station:One, 3519 N. Elston Ave. in Chicago.