Testing the PLOTS DIY Spectrometer workshop: 'advanced' applications

"We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time" - T.S. Elliot

There are innumerable ways of knowing the world around us - and some of these way are at our fingertips - no longer confined to labs behind closed doors!

Interested in spectrometry? In this fully hands-on workshop you will learn to use the PLOTS spectrometer (http://publiclab.org/wiki/spectrometer) and analyse different samples; you will learn how to use the free and open source online software SpectralWorkbench.org (http://spectralworkbench.org/); test and extend the capabilities of the PLOTS DIY spectrometer. You can bring your own samples to be tested. NOTE: Prior knowledge of the fundamentals of spectrometry required! Please read below "More information about the PLOTS Spectrometer".

What: DIY Spectrometer - introduction to spectrometry

When: 18:30, Monday 9 Sept - please arrive on time!

Where: Chadwick Building, room G07, University College London, Gower St. main entrance [google map (https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zULlBHEFEp-w.k6JCdKCEc9xM)]

Why: because citizens without borders go the extra mile to challenge borders and engage with different ways of knowing, understanding and doing!

Questions? Comments? Drop me a line. To learn more about the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (http://publiclab.org/), visit their website: http://publiclab.org/

This is one of four upcoming workshops imparted by the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (http://publiclab.org/) (PLOTS) here in London as part of our initiative ‘Science has no Borders’: DIY aerial photography (http://www.meetup.com/Citizens-without-Borders/events/135710872/), Make your own DIY kite (http://www.meetup.com/Citizens-without-Borders/events/135709822/), DIY Spectrometer - introduction to spectrometry, and Testing the PLOTS DIY Spectrometer.

PLOTS is a community which develops and applies open-source tools to environmental exploration and investigation. By democratizing inexpensive and accessible 'Do-It-Yourself' (DIY) techniques, Public Laboratory creates a collaborative network of practitioners who actively re-imagine the human relationship with the environment. Through the process of first-hand data creation and analysis, PLOTS community researchers build expertise in critical thinking and technologies with broader application to their role as civic participants.

PLOTS community is made-up of an open community of contributors from around the world (http://publiclab.org/places); a set of experimental tools (http://publiclab.org/tools); a network of local groups (http://publiclab.org/places); an open data archive (http://publiclab.org/maps); free and open source software from map making (http://mapknitter.org/) and publishing to spectral analysis (http://spectralworkbench.org/); and a platform to build collaborations.

More information about the PLOTS Spectrometer

Public Laboratory have developed an affordable DIY desktop-spectrometer (http://publiclab.org/wiki/spectrometer) and spectral analysis techniques to examine anything from soil to grapes to vinegar to soap. As they mention in their website, this is an early-stage, speculative project, but their goals include:

* Identifying a contaminant in a sample;

* Identify a plant species by its spectrum or perhaps a mineral, using the ASTER spectral library (http://archive.publiclaboratory.org/aster-spectral-library/); and

* Identify something in a smokestack plume, like a refinery plume.

What's been done thus far: Development of a DIY spectrometer (http://publiclab.org/wiki/spectrometer) (desktop and for smartphones); compilation of a list of research (some of it their own) to draw upon in developing spectral analysis techniques; development of a software suite (http://spectralworkbench.org/) and online database which allows anyone to upload their data and work with others to try to interpret it. These tools are early prototypes and they are looking for help to continue developing them.