Public Lab
American nonprofit organization From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (Public Lab) is a non-profit organization that facilitates collaborative, open source environmental research in a model known as Community Science.[1][2] It supports communities facing environmental justice issues in a do it yourself approach to environmental monitoring and advocacy.[3] Public Lab grew out of a grassroots effort to take aerial photographs[4][5] of the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.[6][7] Since then, they have launched a range of projects, including an open source spectrometer,[8][9][10] multi-spectral camera, and low-cost microscope.[11][12]
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2019) |
Abbreviation | Public Lab |
---|---|
Formation | 2010 |
Type | Non-profit organization |
Registration no. | 45-2846555 |
Purpose | Community Science Environmental Justice |
Executive Director | Jordan Macha |
Janet Haven (Chair), Shelby Ward (Vice Chair), Micah L. Sifry (Secretary), Catherine Bracy, Elaine Garvey, Mike Ma, Gwen Ottinger, Rajul (Raj) Pandya, Christina Xu, | |
Website | publiclab |
Balloon Mapping

The aerial photography technique Public Lab is best known for involves lifting cameras above an area using tethered helium-filled weather balloons.[13]
Open source environmental monitoring
Public Lab's community develops open source hardware, software, and other open methodologies to democratize environmental monitoring. Recognizing that cost, complexity, and lack of access can prevent communities from playing an active role in documenting environmental problems, the community publishes plans and guides for Do It Yourself monitoring projects that can be made at home.[14][15][16]
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.