Open call: funding for environmental health project using Pachube

*** Please note the deadline for this call has now passed ***

Calling all environmental designers, artists and researchers: we're delighted to announce that Pachube.com in collaboration with xClinic, the Environmental Health Clinic + Lab at NYU and ZER01: the Art and Technology Network, are soliciting proposals to create environmental health projects and lifestyle experiments that make use of Pachube.

One project will be selected for funding in the amount of $5000 and will be featured as part of the Out of the Garage, Into the World program at the 2010 01SJ Biennial.

Quote:
We are looking for truly innovative projects that push the boundaries of both environmental analysis and action, projects that don’t just “make data public” but help the “public make data,” projects that consider very carefully the relationship between all sorts of system, human and non-human alike, technological and cultural. You will need to do a lot more than just plug a sensor into a tree and get it to tweet!

One project will be selected for funding in the amount of $5000 and will be featured as part of the Out of the Garage, Into the World program at the 2010 01SJ Biennial. Once selected, during project development, Environmental Health Clinic Director, Natalie Jeremijenko, and the founder of Pachube.com, Usman Haque, will be on hand to provide advice, guidance and consultation on projects.

For more information and to apply, see here: http://zero1.org/01sj/out-of-the-garage/pachube and you can download the full version of the xClinic/Pachube call in PDF format here.

Projects should make use of simple passive strategies that can scale. Identify an area of concern in your local community or neighbourhood and propose a plan for improving that situation. Describe the phenomenon that you want to evaluate over time and think about the systems that phenomenon is part of, and how it can be coupled to or modulated by others (either locally or remotely) for mutual benefit. Think about what you might want to 'measure,' what constitutes good 'measurement' and how you might evaluate that which you are 'measuring.'

Remember that sensors and actuators are not necessarily bits of technology: a human, a tadpole and a houseplant can all be considered sensors and actuators too. You might use Pachube for data collection, to monitor (and share) improvement or measurement data, or to compare results from different locations in realtime. The aim is to develop a project that you can implement locally, but which others can take forward and contribute to in their own communities and neighborhoods, using Pachube to aggregate, compare and trigger effects.

Projects must:

• Involve some aspect of local environment and its effect on human and/or non-human health.
• Be situated in more than one location (multiple rooms within a house; apartments within a building; streets within a neighborhood; neighborhoods within a city; or cities within a country).
• Enable both within and between comparisons of some kind.
• Be capable of evaluation according to criteria that you provide: i.e. success is not required, but you must be able to show that you have either succeeded or failed in what you set out to achieve.
• Have some public/performative/participative aspect that involves people (or non-humans) that you don't already know.
• Be replicable relatively easily by others, i.e. it shouldn't require high investments in technology or education to carry out.
• Be explicit about the portion of work that will be carried out before the Biennial, especially the September 4-14 ”garage” time, and the portion of work that will be presented in an interactive manner during the core Biennial dates of September 16 - 19, 2010.
• Consider the overarching theme of the 01SJ Biennial, “Build Your Own World,” as well as the goals of Out of the Garage, Into the World.

The 2010 01SJ Biennial is about how powerful ideas and innovative individuals from around the world can make a difference and come together to build a unique, citywide platform for creative solutions and public engagement. Under the theme "Build Your Own World," the 3rd 01SJ Biennial will take place September 16-19, 2010 in San Jose, CA, with significant public programming beginning September 4th.

xClinic, the Environmental Health Clinic + Lab, facilitates lifestyle experiments to improve environmental health. The clinic approaches health from an understanding of its dependence on external local environments, rather than on the internal biology and genetic predispositions of an individual. The idea is that by ameliorating your own local environmental health, or by more consciously coupling human and non-human systems, you improve the health of humans (and non-humans) around you. The more people who participate, the greater the cascading effects.

For more information and to apply, see here: http://zero1.org/01sj/out-of-the-garage/pachube and you can download the full version of the xClinic/Pachube call in PDF format here.