Public Lab intro video script

Draft 1:

30 second version:

Public Lab is an open community which develops affordable, accessible, open source, Do-It-Yourself techniques to investigate environmental issues.

We think citizens should be involved in framing questions, interpreting results, and drawing conclusions.

Public Lab began during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to address the information blackout which Gulf Coast residents faced.

We used balloons and kites to send cameras 1000 feet up, taking detailed aerial photos of the spill.

Today, our growing community is working on a new generation of tools to make citizen science better.

What?

Public Lab is an open community which develops

affordable, accessible, open source, Do-It-Yourself

techniques to investigate environmental issues.

Who/Where?

(4 types of members), from all over the world

Why?

Most citizen science projects see non-experts as just a data source, but we think citizens should be involved in framing questions, interpreting results, and drawing conclusions.

Public Lab began during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to address the information blackout which Gulf Coast residents faced.

How?

We used balloons to send cameras 1000 feet up, taking detailed aerial photos of the spill. Rather than waiting for someone to hand down data (show press conference?), we produced our own. (google maps)

Now we're working on a new generation of tools to analyze contaminants, assess ecosystem damage, and more.

Join

Join us today to contribute to a growing body of open research...

etc... maybe mention benefits and responsibilities?

older, longer version:

What?

Public Lab is an open community

A network of people & organizations

who have environmental questions. Together we develop

affordable,
accessible,
open source,
Do-It-Yourself approaches

to investigating environmental issues.

(this is the 12 sec mark!!! whoa...)

Who/Where?

(4 types of members)

all over the world

work together online and in person through regional meet-up groups and mailing lists.

Why?

We want anyone to be able to participate in environmental science because we believe that as much as
...what data is collected, who

Most citizen science projects treat non-experts as just a way to get data -- we advocate citizen involvement in framing questions, interpreting results, and drawing conclusions.

We came together during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to address the information blackout which Gulf Coast residents faced...

How?

We used balloons to loft cameras to over 1000 feet, taking some of the most detailed aerial photographs of the spill. Rather than waiting for industry or scientists to hand down data (show press conference?), we produced our own. (google maps)

Now we're working on a new generation of open source tools to analyze contaminants, measure the health of vegetation, and more...

Join

etc... maybe mention benefits and responsibilities?