This week in the Public Lab community newsletter, get in the spirit of December with a Public Lab New York winter party, check out an article on Public Lab in Chemical and Engineering news and get updates on the progress of the 1500 desktop spectrometers waiting to be assembled. Enjoy!

1. 2000 mini-fold up spectrometers. Prints and parts for 2000 mini-fold up spectrometers are ready for assembly early next week in Portland. If you can't wait, download and make your own.

2. 1500 desktop spectrometers. Assembly for the 1500 Kickstarter desktop spectrometry kits will begin in the next two weeks -- just in time for the holidays. Update coming soon with photos and a call for assistance from folks in the Boston area.

3. Boston mapmaking meet-up. On Tuesday next week, Boston-area Public Labbers will meet up at Toscanini's in Cambridge for an intro to mapmaking with MapKnitter, plus skillsharing and eating ice cream. They'll be using the fantastic new images from Tidmarsh Farms.

4. Public Lab online community growth. Take a look at a note that measures Public Lab community growth using web traffic. Incredible to see that publiclaboratory.org is up to 4-5k visitors per week since September.

5. NYC Winter Party. Save the date! The Public Lab NYC winter party will be December 15th, more details coming soon.

6. Public Lab WinterCamp. Did you a) miss the barn raising, b) want to hang out with other Public Labbers and/or c) have some extra time in January? Public Lab will be holding a WinterCamp session in Cocodrie and New Orleans from January 6-19, 2013 where we will be working on the Oil Spill Toolkit. More details coming soon, but if you're interested in coming please email shannon@publiclaboratory.org.

7. Funded PhD in Extreme Citizen Science. Partners and friends of Public Lab, University College London ExCiteS research group, just posted an open call for a PhD in Extreme Citizen Science, well worth a look if you are considering programs.

8. EPA EJ quarterly call. The next EPA Environmental Justice quarterly call is coming up on December 13th. For details on the call or to read notes from past calls, click here.

9. Public Lab in Chemical and Engineering News. The Public Lab spectrometer was featured next to our friends in NYC, GenSpace. Check out the article here.

Research notes:

Updated map from 2012 barnraising session Sulphur, sodium detection in flame spectrometer tests Power tool case houses multiple KAP rigs Scott Eustis on Spartina IR Videos from the barn raising New SpectralWorkbench analysis interface

Hope the weekend is off to a good start for everyone! As always, if I missed anything, please email to the list, post a research note or send your news to shannon@publiclaboratory.org for inclusion in the newsletter next week.