Plans for a Public Lab Australia chapter are progressing! Following my initial research note and message to the main Public Lab list, about 40 people were involved in great discussions about open science and hardware in Melbourne this past Wednesday night. There have also been follow up discussions face-to-face, or via email or Twitter with people who couldn't make it in person, or who wanted to share ideas sparked following the event.

I want to thank two people in particular for contributing on Wednesday night, as well as Lachlan and Maia who make Open Knowledge Australia meetups happen in Melbourne. The two people who really made the Public Lab Australia discussion worthwhile are Jess Drake:

So, who wants PublicLab AU? I know you want it. http://t.co/6HvXBA4WQc Talk to @cobismith #openscience /@PublicLab

— Jess Drake (@soilduck) February 12, 2015

and Paul Zee:

with @paulzee in front, now discussing vision for makerspaces all over! RT @datakid23 pic.twitter.com/5hQkdXYCJy @PublicLab @AstroKatie @OKFNau

— Cobi Smith (@cobismith) February 11, 2015

We now have 20 people who've taken the time to put their name on this list expressing interest in a Public Lab mailing list for our region, including people from Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand. Until a mailing list is created, I encourage interested folk to add their name to that list.