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Texas Barnraising, February 22-24, 2019

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Registration is open!

Register Here

Location: The historic 1859 Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas (2328 Broadway Avenue J, Galveston, TX 77550)

Theme: Science for Action in the Gulf Coast, bringing people together to build a community citizen science disaster response toolkit. For further background, watch this video about the 2017 Houston Flood Response and Dedicated & Committed Organization Founder Eduardo Luna

On this page:


About the Barnraising

Registering for the Barnraising

  • Registation and closing dates
  • Event costs and discount options
  • Travel Stipends

Logistics

  • Event times and location
  • Housing
  • Transit options
  • Outreach tools
  • Communication

Materials and questions

Event Committees

Past Barnraisings


About the Barnraising

A Barnraising is an event hosted by the Public Lab community. In the spirit of bringing a community together to collectively raise a structure such as a barn, Barnraising participants come together to test environmental monitoring tools in the field, brainstorm new research projects, share about environmental concerns, and develop strategies to address them. The event is hosted in an “unconference style.” This means that people collectively set the agenda, and join to participate and collaborate rather than just present, talk, and listen.

At the event, barnraising participants can expect to:

improve social ties through in-person collaboration, participate in deep exploration of local environmental issues and ongoing community research, advance technical knowledge, and work with hands-on projects for local environmental monitoring and documenting new monitoring methods.

Registering for the Barnraising

Registration and closing dates

Full Registration for this event includes housing, and all meals between Friday breakfast and Sunday lunch. Registration for this ticket will close February 17th. (If you do not require housing, please indicate that on your registration form or email stevie@publiclab.org.)

Single Day Ticket If you are just planning on joining this event for one day, we recommend Saturday. Single day tickets cover breakfast and lunch for the day you will be joining the event. Registration for this ticket will close February 19th.

Event costs and discount options

Registration Costs: Each year we work hard to make this event accessible for everyone to attend. In that respect, every Barnraising event is run on a sliding scale cost for registration. While the Registration cost is listed at $50 ($20 for single day), this event costs us much more to put on (around $40,000). If you are able to pay more, please include more funds through the donation option or through the institutional support button at the end of the registration form. If the event cost is more than you can cover, please email stevie@publiclab.org for discount codes for free or reduced registration.

Travel Stipends This year we have funds to help support bringing participants to the Barnraising. With an eye towards greater equity, stipend preference will be given to those from underrepresented groups. Please see this link to apply for a travel stipend. Applications will close February 3rd. (Note there will be free shuttles from Houston to the event space on Thursday evening, returning Sunday)

Logistics

Event times and location: The Barnraising will begin on Friday, February 22nd at 9 a.m., and end the afternoon of Sunday, February 24th. The event will be hosted at the historic Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas (2328 Broadway Avenue J, Galveston, TX 77550). On Sunday morning after breakfast, the event will conclude in Houston, as we work with local partners exploring local environmental issues and practicing our environmental fieldwork methods and tools.

Housing: Housing for the Barnraising is included in registration for those who are joining for the full event. We will be staying in several houses we have rented out near the event. In this housing arrangement, bathrooms, and in some cases, bedrooms will need to be shared (no bed sharing!). If you prefer your own room, or require other housing considerations such as wheelchair accessibility, please indicate that on your registration or email stevie@publiclab.org. If you do not require housing, please let us know!

Transit options: We will have large vans available to pick people up in Houston on Thursday evening from the airport and from a couple pick up spots in the city (yet to be determined). The vans will be returning to Houston on Sunday around 11 a.m. If you require transit outside those times, please make personal arrangements.

Outreach tools: Want to help share out about this event? Great, you can share our event facebook page, or use this one pager PDF to print or email. The_Public_Lab_Barnraising!.pdf

Communication: Want to join conversations about this event?

Materials and Questions

Material Support: Do you have materials you’ll be looking to use at the event? This year we have a budget to help gathering materials to support our project ideas. Add to the materials wish list below and we’ll work on trying to get things to the event. Link to edit spreadsheet below (Our budget is limited; we’ll do our best, but if we can’t source something on this list, we’ll indicate it on the spreadsheet as soon as we can.)

What questions are you bringing to the Barnraising?

We’ll arrange our schedule of activities based on the topics and questions people bring to the event. Share your questions early to start collaborating with others below!


Event Committees

This event relies on its participants to help make it happen. Sign up for a committee in your registration to help support the event!

  • FoodCom - Help with breakfasts and snacks.
  • FunCom - Help with evening activities!
  • GearCom - Help compile information about all the gear people are planning on bringing. GearCom has a budget this year!!
  • DotCom - Into social media?! Help us share out about the event!
  • DocCom - Help document what we explore and learn at the event and publish The Barnraiser.
  • KidCom - This is a family friendly event. Help make sure the kids are taken care of and have fun things to do!
  • CleanCom - We'll all do this, but this group will be in charge!

Past Barnraisings:

The_Barnraiser_--_Regional_Special_Issue_2016.jpg