DRAFT PAGE FOR UPCOMING SPECTRAL CHALLENGE 2013: this page is under heavy development

Introduction here:

The Public Lab Spectral Challenge will address two tasks (let's put these in 2 columns):

Stage 1: Process

Goal: Support and encourage the hundreds of people getting spectrometers who want to figure out how to use them for something interesting

• motivate, cultivate collabs, lend focus to the more DIY crowd who may be unfamiliar/daunted
• builds community, improves learning/peer exchange
• process-oriented, documentation/collab
• safe handling of samples!! - (blind olive oil identification)
• +1 for educational/classroom use
• open ended? anything that contributes? Or goal-oriented?
  • not tied to our device, but must be open source
  • biggest impact: how is impact measured?
    • dramatic improvement to device design, process, or results
    • simplification, reliability, accessibility, low-cost, open source, DIY
    • working together, forming teams
    • peer review, #/quality of comments?
  • How to enter? Tag Research Note with “spectralchallenge” or “spectralchallengeentry”
• closed timeline: 3 months? Mar-May, Apr-Jun
• open suggestions for what Stage 2 will be
• can already donate to pools for Stage 1 or 2?

Stage 2: Contamination

Encourage those with some knowledge of spectroscopy, chemistry, or environmental contamination to establish protocols for using the PLOTS spectrometer to identify environmental contaminants.

• emphasis on accomplishing usable tests, recruiting experts
• ends-oriented, specific goal “such as heavy metal or oil contamination” but specific challenge will be announced later based on input from Stage 1

Entering

• you may form teams (collaboration is a +1 for your entry)
• enter by publishing a research note tagged "spectralchallenge" announcing/describing your entry

Join Public Lab and reach out over the mailing lists to find collaborators, help and advice. Organize an event in your area to find collaborators and compare notes!

(add link here to Organize an Event)

Timeline

Stage 1: End of February 2013, when final Kickstarter spectrometers ship. Ends in 3 months (end of May)

Stage 2: End of May, when Stage 1 ends. Ongoing -- open until somebody wins it

Funding

This is a crowdfunded prize -- anyone may contribute to the Stage 1: Process pool or the Stage 2: Contamination pool. (or all funds are split between?)

80% of the pool goes to the winning team

20% of the pool goes to support the Public Lab nonprofit to:

• operate, support, maintain, & improve SpectralWorkbench.org
• organize events, run the Challenge, and facilitate collaborations
• refine, improve and continue to manufacture and distribute spectrometry and other open source environmental science kits

Judging

TBA