Urban Sensor Hack Launches Sept. 24 in Chicago

Urban Sensor Hack Launches Sept. 24 in Chicago

By Dale Dougherty

Dale Dougherty

DALE DOUGHERTY is the leading advocate of the Maker Movement. He founded Make: Magazine 2005, which first used the term “makers” to describe people who enjoyed “hands-on” work and play. He started Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, and this event has spread to nearly 200 locations in 40 countries, with over 1.5M attendees annually. He is President of Make:Community, which produces Make: and Maker Faire.

In 2011 Dougherty was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” through an initiative that honors Americans who are “doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.” At the 2014 White House Maker Faire he was introduced by President Obama as an American innovator making significant contributions to the fields of education and business. He believes that the Maker Movement has the potential to transform the educational experience of students and introduce them to the practice of innovation through play and tinkering.

Dougherty is the author of “Free to Make: How the Maker Movement Is Changing our Jobs, Schools and Minds” with Adriane Conrad. He is co-author of "Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing American Cities" with Peter Hirshberg and Marcia Kadanoff.

View more articles by Dale Dougherty

Urban Sensor Hack Banner

Immediately following World Maker Faire, MAKE kicks off its first Maker Sessions on September 24 with Urban Sensor Hack, an open workshop that will start with a live event in Chicago and continue with a series of online community events that conclude with a Show and Tell for makers on October 15. The goal of Urban Sensor Hack is to bring together makers who are creating sensor-based applications that take advantage of cheap sensors and microcontrollers to track events or monitor conditions in urban areas.

Michael, on his third visit to the Maker Faire, tests the Pulse Sensor designed by Yuri Gitman (l) and Joel Murphy (far r). (Gregory Hayes / MAKE)
Makers work on sensor applications at Maker Faire. (Gregory Hayes / MAKE)

We’ve invited some master makers to show us DIY devices and applications that they’ve built. We’ll present a number of current projects that are deploying sensors to improve our understanding of the urban environment. Plus, even if you’ve never built such an application, we’ll show you how.

We welcome makerspaces and teams to participate, getting together to build and test new applications. We will distribute 20 Sensor Hack Packs containing sensors and electronics for a variety of devices to participating makerspaces. To register, please follow the link on the Urban Sensor Hack page.

We’ll use G+ to organize hangouts and an online community for Urban Sensor Hack. You can share ideas for new kinds of sensor-based applications. We will also gather a variety of projects to create more awareness of cool projects that are already underway. If you’d like to participate, please register through the Urban Sensor Hack page and we’ll send you information on upcoming events when we launch next Tuesday.

We will also be organizing Maker Sessions in November with the topic “21st Century Robots.”

Visit Urban Sensor Hack for more information.

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By Dale Dougherty

Dale Dougherty

DALE DOUGHERTY is the leading advocate of the Maker Movement. He founded Make: Magazine 2005, which first used the term “makers” to describe people who enjoyed “hands-on” work and play. He started Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, and this event has spread to nearly 200 locations in 40 countries, with over 1.5M attendees annually. He is President of Make:Community, which produces Make: and Maker Faire.

In 2011 Dougherty was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” through an initiative that honors Americans who are “doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.” At the 2014 White House Maker Faire he was introduced by President Obama as an American innovator making significant contributions to the fields of education and business. He believes that the Maker Movement has the potential to transform the educational experience of students and introduce them to the practice of innovation through play and tinkering.

Dougherty is the author of “Free to Make: How the Maker Movement Is Changing our Jobs, Schools and Minds” with Adriane Conrad. He is co-author of "Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing American Cities" with Peter Hirshberg and Marcia Kadanoff.

View more articles by Dale Dougherty
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