Sparkle Labs

🌞 LITTLE FREE SOLAR LIBRARY

A small WiFi network, powered by the sun. Connect and learn.

📡 Connect to Wi-Fi: little-free-solar | 🌐 Open browser: library.local

• 📚 Ebooks & zines
• 🐦 Local animal sounds
• 🏞️ Local plants & invasive species
• 🗳️ Local politics & community resources
• 🛠️ Guide to making your own solar library

 
💡 Powered by the sun.

The Little Free Solar Library is a small, solar-powered device that creates a local, offline digital library. It broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal, allowing people nearby to connect and access local flora & fauna information, field recordings, environmental data, and civic information, local resources, zines, and instructions on how to build your solar library. No internet required. It’s designed to be simple, easy to make, and powered by the sun.

With open-source plans, this library can be built with just a few parts, and it runs entirely off-grid. It’s a chance for people to learn how to build their own solar-powered device, share knowledge, and connect with others in the community.

GitHub

Status

Creates a wireless access point on a RaspberryPi Pico and serves html files.

Roadmap

• Serve media files
• Adafruit Metro ESP32-S3 w/ MicroSD
• Battery power
• Solar power
• Enclosure designs
• DIY guide
• Library content

Parts

• Adafruit Metro ESP32-S3 (space for files) OR Raspberry Pi Pico W (little space but cheap)
• Adafruit Universal USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger [bq24074]
• 6V 2W Solar Panel - ETFE [Voltaic P126]
• 3.8 / 1.3mm or 3.5 / 1.1mm to 5.5 / 2.1mm DC Jack Adapter Cable
• Lithium Ion Battery - 3.7V 10050mAh (10 Ah)

Hackers On Planet Earth is a beautiful happening that takes place every two years in New York City. The 15th conference takes place July 12-14 in Queens at St. John's University. We will be running a quick start version of our Emergent Objects workshop.

Here is a description of the full course:

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   _ \   |     _)             ||__/                    
  |   |  __ \   |   _ \   __|  __|   __|               
  |   |  |   |  |   __/  (     |   \__ \               
 \___/  _.__/   | \___| \___| \__| ____/               
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Program, fabricate, and document electronic objects and build a better future. Gain an understanding of tactile, human-computer interfaces by producing evocative and functional devices of your own design.

Design is the process of actualizing change to our current state. By imagining a potential future, we can create a context for designed objects that reflect on our current circumstances.

We will develop working hardware devices that respond to user input in this hands-on, project-based class. We will begin by understanding the process of creating a compelling user experience and learn how to document and present a research-based approach to design.

We'll go through electrical engineering fundamentals, circuit design, and electronic component prototyping. Our knowledge of electricity will allow us to create sensors that interact with the human body.

We will cover the basics of coding and working with micro-controllers. By programming the brains of our object we will use the data from our sensors to create a responsive device.

User testing and documentation are a vital step in the creation of complex objects. We will explore the process of pitching and defending our work as an aid to the design process.

Amy organized a professional development workshop for middle school science teachers in Montclair, NJ. New Jersey is one of two states that has implemented climate change as a standard in education.

We were tasked with facilitating a workshop to help the teachers satisfy these requirements according to the Next Generation Science Standards.

We ordered some wattmeters to go along with a professional development workshop we are doing on climate change. As expected, the instructions were lacking so we created our own version. Watt Meter

Here is a first post on this new website. I am trying out a static site generator. It is called lektor and written in python. It has a cms and works with markdown so I pretty pleased. You can find out more about Lektor here: Welcome | Lektor Static Content Management System.