Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Press release here:
RiverLink will host The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (PLOTS) Barnraising the weekend of October 22. RiverLink Volunteers and PLOTS staff will conduct aerial mapping of urban sections of the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers within the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay. They will suspend low-cost cameras from helium balloons (2,000 feet in the air!) to collect high resolution imagery in the visible light and infrared spectrum. Participants will also work on the creation of a more precise sensor for infra red photography for vegetation monitoring.
The group plans to meet at the RiverLink offices (170 Lyman Street) and map various sections of Asheville’s rivers from the riverbanks. The end result will be a high quality, low-tech, non-copyrighted, satellite map of the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers, which RiverLink will use for further research on the waterways.
PLOTS is a group of activists, educators, technologists, and community organizers interested in new ways to promote action, intervention, and awareness through a participatory research model. As a newly formed national non-profit, PLOTS directly engages citizens in collection of environmental information through the use of low cost, open source tools to serve community needs such as environmental planning, monitoring, and management. The PLOTS group is converging on Asheville from Massachusetts, Louisiana, Rhode Island, New York, Oregon, and California.
Volunteers are invited to join in the project and necessary for its success. We’ll meet at the RiverLink Offices at 170 Lyman Street at 9 a.m. and probably finish up around 2 p.m. Be prepared with clothes for the weather and $3 for a delicious Venezuelan Lunch (or you can bring your own). Contact Nancy Hodges at 252-8474 or
[email protected], ext. 14 for more information.
