Introdutory slide presentation about Safrcast, its activity, organization, and results. Updated Oct 2015.

1. SAFECAST: Basic Introduction
Oct. 2015

2. March 11, 2011

3. From the point of view of average citizens:
• Fear, need to decide soon whether to flee
• Information vacuum
• Official sources deemed untrustworthy
• Social media paints more dire picture
• Even knowledgeable people can’t find enough
reliable and useful data
After March 11, 2011:

4. -We developed devices
-We made a mapping system
-We built a community of motivated
citizen-scientists who want to measure
radiation.
In Response:

6. Evolving according to needs:
Early Phase: “Reality Check”
Transitional Phase: “Enablement”
Long-term: “Alternatives”

7. SAFECAST today:
• International, ad-hoc volunteer network
• Non-heirarchical (but with “centers of gravity”)
• Includes radiation experts, hardware designers,
software designers, academics, tinkerers,
hackers, entrepreneurs, housewives, drivers,
students, etc.
• “Brain Trust” : Leaders in their fields
• We are neither pro- nor anti-nuclear.
We are Pro-Data !

8. Funding:
• Individual donations
• Crowdfunding: Global Giving
• Kickstarter campaigns
• Support from private foundations
• In-kind support from manufacturers, etc.
• Most importantly, people donate their time

9. -Topic 1:The technical side
-Topic 2:The human side

10. Our first systems were bulky, but worked.

11. bGeigie Nano
• 7th-generation mobile
detector
• Rugged
• Arduino-based
• GPS and data-logging
• LND 7317 2” pancake sensor
• OLED display
• Bluetooth and WiFi capable
• Open-source, open hardware,
open data
• Designed to be sold as a kit,
anyone can build it and
upload data
Current workhorse:

12. Deployment:
Automobile Bicycle
Hand-carry Aerial drone
(under development)

13. SAFECAST Air
Prototype, 2015

14. iOS OS X Web

15. Map system:
• Database updated daily, now approx 10GB
• Both server-fed webmaps and smart-client iOS and
OSX apps
• API with query/filtering by time, location, device, etc.
• Approx 360 volunteers have uploaded data.
But 90% is contributed by the most active 10%.
• Data and system are open-source (Creative
Commons CC0 license).Anyone can download the
data, and we encourage independent efforts based
on our dataset.

16. Mar 2011
Oct 2011
Jan 2012 Jan 2013
Nov 2012
June 2013
Feb, 2014
Jan 2014 Jan 2015
July 2014
Dec 2014
May 2015
1 million
5 million
10 million
15 million
20 million
25 million
30 million
Growth of SAFECAST dataset

17. safecast.org/tilemap/

29. api.safecast.org

32. We think it’s very important
to keep humans in the loop!

33. bGeigie Log Viewer

34. 5000+ bGeigie Logs
(In-flight radiation data can be uploaded, but is
not included on our main maps)

35. Realtime Sensors

36. Expanding network, new hardware deployment.

39. People

40. More
More
More
More
More
More
More
More

41. Our Teams
device hardware
API/ mapping
device softwareoutreach, education
administrative
Lots of multitasking, multi-competence
“connectors”

42. Building Community
• Safecast blog, discussion, Facebook,Twitter, etc
• Geiger-counter building workshops
• Talks and presentations
• Media interviews
We want to encourage people to get involved.
This requires skills in education and media.

44. Recent workshops in:
Tokyo
Fukushima
Kobe
Washington, DC
Strasbourg
Taipei
Upcoming workshops:
Los Angeles
Berlin

45. Geiger-counter building workshop with students in Koriyama
(They then become volunteers, contribute radiation readings,
and teach others)

47. Testing 12 newly-built bGeigie Nanos in a nearby park.

49. The Street-by-Street program emerged from outreach
by Japanese Safecast volunteers who live in Fukushima.
Speaking to local government officials, they realized that
many municipalities would like to provide more detailed
contamination maps for their citizens, but were
constrained from doing so by budgetary and regulatory
decisions made at higher levels of government, and had
neither the funds nor expertise to do it independently.
Pro-bono lawyers helped us find a legal solution which
allowed Safecast to offer the service for free with
manpower provided by postal workers.
Our only condition was that all the data be made
openly available through our database.
Safecast Street-by-Street

50. Safecast volunteers and Koriyama City officials

51. Ten bGeigies were delivered to Koriyama City

52. They were mounted on postal delivery vehicles, which cover
every street in town over the course of normal daily activity.

53. Safecast Street-by-Street
Shown: Koriyama detail -
100m grid

54. This solution has proven very scalable, and quite inexpensive. To
date the towns of Minamisoma, Tamura, and Koriyama have been
surveyed through this program (a combined affected population of
over 400,000 people). Safecast is confident that every municipality
in Fukushima Pref. could be quickly measured in this way.

55. MEXT and other government agencies have publicized
quite a lot of radiation risk data, and can probably be
said to have exceeded IAEA and other advisory
guidelines in terms of its quantity and accessibility. But
in fact even more than 4 years later, many citizens are
still confused about where to find data about radiation
in their area, don’t know how it is collected or how
frequently, and find it frustrating to try to navigate the
online information systems.
We believe the SAFECAST information system
improves on official efforts in terms of coverage and
ease-of-use.
Coverage and ease-of-use

56. Official airborne
monitoring maps
provide an important
general overview,
but no detail.
MEXT- DOE airborne monitoring map,
May 2011

57. The primary MEXT/NRA web-based radiation map asks
users to first find their neighborhood monitoring post in
a list of hundreds.
For Iwaki,
choose from a
list of 475
locations!

58. Similarly, official data for food testing, decontamination,
health, etc., is often only available as lists and tables.

59. At the level of individual towns and neighborhoods,
official map detail is sparse.
(Koriyama: 7 data points visible for this neighborhood
each representing a single monitoring post)

60. NRA/MEXT -Vehicle-borne 1st survey, June 2011(Koriyama)
Approx. 80 data points

61. NRA/MEXT -Vehicle-borne 4th survey, Oct. 2012(Koriyama)
Approx 200 data points

62. SAFECAST map of the same area: approx. 800 data points

63. SAFECAST also seeks to address gaps in coverage by
providing free online access to maps like this one showing the
boundaries of the evacuation zones in relation to roads.
No similar map is yet officially available.

64. Our experience after Fukushima suggests that in the
event of another large radiation emergency
additional manpower will be needed.
+

65. One person can quickly teach ten others.

66. We have prepared “airlift crates” of devices
that can be quickly sent emergency areas
anywhere in the world.

67. We’ve found it’s necessary to educate media as well.

69. Why is it that we’ve been able to get all
this done quickly and cheaply, while
government and official agencies haven’t?
We’re motivated (really, we started doing this
because we were worried).
We don’t wait to be asked, or ask permission.
We have no incentive to drag our heels.
Maybe, unlike bureaucracies:

70. The rise of citizen science in the digitally-enabled
DIY age is an irreversible phenomenon.
The experience of SAFECAST after Fukushima
shows that new creative structural relationships
between independent third-party groups and
government are in fact possible, and can be the
best way to serve the information needs of
citizens.
CONCLUSION:
This is a genie that won’t go back in the bottle.

71. Innumerable groups and individuals worldwide are
beginning to wield similar technical and information
capabilities, seeking to influence public opinion and
gain support for their positions.
Our experience leads us to suggest that the most
productive official response will be to streamline the
collection and distribution of data of concern to the
public, improve transparency, and to formally
acknowledge the important role third-parties can play.
CONCLUSION (cont’d):
This is a genie that won’t go back in the bottle.

72. Everything we do has been enabled by open
hardware and software, new DIY fab tools, and
social media.
It required putting into practice agile development
and iterative design - “Deploy or Die”
Our credibility depends on our openness.
Managing human networks is harder than managing
technical systems.
Govt agencies are accountable for people’s lives and
well-being. We aren’t, and that makes our work
easier than theirs.
SUMMARY:

74. www.safecast.org