1. A
summary
of
Science
Hack
Day
San
Francisco
11
–
12
November
2011
by
NASA
#opengov
2. “Hack
days”
offer
a
unique
opportunity
to
collaborate
on
focused
tasks
for
a
short
period
of
Ame
by
a
small
groups
of
developers
and
are
capable
of
producing
remarkable
results.
The
original
concept
of
a
hack
day
was
popularized
by
Yahoo!
in
2005
and
soon
aJer
became
a
worldwide
trend.
Science
Hack
Day
started
in
London
in
2010
by
a
developer
who
wanted
to
apply
the
concept
to
the
field
of
science.
Since
then
events
had
been
planned
in
numerous
ciAes
around
the
world,
bridging
the
gap
between
the
science,
technology
and
design
industries
and
encouraging
future
collaboraAon,
community
building
and
general
social
awareness
of
one
another.
hNp://sciencehackday.com/
3. So
what
exactly
can
you
expect
from
a
Science
Hack
Day?
Well,
imagine
a
Venn
diagram
where
the
intersec1on
is
a
mix
of
web
developers
and
science
geeks.
A
world
where
scienAsts,
developers,
designers,
technologists,
and
visionaries,
from
all
walks
of
life,
come
together
for
an
intense
weekend
to
build,
create
and
make
things
in
the
name
of
science.
If
you’ve
never
experienced
a
hack
day,
it’s
an
exciAng
all-‐night
marathon
experience,
that
amplifies
your
creaAvity
and
challenges
you
to
collaborate
with
others
on
projects
that
you’d
normally
not
have
a
chance
to
tackle.
It’s
hard
to
explain
in
words,
so
we’ve
created
this
presenta1on
to
share
pictures
from
the
event
and
a
short
descrip1on
of
each
of
the
projects.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. The
200+
scienAsts,
developers,
designers,
technologists,
and
visionaries
worked
on
a
number
of
projects
ranging
from
developing
open
source
underwater
rovers
to
the
creaAon
of
a
physical
globe
that
uses
a
laser
to
show
the
real
1me
posi1on
of
the
interna1onal
space
sta1on!
Many
of
the
projects
leveraged
NASA
data,
some
of
the
projects
simply
had
fun
with
science.
25
projects
were
presented
on
Sunday
aJernoon
and
we
think
the
results
speak
for
themselves.
A
brief
summary
of
each
is
provided.
18. 1.
Science
and
Gender
Wrote
python
scripts
to
hack
gender
and
aNributed
gender
to
ambiguous
names.
Data
is
on
github
and
uses
facebook,
wikipedia
and
census
data.
hNp://github.com/cazdev/Science-‐and-‐Gender
Creators:
Alex
Kudlick,
MaN
Senate,
and
others
19. 2.
IsoDrag
TypeFace
Type
faces
should
be
very
well
balanced,
but
does
that
mean
jsut
visually
balanced?
What
about
aerodynamically
balanced?
Took
heleviAca
type
face
and
built
a
mini-‐wind
tunnel
to
test
the
drag
coefficient
for
all
the
leNers
of
the
alphabet.
Ideally,
all
the
leNers
should
have
the
same
drag
coefficient.
Took
the
leNers
and
changed
the
weights
so
they
all
balance
out
aerodynamically.
hNp://twitpic.com/7dpbrd
Creators:
David
Harris
(@physicsdavid)
Josh
and
Mia
from
Wellington
20. 3.
ISS
Globe
No1fy
Using
a
laser
mounted
on
the
inside
of
a
translucent
globe
and
a
couple
of
servos
(one
turning
the
globe
and
the
other
controlling
the
pitch
of
the
laser.
Tracks
the
real-‐Ame
approximate
posiAon
of
the
InternaAonal
Space
StaAon
over
Earth.
One
servo
provide
longitude
and
the
other
servo
provides
laAtude.
Used
the
MakerBot
to
print
the
main
gear.
For
more
informaAon
visit
hNp://github.com/natronics/ISS_Globe
and
hNp://open-‐noAfy.org/api-‐doc#iss-‐now
Creators:
Nathan
Bergey
nathan.bergey@gmail.com
Steven
Davis
smd_1960@yahoo.com
Glenn
LeBrasseur
@glennlebrasseur
Nicolas
Weidinger
@drweidinger
Rachel
Weidinger
@rachelannyes
21. 4.
Visualize
the
South
African
Na1onal
Budget
A
visualzazaAon
of
the
the
South
African
NaAonal
Budget
to
demonstrate
that
the
spending
on
science
is
very
reasonable.
How
much
does
science
and
technology
really
cost?
VisithNp://carolune.org/ZA_Budget/.
All
the
budget
data
used
in
this
visualizaAon
comes
from
the
South
African
Treasury
website.
The
data
comes
from
the
consolidated
expenditure
esAmates
2010/2011.
Creators:
Carolina
Ödman-‐Govender
@carolune
Brian
Suda
@briansuda
22. 5.
Single
Point
Perspec1ve
Pulling
recent
photos
from
Flickr,
shrinking
small,
pusng
them
on
a
map,
to
create
a
photo
of
Earth
based
on
photos
from
Earth.
hNp://jes5199.com/single_point_perspecAve.html
Creators:
Jesse
Wolfe
@jes5199
23. 6.
Syneseizure
Umasking
reality.
Reality
is
far
too
complex
because
of
the
massive
amounts
of
informaAon,
so
we
set
out
to
hack
our
senses
by
sending
sensory
input
to
the
wrong
sense
with
the
goal
of
purposely
confusing
our
brain
(and
it’s
associated
data
filtering
algorithms).
EssenAally,
the
mask
takes
in
a
visual
input
and
outputs
a
signal
to
influence
our
sense
of
touch.
Implemented
using
a
web
cam
(visual
input)
that
goes
into
an
ardunio
that
drives
sixty
60-‐cent
mini
speakers
that
affect
your
sense
of
touch.
Creators:
Bala
Ramamurthy,
Watson
Watson,
Lillian
Fritz-‐Laylin,
Meredith
Carpenter,
Hamilton,
Marissa
Fessenden,
Parker
Imrie,
Tymm
Twillman,
Greg
Freidland,
Fen
Lipkowitz,
and
Liam
Holt
24. 7.
Large
Hadron
Collider
Data
Hack
One
of
the
experiments
from
the
Large
Hadron
Collider,
the
Compact
Muon
Solenoid
(CMS)
experiment),
has
released
a
small
amount
of
the
data
for
educaAonal
purposes.
A
parAcal
physicist
brought
the
data
to
see
what
they
could
hack
with
the
data.
The
data
is
hard
to
access
and
even
more
difficult
to
understand
(both
from
the
formats
and
physics),
so
it
turned
into
a
hack
that
tried
to
explain
the
data
through
data
visualizaAon
that
will
be
ulAmately
useful
for
physicists
at
CERN
and
Fermi
Lab.
For
more
informaAon:
hNp://www.maNbellis.com/index.php?Atle=Science_Hack_Day_2011_(San_Francsico)
and
hNp://maNbellis.com/dimuons.html
(needs
about
60
seconds
to
load)
Creators:
MaN
Bellis
(@maN_bellis)
Lynn
Root
(@roguelynn)
Aaron
Culich
(@aculich)
Morris
Mwanga
(Kenya
ambassador)
Tim
Clem
Kevin
25. 8.
HomeBrewMicroscope
A
microscope
cable
of
sub-‐micron
resoluAon
using
plumbing
parts,
an
objecAve
lens,
and
a
digital
camera.
They
were
able
to
resolve
objects
as
wide
as
one
wave
of
green
light.
Total
cost
to
implement
the
hack
was
around
$35
of
parts.Screenshots,
photos
and
videos:hNp://purefixion.com/AllTogether.jpg
26. 9.
HIV/AIDS:
Meaningful
indicators
HIV/AIDS
spread
follows
complex
human
network
dynamics,
the
details
of
which
are
very
difficult
to
measure.
The
team
explored
a
proof
of
concept
hack
using
WEKA,
a
data
mining
soJware
in
JAVA,
that
explores
the
data
sets
to
analyze
various
indicators
in
a
meaningful
way
to
determine
risk
of
being
HIV
posiAve,
without
asking
any
personal
quesAons.
This
could
inform
prevenAon
and
intervenAon
policies.
27. 10.
Buckets
of
Tears
bucketsoJears.com
is
a
data
visualizaAon
and
crowdsourcing
project
to
provide
a
web
interface
to
bring
comfort
to
people
who
are
experiencing
sadness.
The
visualizaAon
presents
tweets
from
all
over
the
world
that
contain
the
word
“crying”
in
mulAple
languages.
While
they
are
being
streamed
in
real
Ame,
tear
droplets
show
up
on
a
world
map
to
indicate
their
locaAon.
The
team
conAnues
to
work
on
adding
a
“Comfort”
buNon
which
which
visitors
can
interact
with
the
sad
tweeters
to
cheer
them
up.
Screenshots,
photos
and
videos
are
available
at
www.bucketsoJears.com.
Source
code
and
links
are
available
athNps://github.com/arfon/Tears.
Creators:
Arfon
Smith:
@arfon,
Jarod
Luebbert
@jarodl,
Julia
Bossmann:
@juliabossmann,
Roman
Gurovich:
@romangurovich,
Ryan
Balfanz:
@RyanBalfanz
and
Stuart
Lynn:
@stuart_lynn
28. 11.
EpiCell
Disease
is
prevalent
but
healthcare
is
not
universal.
Fortunately,
much
of
the
world
now
has
access
to
a
cell
phone.
Technologies
are
being
developed
that
can
turn
cell
phones
into
diagnosAc
devices.
These
devices
can
be
used
at
the
point
of
care
and
the
informaAon
can
be
transmiNed
in
real-‐Ame
to
experts
and
databases.
If
properly
deployed
and
used,
mobile
diagnosAc
devices
could
facilitate
addressing
the
needs
of
individuals
in
impoverished
areas
and
tracking
the
emergence
of
disease
outbreaks.
To
determine
where
such
devices
should
be
deployed,
we
collected
open
source
geospaAal
data
and
created
a
map
to
idenAfy
locaAons
where
healthcare
was
scarce,
but
cell
phone
coverage
was
readily
available.
The
code
is
available
at
epicell.github.com
Creators:
Aaron
Steele:
@eightysteele
*
Andrew
Hill:
@andrewxhill
*
Arfon
Smith:
@arfon
*
Julia
Bossmann:
@juliabossmann
*
Nancy
Burgess:
NancyB
*
Roman
Gurovich:
@romangurovich
*
Ryan
Balfanz:
@RyanBalfanz
*
Stuart
Lynn:
@stuart_lynn
29. 12.
OpenROV
Kinect-‐ivity
Working
the
development
of
an
OpenROV
controllers,
including
iPhone
&
interwebs.
Mounted
geophysical
exploraAon
package
to
ROV.
Successfully
disassembled
Kinect
case
and
extracted
key
hardware,
but
failed
to
mount
due
to
half-‐inch
size
difference.
Future
plans
include
further
experimentaAon
to
include
a
re-‐aNempt
with
slightly
larger
ROV.
More
informaAon:
hNp://openrov.com/profiles/blogs/6365107:BlogPost:14103
Creators:
Eric
Stackpole
(@eerrp)
David
Lang
(@davidlang)
Mika
McKinnon
(@mikamckinnon)
Tim
Clem
(@Amothyclem)
Jay
Freeman,
original
Jay
Freeman,
evil
twin
(@saurik)
30. 13.
DNAquiri
Using
a
DNA
extracAon
protocol,
the
team
created
a
product
of
which
also
happens
to
be
a
tasty
cocktail.
Fruit
cells
(strawberry
and
others)
are
lysed
by
freeze/thaw
and
heat
cycles
to
eliminate
the
use
of
surfactants.
Salt
is
minimized
and
sugar
added
in
order
to
mask
any
salty
flavor.
Bacardi
151
is
layered
over
fruit
purée
to
extract
DNA
into
the
ethanol
phase.
A
Any
umbrella
completes
the
tropical
vibe.
Screenshots,
photos
and
videos:
hNp://twitpic.com/7dz2ah
hNp://twitpic.com/7dz23m
Creators:
Patrik
D’Haseleer,
Bonnie
Barrilleaux,
Lily
Lew,
@sulfur_blue,
Joseph,
@codonAUG
Michelle
Peters
31. 14.
Urban
Using
radio
telemetry,
this
draJ
UI
design
turns
animal
tracking
data
into
visual
paNerns
for
display
in
public
installaAon
and
through
a
mobile
device.
People
viewing
this
data
can
help
scienAsts
monitor
species
habitat
and
migraAon.
The
hack
URL
is
hNp://interacAonart.org/?page_id=483
Creators:
Amber
Didow,
Vicki
Moulder,
Satoka
32. 15.
Thalamoid
Using
the
Thalamoid
pla}orm,
the
team
connected
an
Android
mobile
device
to
analog
ultrasonic
scienAfic
sensors
to
demonstrate
the
‘s
ability
to
serve
as
a
data
collecAon
system.
The
system
logs
environmental
data
to
an
SD
card
in
addiAon
to
displaying
it
on
the
screen
for
immediate
feedback.
The
team
aNached
ultrasonic
sensors
to
record
real
data
using
a
mobile
device
and
then
pass
the
data
to
the
cloud.
The
source
code
and
links
and
available
athNp://www.thalamoid.com.
For
more
informaAon
visit
hNp://phinominal.com/phinominalblog/
Creators:
MaNeo
Borri,
Paul
Mans,
Akhsar
Kharebov,
Geoffrey
Chu
33. 16.
Subjects
A
visualizaAon
to
display
subjects
in
scienAfic
papers
using
the
PLoS
search
API.
The
code
is
available
at
hNp://mbostock.github.com/d3/.
The
hack
can
be
viewed
at
hNp://10.0.1.38/~joe/plos/hack2/
34. 17.
vSculpt
The
team
created
a
virtual
sculpAng
tool
called
vSculpt
is
a
program
which
allows
users
to
use
gestures
in
front
of
a
webcam
to
sculpt
a
3d
model
and
then
print
it
on
a
3d
printer.
The
source
code
and
links
are
available
at
hNp://github.com/laughinghan/opentld
Creators:
David
Allen
Han
Wei
Sabrina
AAenza
Luke
Rast
35. 18.
OECD
Threatened
Species
This
project
is
designed
to
visualize
some
of
the
environmental
data
on
threatened
species
published
by
the
OECD,
an
internaAonal
organisaAon
helping
governments
tackle
the
economic,
social
and
governance
challenges
of
a
globalised
economy.
The
OECD
produces
reports
on
the
state
of
the
environment
based
on
data
from
parAcipaAng
countries.
The
aim
of
this
project
is
to
compile
and
visualize
the
informaAon
on
threatened
(endangered,
vulnerable,
and
criAcally
endangered)
species
by
country
so
that
it
is
easily
accessible.
The
current
hack
only
includes
the
mammals
data,
but
new
pages
for
fish,
birds,
amphibians,
invertebrates,
plants,
and
repAles
will
be
added
soon.
The
project
is
built
with
the
Google
Chart
apis
for
visualizing
data.
Currently
in
use
are
the
geo
chart
and
bar
chart.
The
hack
URL
is
hNp://www.erinjorichey.com/endangered/mammals-‐map.html
Creators:
Erin
Richey
@erinjo
36. 19.
NeckBeard
Using
a
22-‐line
python
script
and
a
USB
microscope,
development
an
impressive
applicaAon
to
quanAfy
the
length
of
beard
hair
through
visualizaAon
and
data.
The
hack
URL
ishNp://labs.radiantmachines.com/beard
Creators:
Joshua
Gourneau
37. 20.
Hack
Your
Genome
The
inspiraAon
for
this
project
came
out
of
frustraAon
of
what’s
available
to
analyize
your
own
genome
data.
Many
people
have
their
own
23andMe
genotype
(
hNps://www.23andme.com/),
but
there
is
not
gene
broswer
to
understand
the
variants.
The
team
developed
a
basic
genome
browser
to
display
SNP
data
from
23andMe,
showing
the
rarity
of
each
genotype,
overlaid
on
the
gene
structure.
The
hack
URL
is
hNp://j.mp/genomehack
Creators:
Mitch
Skinner,
@surrealize
Jun
Axup,
@junnibug
Patrik
D’haeseleer,
patrikd
Will
Reinhardt,
@wreinhardt
Mohammed
Rahman,
@8iteraAons,
Eri
Gentry,
@erigentry
38. 21.
Self-‐Titled
In
scienAfic
publicaAons,
credibility
is
judged
by
the
number
of
citaAons
which
is
ulAmately
a
poor
metric.
With
the
rise
of
electronic
publishing
and
the
social
web,
there
are
exciAng
new
opportuniAes
to
look
at
a
broader
dimension
of
how
a
researcher
influences
his
peers
and
is
in
turn
influenced.
Using
the
Open
APIs
provided
by
the
open
access
publisher
the
Public
Library
of
Science,
the
team
analyzed
research
papers
and
gave
them
a
score
corresponding
to
how
much
confidence
an
author
of
a
paper
expressed
in
his
work.
This
allows
us
to
tune
into
the
signals
expressed
by
the
researcher
about
his
own
work,
which
gives
us
a
much
earlier
signal
of
potenAal
importance
than
we
get
by
waiAng
for
a
paper
to
get
citaAons.
It’s
a
good
thing
in
some
respects
that
science
moves
slow,
but
nothing’s
fast
enough
for
researchers
pushing
the
leading
edge
of
research
in
areas
like
cancer
research,
stem
cell
biology,
and
other
criAcal
rersearch
areas.
Screenshots,
photos
and
videos:
hNp://db.N/1OZnYaaT,
hNp://db.N/tqV03M8G
and
hNp://db.N/cOxeLUKb
The
hack
URL:
hNp://github.com/williamgunn/SciSenAment
Creators:
William
Gunn
(@mrgunn)
MaN
Senate
(@wrought)
Jacob
Schiach
39. 22.
Physical
Compu1ng
Physical
objects
have
a
sensory
richness
of
meaning
that
screen-‐based
elements
do
not.
When
we
see,
hear
and
feel
real-‐world
objects
we
are
enabled
to
train
both
cogniAve
and
perceptual
skills
in
combinaAon.
Therefore,
the
team
developed
code
that
associates
everyday
3-‐d
objects
as
compuAng
tools,
by
associates
photos
of
objects
taken
from
a
mobile
device
with
a
database
represenAng
other
objects.
Creators:
Henrik
Brink,
Lisa
Ballard
40. 23.
Quake
Canary
“PEEPS”
Using
an
accelerometer
data
from
arduinos
and
mobile
devices
(iphones
and
geophones),
the
team
created
an
app
that
provides
an
early-‐warning
noAficaAon
of
an
earthquake.
The
app
leverages
publically-‐contributed
seismic
data
and
publishes
it
to
a
online
map
using
openheatmap.com.
The
data
is
then
compared
with
USGS
and
UC
Berkeley
Northern
California
Seismic
data
available
to
the
public
in
real
Ame,
as
well
as
visualizes
it
on
a
map.
Users
are
noAficed
of
recent
or
pending
earthquake
using
an
iphone
app.
Creators:
Ryan
Anderson,
Chris
Swanson,
Ariel
Rokem,
David
McKeown,
Jen
Blank,
Mika
McKinnon,
Rachel
Weidinger,
thanks
to
Pete
Worden
(openheatmap.com)
41. 24.
Code
Hero
Developed
a
game
called
Code
Hero
that
teaches
people
how
to
make
games.
The
soJware
allows
you
to
shoots
javascript
in
3D.
Students
from
Bright
Works
then
used
the
pla}orm,
as
well
as
Unity
and
Google
Sketchup
to
build
a
game
with
four
levels
called
“Pikachu
in
AcAon”.
Creators:
Students
and
Principal
from
the
New
Community
Learning
Center.
42. The
NASA
Open
Government
team
was
an
acAve
parAcipant
in
the
event.
Sean
Herron
kicked
off
the
day
with
a
standing-‐room
only
lightening
talk
on
“the
great
universe
of
NASA
data”.
For
a
video
of
Sean’s
presentaAon
visit
hNp://open.nasa.gov/blog/2011/11/13/science-‐hack-‐day-‐sf/
43. The
OpenGov
team
also
parAcipated
in
the
event
by
developing
on
an
online
tool
that
uses
NASA
data
in
a
new
way.
The
25.
Space
Ipsum
project
is
perhaps
NASA’s
first
experiment
in
responsive
design
–
the
idea
the
content
should
not
dictate
the
look
and
feel
of
the
site.
No
maNer
what
type
of
pla}orm
you
view
the
website
on,
you’ll
always
be
able
to
access
it’s
core
features
due
to
the
use
of
CSS3
media
queries.
This
is
an
evoluAon
in
web
design
and
represents
the
future
of
how
web
design
should
act.
The
site
also
features
some
of
NASA’s
historic
space
images
that
load
as
the
background
randomly
when
a
user
visits
the
site.
The
side-‐project
actually
lays
the
foundaAon
for
a
bigger
project
we
are
working
on
that
mashes
up
historic
NASA
content
in
a
new
and
useful
way,
but
we’ll
save
the
details
on
that
project
for
another
blog
post
in
the
near
future.
The
tool
is
available
at
hNp://spaceipsum.com.
More
informaAon
available
at:
hNp://open.nasa.gov/blog/2011/11/13/space-‐ipsum/
Creators:
Sean
Herron
@seanherron,
Nick
Skytland
@skytland,
William
Eshagh
@eshagh
44.
45. For
a
complete
summary
of
the
event,
including
descripAons
of
all
the
projects,
visit:
hNp://open.nasa.gov/blog/2011/11/13/science-‐hack-‐day-‐sf/
46. A
summary
of
Science
Hack
Day
San
Francisco
11
–
12
November
2011