This session illustrates DIY as practice and ethos through the work of the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (Public Lab), a grassroots organisation and community that develops and applies open-source tools and techniques to social/environmental exploration and investigation.
The first part disambiguates DIY science as individual and collective action to reveal lessons learnt from practice and promotion of DIY. We also present the story and work of Public Lab: it’s beginnings and technique development journey. The second part looks at civic science where it is seldom explored: in urban-political conflict and hierarchical citizenship. We illustrate experiments with DIY aerial photography in East Jerusalem, bringing forth new forms of aerial testimony that challenge expert discourses in a human rights context. We end with an open Q&A and if time allows, the audience will engage in a prototyping exercise to experience DIY first hand.