Citizen Sense is delighted to launch AirKit, a toolkit to support citizens in monitoring air quality.
AirKit has been developed through nearly two years of building, testing, and installing air quality monitors and analyzing data with communities in Forest Hill, London. This Proof of Concept project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) further builds on research on citizen sensing and air quality from the Citizen Sense project.
The AirKit toolkit includes four components: 1) an AirKit Logbook with instructions for setting up an air-quality study; 2) a Dustbox 2.0 monitor for sensing particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), 3) an Airsift platform for analyzing citizen data, and 4) a Data Stories tool for narrating and communicating findings and proposals for action.
The AirKit Logbook is available as a PDF and webpage, and on Github. It includes instructions for building your own Dustbox 2.0, setting up devices in the field, and calibrating and co-locating monitors. In the Logbook, you can find instructions for analyzing data that you collect with a Dustbox on Airsift, as well as how to generate different plots and graphs for understanding air pollution patterns, and write data stories. The Logbook has three Appendices, including an FAQ and Troubleshooting section to answer common questions relating to different elements of AirKit, instructions for building your own Stevenson screen as a weatherproof Dustbox 2.0 shelter, and additional resources on air quality.
Citizen Sense has developed the Airsift platform as part of the AirKit toolkit to support citizens in analyzing air quality data from the Dustbox 2.0. You can look more closely at air quality data in different locations and over time, add observations about air quality, and write data stories about air quality problems and proposals for action. In addition to the data stories on Airsift, you can view our Covid Data Stories developed while testing AirKit with participants in Forest Hill.
AirKit is an evolving toolkit that Citizen Sense will continue to adapt and develop through use with communities. Contact us if you have suggestions for AirKit.
