Updates from Japan

UPDATE: RDTN has been rebranded as Safecast
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In my last post I talked about working on RDTN and if you’ve been following the RDTN blog you know we’ve been busy. In addition to building the worlds first Geiger counter integrated with an iPhone ( image is the second, slightly modified version that we built last night), several of us have been in Tokyo for the New Context Conference and to work with the Tokyo Hackerspace team on some on the ground solutions. We’ve made a ton of progress and hope to have some announcements on that front in a few days. In the meantime we’ve been heads down planning and hacking.

There’s a few videos that have surfaced that I think really make it clear why we’re doing this, and why it needs to happen. This first video is an introduction to Oyama Shienmura (Support Community) which shows inside Iitatemura, using a geiger counter on loan from the Tokyo Hackerspace, taking readings in what was reportedly a safe zone. This area was outside of the initial evacuation zone, though it was later evacuated around 4/10, this video was taken around 4/5 when all official reports where that the area was safe. This region has many organic farmers who had no idea there could be problems. (in Japanese but with English subtitles)

This second video, a team from GlobalDIRT is taking readings about 25K away from the Fukushima plant. Their their readings are here and you can see where they were picking up isotopes. We haven’t been in touch with them yet, though I’ve reached out – if anyone knows people there I’d love an introduction.

Obviously there is information that the residents of the areas need to have and aren’t getting for whatever reason. Hopefully these efforts can help with that. More soon.

Related posts:

1. Updates on keeping up
2. Packing for Japan
3. Updates on the Metblogs Stuffs

UPDATE: RDTN has been rebranded as Safecast -- In my last post I talked about working on RDTN and if you've been following the RDTN blog you know we've been busy. In addition to building the worlds first Geiger counter integrated with an iPhone ( image is the second, slightly modified version that we built last night), several of us have been in Tokyo for the New Context Conference and to work with the Tokyo Hackerspace team on some on the ground solutions. We've made a ton of progress and hope to have some announcements on that front in a few days. In the meantime we've been heads down planning and hacking. There's a few videos that have surfaced that I think really make it clear why we're doing this, and why it needs to happen. This first video is an introduction to Oyama Shienmura (Support Community) which shows inside Iitatemura, using a geiger counter on loan from the Tokyo Hackerspace, taking readings in what was reportedly a safe zone. This area was outside of the initial evacuation zone, though it was later evacuated around 4/10, this video was taken around 4/5 when all official reports where that the area was safe. This region has many organic farmers who had no idea there could be problems. (in Japanese but with English subtitles) This second video, a team from GlobalDIRT is taking readings about 25K away from the Fukushima plant. Their their readings are here and you can see where they were picking up isotopes. We haven't been in touch with them yet, though I've reached out - if anyone knows people there I'd love an introduction. Obviously there is information that the residents of the areas need to have and aren't getting for whatever reason. Hopefully these efforts can help with that. More soon.