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 * http://www.datacarpentry.org/ - Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research."Our initial target audience is learners who have little to no prior computational experience"

The ShowMeBox is a proposal for a computer with a purpose in connection with DebConf 2016 in Cape Town.

Idea

The idea with the ShowMeBox project is to make it possible for us to have a competition like the following in the months up to DebConf 2016:

  • Challenge to students!

    Get a ShowMeBox and use the included open source data analysis software to make a visualization that shows an interesting aspect of some publicly available data in your region.

The competition is imagined to have the following specifics:

  • There will be one or more prizes, with the main one being travel and participation in DebConf to present the results.

  • For Cape Town the competition is based on the local open data initiative; other regions may have similar projects but we do not know if we can support non-English speaking participants.

  • The competition otherwise mimics a similar "data hackathon" competition held in New York city by Two Sigma (details pending).

Finally, the project is of course strictly limited to DFSG-free software and data sources, and does not include any means of advertising services or proprietary software or data feeds: it is all about promoting Debian and the art of open data analytics. (This does not limit quoting sponsors and other kinds of contributors with their logo, etc., of course, as we see fit.)

Hardware

ShowMeBox has these technical characteristics:

  • Self-contained computing device that can be powered from mains or battery.
  • Internet connectivity through multiple wireless interfaces (wifi and 3/4G).

  • LAN connectivity through local wireless and wired network.
  • "Small server" footprint, i.e. 1-2 cores, less than 1 GB of RAM, and SDCARD storage.

Boards we currently consider:

Name

Processor

RAM

battery

Wifi

Ethernet

OSHW

Price

OLinuXino A20 LIME2

1GHz dual-core Allwinner

1GB

(./)

{X}

(./)

(./)

$56

OLinuXino A20 LIME

1GHz dual-core Allwinner

½GB

(./)

{X}

(./)

(./)

$43

Cubieboard2-Dual

1GHz dual-core Allwinner

1GB

(./)

{X}

(./)

{X}

$51

Cubieboard3

1GHz dual-core Allwinner

2GB

(./)

(./)

(./)

{X}

$86

Prices are including case, but excluding GSM modem, SDCARD, wifi (where not builtin) or battery.

See also Freedombox and WikiPedia board comparisons.

Software

ShowMeBox will come loaded with the following software:

  • Standard Debian GNU/Linux system.
  • Web server.
  • Web application for data analysis (such as Beaker, described below).

  • Tutorial examples (using preloaded data) of how visualizations can be built.

  • Cape Town Open Data Portal.

  • Code4SA Project and for Journalists- they love open data, 11 projects listed on the site. Some examples:

    • MapIt: Geolocation and boundary API for provinces, municipalities, wards and more in South Africa.

    • Wazimap: Detailed demographics and election results for everywhere in South Africa

    • Open Data Portal Their "open data portal for South African data that doesn't otherwise have a home".

People

  • ?BernelleVerster (Cape Town Organization)

  • ?GrahamInggs (Cape Town Organizaton)

  • JonasSmedegaard (Hardware and Debian base install)

  • vasudevkamath (Debian base install)
  • KristofferRose (Data Analysis Software)

  • ?SiriReiter (Visual Communication)

Development is done at Alioth, coordinated by mail with code tracked in git.