Making Sense was an EU-wide citizen science project from 2015 to 2017 that explored and developed the application of open-source software, open-source hardware, digital maker practices, and open design within local communities. The primary aim was to enable participating communities to independently create their own sensing tools, facilitating an understanding of environmental conditions and collaborative efforts to address issues such as air, water, soil, and noise pollution. 

Open-source principles played a pivotal role in ensuring accessibility and transparency in the development of technology. The incorporation of digital maker practices opened up such development processes to invite individuals to engage in hands-on technology creation, fostering a sense of ownership and mutual learning. Open design encouraged the sharing of designs and knowledge among communities, creating repositories of common resources. 

Making Sense wanted to inspire addressing environmental issues in local environments, foster collective problem-solving, and contribute to the realization of a sustainable future. The journey involved understanding the complexities of local issues in comparative dimensions across Europe while encouraging transformative actions within each community.  

Following these goals, the project focused on Sensing, Awareness, and Action as main activities.  

• Sensing was about developing open-source technologies that gathered environmental data. The project co-created sensors and devices with other communities that used the Smart Citizen Platform to capture environmental data.  

• Awareness centred on enabling and designing platforms for collective sensing and communal sensemaking. The project co-created and tested tools and methodologies for making sense of data in pilots in Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Prishtina, while raising awareness of social and environmental issues more broadly. Read more about the projects here: http://making-sense.eu/projects/. 

• Action covered the trajectory from awareness to positive change. With the results from the learnings during the Awareness phase the project members developed the Making Sense Toolkit, a manual that helps organize citizen-sensing campaigns for positive social change. The smart citizen kit (https://www.seeedstudio.com/Smart-Citizen-Starter-Kit-p-2865.html) is a practical outcome of the project, bringing together sensing hardware and manuals for immediate deployment at an affordable price. 

The project was co-founded by the European Commission under the “Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainable Social Innovation” (CAPPSI) Programme 

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