Documenting Your Projects

We have adopted Hackster.io as the web platform for documenting Biomaker projects. Hackster provides a simple menu-driven interface for easily assembling project descriptions. As projects are entered, the identities of parts are entered, and these provide a link to other projects that use the same components. The individual or team that own the project are also credited with this and each participant can build a portfolio of projects that they have participated in. For example, Jennifer Deegan has expanded her work from Biomaker 2017 in this way. Hackster provides personal web pages that summarises each person’s activities - a potentially very useful addition to a CV.

Biomaker teams will be required to document their projects via Hackster.io through the Challenge.  

Log in and create a project using your proposal as a guide (select the blue "submit a project" button). This will also have the effect of advertising your project to the ~700,000 users of Hackster.  Project descriptions can be easily expanded over the course of your project. Projects can also be revised, and branched to create portfolio of related activities. You should submit your project to the Biomaker platform (https://www.hackster.io/biomaker). Hackster handles the mechanics of integrating your project with 10,000's of existing projects.

Hackster provides a knowledge base with a wide range of helpful information to help get started (http://help.hackster.io/knowledgebase). Further, content can be imported from existing webpages, and Hackster provides easy support for code held on sites like Github...and there are regular contests and prizes available (https://www.hackster.io/contests). Hackster is an excellent source of ideas and inspiration for projects and for components. You can find a listing of the different platform technologies and partners at: https://www.hackster.io/channels/platforms

The document below takes you through the first sets of setting up and documenting your project on Hackster.

The Biomaker Hackster Hub

The Biomaker Hackster Hub is a collection of projects created by Biomaker teams, as well as other interested in low-cost bioinstrumentation. It is a good place to look for inspiration for your projects, learn about previous projects which may be useful, and get an idea of how to document your projects well.

Some example of well documented projects inculde:

Note that these projects include:

  • A complete lists of parts, equipment and software used

  • A story explaining how and why the project was started

  • A well described section on implementation - what they did, what results they gathered, adjustments and improvements made

  • Photos/screenshots of the project in progress

  • Schematics and code where relevant

Biomaker projects on the Hackster.io platform

Biomaker projects on the Hackster.io platform