Volunteer computing is a process. On one side you've got -typically- an University, research center or a laboratory (from now institution) that needs a huge amount of computing power to go ahead with an important research they have undertaken. On the other side you've got a volunteer (hopefully many o them) who has a computer at home with a fast Internet (typically ADSL) connection. So, what should happen here is that the volunteer gives or donate the idle time of his/her computer to the aforementioned institution which need a lot of power to do its work, visualization or calculation. Let's see how it happens, why it's important and what kind of work people could do with it. Read this another definition here.
- How it works?
Normally you don't have to do too much. You start getting interest on a project, then you visit its web site and download a piece of software. Then you follow some instructions (creating an account and things like that) for the software to work well with the project and, it's almost done ... in minutes you find yourself collaborating with scientists around the world !!. What you're actually doing is something call "distributed computing". It means that there is a group of, say, mathematicians with their own computers (servers) that is responsible of distributing "chunks" (tasks) of work through the Net. This also means that the entire system (institution <==> volunteers) can be seen as a gargantuan computer that is trying to solve problems.
- What can be done?
Generally speaking what this kind of distributed computing is mainly used for is to do scientific research. The importance of this is that there are many scientific researches that can be done only with a computing power like this. But, don't we have supercomputers already in this world? yes, but there aren't so many and they are toooooo expensive. It doesn't matter if you aren't a teacher, a physicist, a mathematician or a scientist at all. You lend you machine's idle time just because you believe in a project (go on reading and you'll see why is important) and because it is surely worthwhile. Platforms on which this work can be done are Windows®, Linux®, Macintosh® and Unix®. Some fields on which you can collaborate are: Chemistry, molecular studies and structures visualization, in Astronomy for 3D visualizations, simulations in Physics, fluids simulation and visualization, research in the protein field, Biology, DNA sequencing, Epidemiology, investigations for climate models, Mathematics, large integers studies, Cryptography, research on diseases, extraterrestrial intelligence, etc, etc, etc ...... applications are too many to name them all here. >>>>>> Below you can find some platforms you could collaborate with. These are just some cases of the many you can find out there.
- Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC): this one is very "popular" nowadays. BOINC is also the name of the software you should download to start collaborating with them and is available for Macintosh, Linux, Windows and many flavors of Unix. BOINC has many projects under its name; from research on diseases to Earth Sciences, from Mathematics to Biology, etc. It's web site is very interesting; once you start taking a look at what they do you feel you've just start opening a whole universe of projects and possibilities. BOINC is a very big platform and is frequently used as a base by others. Among their many projects you can find: Leiden Classical (Chemistry), cosmology at home, aqua.dwavesys.com (quantun computing), malaria control (Epidemiology), etc.
- World Community Grid (WCG) : to introduce to you this platform here you have a clear presentation from Wikipedia : " WCG is an effort to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle scientific research projects that benefit humanity. Launched November 16, 2004, it is funded and operated by IBM® with client software currently available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and FreeBSD operating systems.
Using the idle time of computers around the world, World Community Grid's research projects have analyzed aspects of the human genome, HIV, dengue, muscular dystrophy, cancer, influenza, rice crop yields and clean energy." Among their projects you can find: Help Fight Childhood Cancer, Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy, Discovering Dengue Drugs Together, etc.
- Distributed.net : (the following text is copied from its own web siye) " distributed.net was the Internet's first general-purpose distributed computing project. Founded in 1997, our network has grown to include thousands of users around the world donating the power of their home computers to academic research and public-interest projects. Join us in this ground-breaking computing experience. We need your help...
It's very simple to participate in our challenges. You only need to download a small program, which will talk to our network and begin to process parts of the current challenges. The program uses only the computer's idle time, so when you want to use your computer, the client will automatically get out of your way. Plus, there's that cute little cow icon... " >>>>
- Folding at Home : The only goal of this project is to slayer what is still a mystery to scientist today that is the why and the how proteins gather together (assemble or folding) to execute their functions. This is a very important issue for Biology today and why this is so important is because when proteins don’t assemble correctly we've got diseases, like Alzheimer, Parkinson and cancer. So what you actually do when collaborating with this important project is helping to understand this kind of health problems. In fact, as you can read from their site: “You can help scientists studying these diseases by simply running a piece of software”. Note that with Folding@Home software you can also use, other that your computer at home, your Sony PlayStatio3@, helping to visualize proteins. See the video below and see this with your own eyes.
- Climateprediction.net : this project aims to create a very precise climate model, trying to understand where every little change could lead in the future by running thousands of time a model through volunteer computing power. This project is based on BOINC and is run primarily by the Oxford University of England. This is an unique opportunity to test and investigate our climate model a very varied number of scenarios. As can be read from its web site: "Hopefully, the experiment will give decision makers a better scientific basis for addressing one of the biggest potential global problems of the 21st century ".
- EON : This project, run by The University of Texas -at Austin, needs the computing power that only volunteer computing can offer in order to track the movement of atoms in time. There are some reaction changes, at an atomic level, that would take thousands of years to be simulated in a single powerful modern computer. So this project aims to calculate the long time dynamics of a given systems and that's why they call their project "distributed software for long time scale simulations of solids".
- Galaxy Zoo : " where you can help astronomers explore the Universe ". Galaxy Zoo aims to classify galaxies. Run by many universities, this project explores the deep space to get images of galaxies that need to be classified by colors, spiral direction and shapes. Images are obtained through the digital camera of the Apache Point Observatory's telescope (New Mexico, USA).
- LHC@home : This project uses BOINC framework. Volunteers aren't asked to use their computers to do computational work but only to help and support the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland Switzerland. As written in their web site: " is a volunteer computing program which enables you to contribute idle time on your computer to help physicists develop and exploit particle accelerators, such as CERN's Large Hadron Collider ". It's more about simulation but never using direct data from the accelerator itself.
- Electric Sheep : This project is about art. Digital abstract fractal art. " Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It's run by thousands of people all over the world, and can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep", the Electric Sheep comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Anyone watching one of these computers may vote for their favorite animations using the keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolves to please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit them to the gene pool. " See the following video just taste it.
" Incubated by Creative Commons, iCommons is an organization with a broad vision to develop a united global commons front by collaborating with open content, access to knowledge, open access publishing and free culture communities around the world. Using the annual iCommons Summit as the main driver of this vision, iCommons will feature projects that encourage collaboration across borders and communities, and promote the tools, models and practice that facilitate universal participation in the cultural and knowledge domains. "
Center
for the Study
of the Public
Domain at Duke
Law School (...) " Founded
in September of
2002, as part
of the school’s
wider intellectual
property program,
its mission is
to promote research
and scholarship
on the contributions
of the public
domain to speech,
culture, science
and innovation,
to promote debate
about the balance
needed in our
intellectual property
system and to
translate academic
research into
public policy
solutions. (...)
The Center is
supported in its
operation by a
generous founding
gift and by grants
from Foundations. "
OSLO (the
Open Sustainable Learning
Opportunity Research
Group) -the OSLO group
(...) " carries
out research and development
focused on increasing
access to educational
opportunity . Our
research areas include
pedagogical models,
instructional technologies,
licenses and legal
issues, learning technology
standards, and how
each of these can
be adapted or reinvented
to increase access
to educational opportunity. "
The
Public Library Of
Science (PLoS)
- " is
a nonprofit organization
of scientists and
physicians committed
to making the world's
scientific and medical
literature a public
resource. " -This
says everything
about this project
- " We
have assembled a
first-class professional
editorial team and
outstanding editorial
boards for each
of our journals.
Our first journal, PLoS
Biology,
launched in October
2003 and was recently
assigned an initial impact
factor of 13.9,
which places it
among the most highly
cited journals in
the life sciences.
Our other journals,
including PLoS
Medicine, PLoS
Computational Biology,
and PLoS
Genetics,
have garnered wide
support from scientists
and physicians and
coverage by international
media sources (see
news section).
We will launch PLoS
Pathogens in
September 2005 and PLoS
Clinical Trials in
early 2006. "
MIT's
Open Course Ware -
(MIT OCW) It's
a publication
of MIT course
materials - " a
free and open
educational resource
for faculty, students,
and self-learners
around the world.
OCW supports MIT's
mission to advance
knowledge and
education, and
serve the world
in the 21st century." Note
that some have
called the opening
of the MIT's material
to the public
the Big Bang in
the universe of
knowledge (...) " MIT
OCW Web site may
be used, copied,
distributed, translated,
and modified by
anyone, anywhere
in the world.
All that is required
of adopters of
the materials
is that the use
be non-commercial,
that the original
MIT faculty authors
receive attribution
if the materials
are republished
or reposted online,
and that adapters
openly share the
materials in the
same manner as
MIT OCW (...)
materials have
already been translated
into at least
10 different languages. "
O3
magazine" is
a free magazine
distributed electronically
in PDF format.
O3 is published
on a monthly basis.
The focus of O3
is on the use
of Free and Open
Source (FOSS)
software in Enterprise
Data Networking
environments.
Some articles
in O3 will introduce
open source solutions,
while some are
designed to demonstrate
how to integrate
open source solutions
with leading Enterprise
Data Networking
hardware from
a wide variety
of vendors. -
O3 is designed
for IT professionals
with current or
planned future
deployments involving
open source, or
those interested
in the cost saving
benefits of using
open source solutions
in an enterprise
environment. O3
should also appeal
to the small business
owner who is interested
in a strong, secure
and scalable IT
infrastructure
without incurring
high deployment
costs. "
The
Open Knowledge
Foundation -
Protecting and
Promoting Open
Knowledge in
a Digital Age.
Its core mission:
it works to
promote " the openness of
knowledge in
all its forms,
in the belief
that freer access
to information
will have far-reaching
social and commercial
benefits. In
particular,
we : promote
the idea of open
knowledge,
for example
by running a
series of forums. Instigate
and support projects related
to the creation
and distribution
of open knowledge. Campaign
against restrictions,
both legal and
non-legal, on
open knowledge.
See the Open
Knowledge Trail to
learn more. "
TheGNU
Project" was
launched in 1984
to develop a complete
UNIX like operating
system which is
free software:
the GNU system,
(GNU is a recursive
acronym for “GNU's
Not UNIX”;
it is pronounced “guh-noo,” “noo” being
like the American “new”).
Variants of the
GNU operating
system, which
use the kernel
Linux, are now
widely used; though
these systems
are often referred
to as “Linux”,
they are more
accurately called
GNU/Linux systems
(...) the principal
organizational
sponsor of the
GNU Project is The
Free Software
Foundation (FSF)."--see
below to know
about FSF.
The
Free Software Foundation (FSF)
- ["Free software
is a matter of liberty
not price. You should
think of "free" as
in "free speech".] " The
Free Software Foundation
(FSF), established
in 1985, is dedicated
to promoting computer
users' rights to
use, study, copy,
modify, and redistribute
computer programs.
The FSF promotes
the development
and use of free
software, particularly
the GNU operating
system, used widely
in its GNU/Linux
variant ."-NOTE
1: there
is also Free
Software Foundation
Europe" the
FSF Europe was launched
on March 10th 2001
and supports all
European aspects
of Free Software;
especially the GNU
Project. Also, we
provide an assistance
center for politicians,
lawyers and journalists
in order to secure
the legal, political
and social future
of Free Software. "-NOTE 2: there
is also Free
Software Foundation
India, an organization " committed
to advocating, promoting
and propagating the
use and development
of swatantra software
in India. "-NOTE
3: there
is also FSF
Latin America. " a
non-governmental
organization, non
for profit, funded
in the November 23rd
of 2005, seated in
Buenos Aires, Argentina. "
The
Digital Speech
Project -
this is a project
of the Free Software
Foundation (see
above). It fights
to protect people's
rights from laws
laws that threaten
many important
freedoms. " The
Digital Speech
Project fights
for the freedom
of all technology
users from legislative
technology control
measures (...)
and from industry
de-facto standards
that mandate similar
control measures
(...) We are one
of two national
organizations
working on this
issue. To our
knowledge, in
USA, the only
other organization
working on this
issue is the Electronic
Frontiers Foundation
(EFF) " (for
EFF see below).
Creative
Commons - " C.
C. is devoted to
expanding the range
of creative work
available for others
to build upon and
share." C.C.
is a project of
the OSLO research
group (see above).
Electronic
Frontier Foundation - " EFF
is a nonprofit group
of passionate people,
lawyers, volunteers,
and visionaries — working
to protect your
digital rights. " It
was founded in 1990
by Mitch Kapor,
John Gilmore and
John Perry Barlow. NOTE
1: there
is also Electronic
Frontier Norway
(EFN - Elektronisk
Forpost Norge),
founded in 1995,
also promotes the
use of open media
formats on the net
and open standards
for IT infrastructures. see
also Chilling
Effects Clearinghouse below.
Chilling
Effects Clearinghouse - " A
joint project
of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation
and Harvard, Stanford,
Berkeley, University
of San Francisco,
University of
Maine, George
Washington School
of Law, and Santa
Clara University
School of Law
clinics. Do you
know your online
rights? Have you
received a letter
asking you to
remove information
from a Web site
or to stop engaging
in an activity?
Are you concerned
about liability
for information
that someone else
posted to your
online forum?
If so, this site
is for you ."
The
Unicode Consortium - " is
a non-profit organization
founded to develop,
extend and promote
use of the Unicode
Standard, which
specifies the representation
of text in modern
software products
and standards (...)
The Unicode Consortium
actively develops
standards in the
area of internationalization
including defining
the behavior and
relationships between
Unicode characters."
World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- " was
created in October
1994 to lead the
World Wide Web
to its full potential
by developing
common protocols
that promote its
evolution and
ensure its interoperability.
W3C has around
400 Member organizations
from all over
the world and
has earned international
recognition for
its contributions
to the growth
of the Web (...)
As said above,
in October 1994,
Tim Berners-Lee,
inventor of the
Web, founded the
World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C)
at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Laboratory for
Computer Science
[MIT/LCS] in collaboration
with CERN, where
the Web originated,
with support from
DARPA and the
European Commission."
Free
Software Magazine " is
a new magazine entirely
dedicated to free
software. It contains
quality articles
relating to both
technical and non-technical
issues. All published
articles are released
under a free license
after their publication. " There
is a passionate
team working behind
this project. Reading
the mag # 00 is
a lesson of engagement,
passion and good
work.
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The
Public Library Of
Science
The
see
also Chilling
Effects Clearinghouse below.
