Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

CPU cycles and citizens: A study of the distributed computing communities Seti@home and Folding@home

Holmberg, Gustav LU (2008) PCST-10 conference in Malmö/Copenhagen
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Public understanding of science, user communities
conference name
PCST-10 conference in Malmö/Copenhagen
conference dates
0001-01-02
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Conference presentation at the PCST-10 conference in Malmö/Copenhagen 2008. Abstract: Computer simulation and large-scale data analysis used to be the province of scientists proper. Distributed computing is a kind of public engagement with science that involves large numbers of participants. The worldwide user-base of citizens interested in donating computer power to protein science and bioastronomy are modern examples of the mutual interaction between scientists and nonscientists. This paper will look into questions such as why people decide to collaborate in the distributed computing projects and analyze the discourse surrounding bioastronomy and proteomics. It will look at how ideas about protein dynamics and bioastronomy are articulated through various participatory platforms: weblogs, computer fora, wikis, YouTube videos and the Folding@home software. The paper also analyses the flow of skills from subsets of the user pool into the core of the distributed computing project, suggesting that a group of users have knowledge about the intricacies of software technologies that have been useful in the evolution of the Folding@home project.
id
0b1db25a-5da1-4110-9d5e-677b15cb3694 (old id 1367349)
alternative location
http://pcst-10.org/
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 14:11:57
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:18:53
@misc{0b1db25a-5da1-4110-9d5e-677b15cb3694,
  author       = {{Holmberg, Gustav}},
  keywords     = {{Public understanding of science; user communities}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{CPU cycles and citizens: A study of the distributed computing communities Seti@home and Folding@home}},
  url          = {{http://pcst-10.org/}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}