Contrary to what some Luddites say, some Internet users are looking for more than sex and money when they go online. Yes, there's more than spam and porn and sites like Blogcritics on the Internet — there are also projects where you can use your computer to do good deeds, to put your computer where your mouth and heart are. For example, my computer:
- Helps search for E.T.
- Assists researchers with their work on finding a cure for AIDS.
- Assists efforts to use proteins to fight cancer and HIV.
All three projects are forms of grid computing, which is also sometimes known as distributed computing.
Essentially the idea is this: your computer, through networking, can help to solve large-scale problems by participating in projects which utilize the combined resources of many computers to accomplish tasks that are too computationally intensive to be solved by one. The information can then be shared with project coordinators who will collect the information and give your computer more data to be crunched. And it works with both PCs and Macs.
SETI: Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
The most widely known of these projects is SETI. About a million people have downloaded software which allows their computers to participate in this giant science experiment where computers examine and analyze information from radio telescopes. At certain intervals the computer will submit the information analyzed and be given a new packet of information to examine. This can all be set to occur automatically without any needed work or skills by the computer user.
Most people have an individual account but SETI allows you to work together in teams. I usually work on teams with a private community to which I belong. Working together as a team has three advantages: It can spark some competition for a good cause, lead to more community, and is good public relations.
Last year SETI changed its software to a site that is more cumbersome and has its detractors. I used to run SETI for another team and stopped running SETI after it switched programs. But a sense of curiosity (what if the site helps to find a species and I wasn’t part of the effort?) and guilt (if the project fails and I did not help, I’d feel terrible) helped spark me to rejoin the effort.
There is a good benefit to SETI’s new software, BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing). Several other projects besides SETI@home are using BOINC. BOINC lets you participate in more than one project, and it lets you specify what fraction of your computer time should go to each project.
Article comments
1 - PoizonMyst
Cool article dude .... many of these projects could do with some extra computers on the grid.
I am attached to the SETI (for over three years), Einstein, LHC, and QMC networks, while my hubby runs Rosetta and SETI.
My daughters are interested in running Einstein, while my son has been fascinated by Rosetta ... so we will soon setup their computers to chunk through a few work units too.
These projects certainly make great screensavers and you can be assured that your computer isnt just burning up electricity for no reason when, like my family, the machines are never switched off. So, even if understanding the technicalities of the processes may be somewhat out of reach, they sure look good.
2 - Scott Butki
Thanks a lot. Just email me if you want to join the Blogcritics teams.
3 - A.L. Harper
Interesting.
4 - Matthew Milam
It's interesting how back-to-basics the whole thing is -- sorta makes the doing it for world change ideal of the internet look good again.
5 - Scott Butki
Thanks, A.L. and Matthew.
Incidentally, the easiest way to join the unofficial Blogcritics teams is through the BOINC site.
This is how you do that:
1. After you download a program at BOINC there will be a BOINC Manager icon.
2. Click on that icon and under tools click on "attach to another project"
3. Prompts will show you what to do next, asking you what project you want to join. You type in the Web address for the project you wan to add.
The team name for each of the three is Blogcritics
Or just email me.
6 - Scott Butki
I was hoping this would prove more popular than it has.
Oh well - was worth a try.
7 - Scott Butki
Folding at Home ported to the Sony Playstation 3!
8 - Scott Butki
Just reloaded these programs.