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Michael Weber - Rechenkraft.net - From Volunteers to Scientists

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CitizenCyberlab
CitizenCyberlab

Michael Weber presenting Rechenkraft.net - From Volunteers to Scientists, at the Citizen Cyberlab Summit, 17-18 September 2015, University of Geneva (UNIGE).

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Rechenkraft.net – From Volunteers to Scientists Citizen Cyberlab Summit, Geneva/Switzerland, Sept. 17th 2015 Dr. Michael H.W. Weber President, Rechenkraft.net e.V. Guest Scientist, Botanical Garden of Philipps-University of Marburg / Germany
Early 2001: Initial website with a forum & wiki… …presenting a complete collection of all available distributed computing projects with detailed descriptions.
...but what is distributed computing?
Software – Clients
Software – Statistics & Monitor Programs
Rechenkraft.net – Party 2002 & 2003
...in silico Monsters
...you could say: initially it was a bit like being part of some sort of ELECTRONIC SPORTS LEAGUE competition which exists mainly in order to enable underfunded science projects. 
...but then we realized that, for various reasons, a lot of scientists were not able to put their computational project idea into practice, even if they had the funds – and that was the birth of YOYO@HOME:
Yoyo@home… …an umbrella project allowing us to incorporate anybody‘s scientific applications in BOINC. For free.
Presentations at Exhibitions & Conferences • Geiger-Müller counter plus „Uranglas“ • Quake Catcher Network sensor • diverse ARM development boards • beamer showing screen savers from DC projects
Among many activities, participating in an HIV- combating project as official partner of the World AIDS day organizers in 2013 once again got us some local press coverage… …ultimately leading to the offering of space in one of our town‘s buildings:
[hsmr], the Hackspace Marburg was born… With space and tools at hand… a lot of things become possible…
A universal multi- formfactor mainboard cluster rack… …accomodates ATX, µATX, Mini-ITX Mainboards plus GPUs and also embedded ARM systems such as the NVIDIA Jetson Tegra K1 or Hardkernel‘s ODROIDs.
Using our computer network knowledge… …within a few days, we were able to setup free WLAN in the local refugee camp.
Up-to-date ARM development hardware… …is available in our Hackspace and can be accessed via SSH – just contact us in case you need access for client develoment. • NVIDIA Jetson Tegra K1 (ARM Cortex-A15, NVIDIA Kepler GPU, 192 CUDA cores) • ODROID-X2/U2/U3/XU/XU3/XU4
...but wait a minute – if we can turn other people’s scientific ideas into BOINC projects, then why don’t we setup a project entirely of our own? Well, that was the birth of RNA WORLD:
RNA World… …our first own project which is a bioinformatic platform to tackle open questions in RNA biology.
...wasn’t there some sort of glitch?  Well, some of the tasks turned out to run for a few months generating results archives which, in compressed form, yielded files of 50 GB in size. Once unpacked (which was a trouble on its own), we were lucky and got small files – but then again in the ten’s of thousands! ...so we learned one thing or two about certain limitations of standard operating systems. 
Still a number of groundbreaking innovations were created as well... ...such as the first public job submission interfaces available in distributed computing! 
Setup of a Laboratory… …to experimentally verify results generated by the RNA World project… but also to do other interesting things…
...e.g. finding a cure for the fireblight disease of some plants by means of natural bacteriophages... ...and the development of a universal bacteriophage construction kit potentially applicable even for human bacterial diseases in a synthetic biology approach that involves microfluidics-based genome engineering!
In progress: Fireblight reporter – Online-Portal • training module to recognize the symptoms • photos & GPS data of potential detection sites are uploaded • images of other participants are judged by community members • plant material becomes available • direct coupling of information to governmental agencies possible
In progress: Arnika Mapper – Online-Portal • training module to recognize the plant • photos & GPS data of potential detection sites are uploaded • images of other participants are judged by community members • plant material for cultivation becomes available
...if on top of all this, some funding would be available... 
BMBF Citizen Science Strategy 2020… …we helped to develop this program over a period of more than a year. A few of our suggestions • funding should be accessible to layman • public Government- funded maker spaces in every larger city • citizen  science interface bureau in every university
Thank you – Any questions, please?

More Related Content

Michael Weber - Rechenkraft.net - From Volunteers to Scientists

  • 1. Rechenkraft.net – From Volunteers to Scientists Citizen Cyberlab Summit, Geneva/Switzerland, Sept. 17th 2015 Dr. Michael H.W. Weber President, Rechenkraft.net e.V. Guest Scientist, Botanical Garden of Philipps-University of Marburg / Germany
  • 2. Early 2001: Initial website with a forum & wiki… …presenting a complete collection of all available distributed computing projects with detailed descriptions.
  • 3. ...but what is distributed computing?
  • 5. Software – Statistics & Monitor Programs
  • 8. ...you could say: initially it was a bit like being part of some sort of ELECTRONIC SPORTS LEAGUE competition which exists mainly in order to enable underfunded science projects. 
  • 9. ...but then we realized that, for various reasons, a lot of scientists were not able to put their computational project idea into practice, even if they had the funds – and that was the birth of YOYO@HOME:
  • 10. Yoyo@home… …an umbrella project allowing us to incorporate anybody‘s scientific applications in BOINC. For free.
  • 11. Presentations at Exhibitions & Conferences • Geiger-Müller counter plus „Uranglas“ • Quake Catcher Network sensor • diverse ARM development boards • beamer showing screen savers from DC projects
  • 12. Among many activities, participating in an HIV- combating project as official partner of the World AIDS day organizers in 2013 once again got us some local press coverage… …ultimately leading to the offering of space in one of our town‘s buildings:
  • 13. [hsmr], the Hackspace Marburg was born… With space and tools at hand… a lot of things become possible…
  • 14. A universal multi- formfactor mainboard cluster rack… …accomodates ATX, µATX, Mini-ITX Mainboards plus GPUs and also embedded ARM systems such as the NVIDIA Jetson Tegra K1 or Hardkernel‘s ODROIDs.
  • 15. Using our computer network knowledge… …within a few days, we were able to setup free WLAN in the local refugee camp.
  • 16. Up-to-date ARM development hardware… …is available in our Hackspace and can be accessed via SSH – just contact us in case you need access for client develoment. • NVIDIA Jetson Tegra K1 (ARM Cortex-A15, NVIDIA Kepler GPU, 192 CUDA cores) • ODROID-X2/U2/U3/XU/XU3/XU4
  • 17. ...but wait a minute – if we can turn other people’s scientific ideas into BOINC projects, then why don’t we setup a project entirely of our own? Well, that was the birth of RNA WORLD:
  • 18. RNA World… …our first own project which is a bioinformatic platform to tackle open questions in RNA biology.
  • 19. ...wasn’t there some sort of glitch?  Well, some of the tasks turned out to run for a few months generating results archives which, in compressed form, yielded files of 50 GB in size. Once unpacked (which was a trouble on its own), we were lucky and got small files – but then again in the ten’s of thousands! ...so we learned one thing or two about certain limitations of standard operating systems. 
  • 20. Still a number of groundbreaking innovations were created as well... ...such as the first public job submission interfaces available in distributed computing! 
  • 21. Setup of a Laboratory… …to experimentally verify results generated by the RNA World project… but also to do other interesting things…
  • 22. ...e.g. finding a cure for the fireblight disease of some plants by means of natural bacteriophages... ...and the development of a universal bacteriophage construction kit potentially applicable even for human bacterial diseases in a synthetic biology approach that involves microfluidics-based genome engineering!
  • 23. In progress: Fireblight reporter – Online-Portal • training module to recognize the symptoms • photos & GPS data of potential detection sites are uploaded • images of other participants are judged by community members • plant material becomes available • direct coupling of information to governmental agencies possible
  • 24. In progress: Arnika Mapper – Online-Portal • training module to recognize the plant • photos & GPS data of potential detection sites are uploaded • images of other participants are judged by community members • plant material for cultivation becomes available
  • 25. ...if on top of all this, some funding would be available... 
  • 26. BMBF Citizen Science Strategy 2020… …we helped to develop this program over a period of more than a year. A few of our suggestions • funding should be accessible to layman • public Government- funded maker spaces in every larger city • citizen  science interface bureau in every university
  • 27. Thank you – Any questions, please?