Astra – One Platform for Disparate Scientific Computing Communities

As personal computers and Internet became widespread in mid-1990s, many scientists thought that a powerful public supercomputer can be built for research if we can just weave together people’s home computers. This people’s supercomputer can be used to find cures for dreadful diseases, such as, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer, Parkinson’s, Ebola, Zika, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, etc. Since it will be used to solve people’s problems, scientists thought, people would be very enthusiastic in offering their unused computing cycles and storage capacity for these humanitarian causes.

To educate and motivate people to donate their unused computing cycles, hundreds of online communities sprang up, such as, fightAIDS@HOME, ProteinFolding@HOME, Cosmology@HOME, Einstein@HOME, as illustrated in the Figure 1 below. These communities were often led by the scientists themselves or other dedicated leaders. However, overtime these project-specific communities have become silos in themselves with very little cross flow of ideas and information between them. Their project-specific websites built with 1990s web technology are not people friendly anymore. They force people to learn the nuances of each project team and present disparate user experiences. It is difficult for contributors to move from one project to another or to organize competitive games and collaborative endeavors.

The Astra team feels that over the last 20 years, enormous strides have been made in the social networking technology. And the time is ripe to bring these advances to the numerous Scientific Computing communities. To rebuild and energize Scientific Computing communities, Astra is building a comprehensive set of tools as illustrated in
the Figure 2 below. The readymade tools will allow leaders to build their communities very quickly without having to learn any web programming. They will be able to transform their passive communities into engaged communities curious about the latest advances in science and technology and eagerly sharing computing resources for their favorite causes. Moreover, members will be able to build their own personal pages to express their thoughts, experiences, and motivations. The Astra tools will empower leaders to build vibrant, mission-oriented communities with strong emotional bonds that offer their members Identity, Recognition, and Fulfillment.

In summary, Astra empowers people to do ‘Social Good’ while earning valuable Digital Currencies. Please visit www.GoAstra.net to learn more about the Astra project and subscribe to our mailing list to stay informed as we launch new communities