Not so passive: engagement and learning in Volunteer Computing projects

Abstract

This paper focuses on an unexplored dimension of Citizen Science: the potential of Volunteer Computing (VC) for informal learning. VC has been one of the most popular forms of Citizen Science since its beginnings in 1997, when the first VC platforms, such as SETI@home, were created. Participation in VC is based on volunteers donating their idle computer resources to contribute to large-scale scientific research. So far, this has often been considered as a rather passive form of participation, compared to other online Citizen Science (or citizen cyberscience) projects, since volunteers are not involved in active data collection, data analysis or project definition. In this paper we present our research, which was conducted in 2013-2014 with the BOINC Community "Alliance Francophone", and demonstrate that some of the volunteers in Distributed Computing research projects are not at all passive. We show that the dynamism of BOINC greatly relies on community-led gamification and that participation may lead to important learning outcomes. These include extending one's scientific interests and network of people who share similar interests, and progressing within the fields of communication, computing and Internet literacy. Also, as demonstrated by our recent ILICS survey research (2015), these latest learning outcomes are experienced by all categories of participants according to their level of engagement irrespective of their level of formal education, which is an interesting finding for lifelong education policies. Altogether, VC projects engage volunteers emotionally, far beyond the simple use of their computer time and power, and may have a personal and educational value. For a minority of very active volunteers, these projects become real "Windows of Opportunity" for making friends, gaining skills and benefiting from new experiences, which would not easily happen otherwise in their normal everyday environment.

Patterns of Participation and Motivation in Folding@home: The Contribution of Hardware Enthusiasts and Overclockers

“…While differences in output have been observed in previous work (Nov et al 2010;Darch and Caruso 2010), there has been no focus on (or even an identification of) the contribution of overclockers. Kloetzer et al (2016) note the different project roles that can emerge for participants and opportunities for learning, both of which also have been observed in Folding@home. It is of interest that the community of overclockers has not been directly referred to in previous work, and this study (to my knowledge) is the first to explore and acknowledge the contribution of this group to DC in any detail.…”

“…One overclocker described himself as an "eternal student of technology." Such feedback suggests that as observed in the work of Kloetzer et al (2016), learning about new technology is a stimulus for participation and may sustain participation over many months or years.…”

“…Four published studies and two project surveys have provided some information about the characteristics of DC participants (Estrada et al 2013;Holohan and Garg 2005;Kloetzer et al 2016;Krebs 2010;SETI@home, 2006;World Community Grid 2013). These are summarised in Table 1.…”

“…Finally, a recent study by Kloetzer et al (2016) explored engagement and learning in the Alliance Francophone DC community and found that an interest in science and computing can motivate participation, and that opportunities for learning can lead to sustained participation. This study also found that a small group of participants was involved in other project tasks such as managing community forums, promoting the project, or preparing FAQs for new users.…”

Creativity and Learning in Citizen Cyberscience – Lessons from the Citizen Cyberlab Summit

“…Of particular importance here is the observation that was made from ILICS study, suggesting that VC projects allow less educated volunteers to join, yet educational potential of such projects seems to differ little from the other types of CS (see also Kloetzer, et al (2016) …”