Track G: Platforms for social and community involvement/engagement

The internet, together with other advances in ICT such as the increased take-up of smart mobile devices, is enabling a new era of community engagement. In science, the application of volunteer computing is providing examples of engagement in which members of the public can contribute to scientific advances of social importance. Examples include modelling climate change (ClimatePrediction.net), developing drugs for AIDS (FightAids@home), or simulating the spread of malaria (MalariaControl.net). The participatory ecosystem is becoming still wider with projects such as GalaxyZoo, in which volunteers contribute their "thinking" rather than their computers, and global initiatives to broaden take-up such as Africa@home and Asia@home.