1. Crowdsourcing : using the online puzzlegameFoldit to design new antiretroviral drugs1. Introduction to crowdsourcing2. FOLDIT3. Impact and implications4. Other examples of crowdsourcing5. DiscussionBy Bronagh Carey, 11279621

2. What is CROWDSOURCING ?Crowdsourcing is the act ofsourcing tasks traditionallyperformed by specificindividuals to an undefinedlarge group of people orcommunity (crowd) through anopen call. 3. Foldit is an online experimental puzzle video game about protein foldingdeveloped as a collaboration between the University of Washingtondepartments of Computer Science and Engineering and Biochemistry. The designers were: Seth Cooper, Adrien Treuille, Janos Barbero, ZoranPopvic, David Baker, David Salesin 4. The software presents an image of the protein and the player manipulates the image according to set of toolsThe tools are based on physics: e.g opposite charges attract etcThe human brain is better attuned to analysing 3D structuresPlayers dont have to a have a scientific background any age can playThe better the fold the more points they get 5. Gamers share and join groups and share best results Winning protein designs are analysed in Bakers laband tested in petri dishes Proteins are part of the disease, they are also part ofthe cure Knowing the structure of proteins is the key tocreating drugs to combat them 6. Foldit uses the human brain to predict folds within protein structures. 7. In 2011 Scientist Mariusz Jaskolski of A. MickiewiczUniversity in Poland approached David Baker to askFOLDIT players to map the crystal structure of M-PMVretroviral protease - basically the protein involved inthe HIV virus600 players from 41 teams submitted more than 1.25million solutions5,000 of the best answers were analysedThe group the Contenders were able to produce anaccurate model of the protein structureCracking this enzyme provides new insights for thedesign of antiretroviral drugs 8. Scientists were trying to solve this for over 10 years, Gamers were able to do it within 10 days by playing the foldit game. 1Its kind of an unprecedented case of using computing non-specialists to solve a longstanding scientific problem21.Veverka, V. et al. J. Mol. Biol. 333, 771780 (2003).2. Alexander Wlodawer, chief of the Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratoryat the National Cancer Institute. 9. distinct paradigm shift in the way Science is being conducted ordinary people play the game and eventually be candidates for winning the Nobel Prize gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before People have spatial reasoning skills, something computers are not yet good at Michael Nielsen author of Reinventing Discovery believes there is a major paradigm shift on how Scientific discoveries are being made, publically funded science should be open science 10. Boinc - Berkeley Open Infrastructure for NetworkComputingThe intent of BOINC is to make it possible forresearchers to tap into the enormous processingpower of personal computers around the world. FightAids@home Rosetta@Home Fold@Home 11. http://www.openstreetmap.org/Galaxy Zoo -http://www.galaxyzoo.org/ 12. There are ethical, social, and economic implications of crowdsourcing.Pros ConsThousands of non scientific people Invasion of privacycan help further discoveries inScienceSatisfaction in joining crowdWiki leaks - ethicsscouring projectsVideo games may help lives Added costCreates a culture of sharing No written contracts Projects may fail