Fold It

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Cs Portal > List of citizen science projects > Fold It - (2013/12/20)

THIS PAGE DESCRIBE A CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

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IDENTIFICATION

Participant's homepage

Infrastructure:
Developed with: Citizen science custom software

Start date : 2008/05/08

Beta start date : 2008/12/12
End date : Still open.

Subject

Natural sciences > Biochemistry (biology/medicine/neuroscience)
Others in the same subject areas: Air Quality with Biomarkers, Andromeda Project, Bat detective, Budburst... further results
Others projects about biology/medicine/neuroscience: Cell Slider, Eterna, EyeWire, Worm Watch Lab

⇳ Description Fold It is a computer game enabling volonteers to contribute to biochemistry research by resolving proteins puzzles. The game is part of an experimental research project, and is developed by the University of Washington's Center for Game Science in collaboration with the UW Department of Biochemistry. ➠ Purpose Identify the structural configuration of natural proteins to study and understand proteins better. ? Research question "As described above, knowing the structure of a protein is key to understanding how it works and to targeting it with drugs. A small protein can consist of 100 amino acids, [[Has research question::while some human proteins can be huge (1000 amino acids). The number of different ways even a small protein can fold is astronomical because there are so many degrees of freedom." from official project website]]

TEAM

MAIN TEAM LOCATION

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University of Washington

Project team page http://fold.it/portal/info/credits Leader: David Baker Institution: University of Washington's Center for Game Science Partner institutions: UW Department of Biochemistry, UW Center for Game Science, UW Department of Computer Science and Engineering Contact: Not explicitely listed http://fold.it/portal/feedback or https://twitter.com/foldit

USER TASKS

CONTRIBUTION TYPE: data analysis
PARTICIPATION TYPOLOGY: distributed intelligence

GAMING GENRE Puzzle
GAMING ELEMENTS: NONE

COMPUTING

THINKING

SENSING

GAMING

◉ Tasks description

⤯ Interaction with objects

▣ Interface

Data type to manipulate: 3D manipulation
interface enjoyment: somewhat cool/attractive
Interface usability:

GUIDANCE

Tutorial: ✓
Peer to peer guidance: ✓
Training sequence: Somewhat

FEEDBACK ON

Individual performance: ✓
Collective performance: ✓
Research progress: Somewhat

❂ Feedback and guidance description

COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY TOOLS

Communication: website, blog, forum, wiki, other
Social Network: Twitter, Facebook
Member profiles:: minimal
Member profile elements: photo, personal interests, badges, activity metrics, other

NEWS & EVENTS

Main news site: http://fold.it/portal/blog
Frequency of project news updates: weekly
Type of events: other
Frequency of events : 5

⏣ Community description

Community size (volounteers based) 6398
Role:
Interaction form: Blog Comments and Twitter
Has official community manager(s): maybe
Has team work yes
Other: Forum fairly active.
Community led additions:

Other information

PROJECT[edit source]

Url:http://fold.it/portal/
Start date: 2008/05/08
End date: Still open

TEAM[edit source]

Official team page:http://fold.it/portal/info/credits
Leader: David Baker
Institution: University of Washington's Center for Game Science
Partner institutions: UW Department of Biochemistry, UW Center for Game Science, UW Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Contact: http://fold.it/portal/feedback or https://twitter.com/foldit
Main location: University of Washington

PROJECT DEFINITION[edit source]

Subject[edit source]

Natural sciences > Biochemistry (biology/medicine/neuroscience)

Description[edit source]

Fold It is a computer game enabling volonteers to contribute to biochemistry research by resolving proteins puzzles. The game is part of an experimental research project, and is developed by the University of Washington's Center for Game Science in collaboration with the UW Department of Biochemistry.

Purpose.[edit source]

Identify the structural configuration of natural proteins to study and understand proteins better.

Research question.[edit source]

"As described above, knowing the structure of a protein is key to understanding how it works and to targeting it with drugs. A small protein can consist of 100 amino acids, while some human proteins can be huge (1000 amino acids). The number of different ways even a small protein can fold is astronomical because there are so many degrees of freedom." from official project website

ABOUT PARTICIPANT TASKS[edit source]

.[edit source]

Grey typology

Participation typology

Contribution type:


Computing:	NO	Thinking:	NO
Sensing:	NO	Gaming:	YES

Crowdsourcing	☐	Distributed intelligence	☑
Participatory science	☐	Extreme citizen science	☐
Science outreach	☐

Data collection	☐
Data analysis	☑
Data interpretation	☐--------

Gaming

Genre: puzzle

Gaming elements: achievements, score boards, challenges

Interface

Data type to manipulate: 3D manipulation

interface enjoyment: somewhat cool/attractive
Interface usability:

Member profiles::minimal
Member profile elements: photo, personal interests, badges, activity metrics, other

ABOUT GUIDANCE AND FEEDBACK[edit source]

Guidance

Feedback on

Tutorial and documentation:	YES
Training sequence:	SOMEWHAT
Peer to peer guidance:	YES

individual performance:	YES
collective performance:	YES
research progress:	Somewhat

.[edit source]

COMMUNITY[edit source]

Tools	News & Events
Communication: website, blog, forum, wiki, other Social Network: Twitter, Facebook	Main news site: http://fold.it/portal/blog Frequency of project news updates: weekly Type of events: other Frequency of events : 5
Community description
Community size (volounteers based): 6398 Role: Interaction form:Blog Comments and Twitter Has official community manager(s): maybe Has team work yes

Other information about community: Forum fairly active.
Community led additions:

OTHER PROJECT INFORMATION[edit source]

...

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY