GridTalk upgrades European grid computing communications

In addition to a new mission dedicated to deciphering grid policy, GridTalk will contribute to the growth of rapidly expanding online newsletter International Science Grid This Week and revamp the widely acclaimed GridCafé, a website produced in 2003 and nominated for Pirelli International and Webby awards.

Sarah Pearce, GridTalk project manager, says this coordinated approach is essential to the ongoing success of European grid computing efforts.

“The impact of grids has rapidly expanded beyond that which can be disseminated by individual groups,” Pearce said. “Grid initiatives across Europe are contributing to new scientific results and changing the way science is done. The GridTalk team will co-ordinate the communication of these results, ensuring that grid-enabled scientific successes are reported widely in print and online.”

Like grid computing itself, GridTalk combines the resources of several distributed partners: Queen Mary University of London in the UK, CERN in Switzerland, and APO, a web design company based in France. And like grid computing, GridTalk will reach out to distributed audiences, benefiting scientists and the public as well as those in government and industry.

“Ordinary people are benefiting from grid-enabled discoveries in health, chemistry, biology and more,” said Pearce. “GridTalk will show this human face of grid computing. We’re going to put grid computing firmly in the spotlight, showcasing the behind-the-scenes computing that is making these new discoveries possible.”

As well as outreach across Europe, GridTalk will co-ordinate activities with international partners, both in areas with well-established grid infrastructures such as the U.S., and in developing areas such as Latin America and Asia. International Science Grid This Week, which is co-funded with Open Science Grid in the U.S., has already started this process.

More information:

GridTalk is co-funded by the European Commission under its 7th Framework Programme.

The GridCafé website was produced by CERN in 2003 to inform the public about grids and has been nominated for Pirelli International and Webby awards. GridTalk will maintain and extend the GridCafé website, keeping it at the cutting edge of grid dissemination. It will also continue the ‘Gridcast’ project, where scientists at grid events blog about their experiences. A new goal will be to produce a ‘GridGuide’, a map of the grid that gives a human face to the infrastructure, allowing users to listen to podcasts from grid sites worldwide and watch interviews with researchers. Audiences will be able to access an interactive visual demonstration of what grids are doing and who is using them.

International Science Grid This Week:

International Science Grid This Week is a successful electronic newsletter, published weekly, which informs over three thousand subscribers in one hundred countries about scientific grid computing. iSGTW was formed as a joint project between Open Science Grid in the U.S. (http://www.opensciencegrid.org/) and EGEE in Europe (http://www.eu-egee.org/). GridTalk will allow iSGTW to cover more European grid projects and to expand its resources section, providing information and support for scientists working with grids or considering becoming involved.

Grid policy outreach

Working with Europe’s e-infrastructure projects, GridTalk will produce articles and briefings written in jargon-free language that provide timely summaries of policy-oriented reports or discussion of key issues in grid computing. The outputs will target non-technical policy makers in government and industry, scientists and the public.

Media Contact:
Dan Drollette
Editor – International Science Grid This Week
dan.drollette@isgtw.org
Phone: +41 (0)22 76 76116
Mobile: +41 (0) 76 487 0486