Anne Holohan is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and author of Networks of Democracy: Lessons from Kosovo for Afghanistan, Iraq and Beyond and Working Lives: The Irish in Britain.

• Contents: Preface; Introduction; The projects; Breaking down the walls: voluntary distributed computing and citizen science; Communities in voluntary distributed computing; Competition and co-opetition: the race to discover and win; Moderators, super-moderators, Beta testers and translators; Principal investigators and the scientific team; Volunteers; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

’Anyone interested in new models of scientific inquiry involving the citizen scientist, as well as new forms of collaborative ICT use, must reserve a place on their bookshelf (or digital device) for this compelling and path-breaking new study. To date, there has been little attention paid to the burgeoning cooperative endeavors known as voluntary distributed computing (VDC) projects. Equipped with rich empirical data, Holohan adds much to the ongoing conversation regarding ordinary individuals’ altruistic contributions to science and technology. This is a much-needed contribution to the rapidly expanding field of new media studies that links enduring sociological concerns to emergent phenomena.’ Laura Robinson, Santa Clara University, USA

Anne Holohan is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and author of Networks of Democracy: Lessons from Kosovo for Afghanistan, Iraq and Beyond and Working Lives: The Irish in Britain.

• Contents: Preface; Introduction; The projects; Breaking down the walls: voluntary distributed computing and citizen science; Communities in voluntary distributed computing; Competition and co-opetition: the race to discover and win; Moderators, super-moderators, Beta testers and translators; Principal investigators and the scientific team; Volunteers; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

’Anyone interested in new models of scientific inquiry involving the citizen scientist, as well as new forms of collaborative ICT use, must reserve a place on their bookshelf (or digital device) for this compelling and path-breaking new study. To date, there has been little attention paid to the burgeoning cooperative endeavors known as voluntary distributed computing (VDC) projects. Equipped with rich empirical data, Holohan adds much to the ongoing conversation regarding ordinary individuals’ altruistic contributions to science and technology. This is a much-needed contribution to the rapidly expanding field of new media studies that links enduring sociological concerns to emergent phenomena.’ Laura Robinson, Santa Clara University, USA

Anne Holohan is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and author of Networks of Democracy: Lessons from Kosovo for Afghanistan, Iraq and Beyond and Working Lives: The Irish in Britain.

• Contents: Preface; Introduction; The projects; Breaking down the walls: voluntary distributed computing and citizen science; Communities in voluntary distributed computing; Competition and co-opetition: the race to discover and win; Moderators, super-moderators, Beta testers and translators; Principal investigators and the scientific team; Volunteers; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

’Anyone interested in new models of scientific inquiry involving the citizen scientist, as well as new forms of collaborative ICT use, must reserve a place on their bookshelf (or digital device) for this compelling and path-breaking new study. To date, there has been little attention paid to the burgeoning cooperative endeavors known as voluntary distributed computing (VDC) projects. Equipped with rich empirical data, Holohan adds much to the ongoing conversation regarding ordinary individuals’ altruistic contributions to science and technology. This is a much-needed contribution to the rapidly expanding field of new media studies that links enduring sociological concerns to emergent phenomena.’ Laura Robinson, Santa Clara University, USA