| | 1 | = BOINC Basics: support for working communities = |
| | 2 | |
| | 3 | (Design document - not implemented yet) |
| | 4 | |
| | 5 | This document describes ''BOINC Basics'', |
| | 6 | an infrastructure for web-based "working communities", |
| | 7 | i.e. people who are trying to accomplish something together. |
| | 8 | Boinc Basics provides mechanisms for user accounts, |
| | 9 | grouping of users, and communication among users. |
| | 10 | |
| | 11 | BOINC Basics provides a basis for three 'activities': |
| | 12 | |
| | 13 | * BOINC - volunteer computing |
| | 14 | * BOSSA - distributed thinking |
| | 15 | * BOLT - Web-based learning |
| | 16 | |
| | 17 | A ''project'' is an organization that does one or more |
| | 18 | of these activities, and runs the BOINC Basics software on a server. |
| | 19 | A project can add activities without requiring new user registration. |
| | 20 | |
| | 21 | == Accounts == |
| | 22 | |
| | 23 | Users (i.e. people in the working community) create '''accounts'''. |
| | 24 | Each account is identified by an email address and password. |
| | 25 | Passwords are stored only in a hashed form, reducing security risks. |
| | 26 | |
| | 27 | An account can have an associated '''profile''', |
| | 28 | in which the user can provide a picture and |
| | 29 | text describing themselves, or their interest in the project or activity. |
| | 30 | |
| | 31 | An account can have an associated avatar - |
| | 32 | a small image used to represent the user. |
| | 33 | |
| | 34 | An account can be granted ''credit'' by the project. |
| | 35 | BOINC Basics keeps track of the account's total credit, |
| | 36 | and its average credit (exponentially smoothed with a 1-week half-life). |
| | 37 | |
| | 38 | == Communication mechanisms == |
| | 39 | |
| | 40 | === Message boards === |
| | 41 | |
| | 42 | BOINC Basics provides '''message boards'''. |
| | 43 | Message boards consist of 'forums', |
| | 44 | each one having a particular topic. |
| | 45 | Each forum consists of a set of 'threads', |
| | 46 | and each thread consists of a set of 'posts'. |
| | 47 | |
| | 48 | The message board software |
| | 49 | A project can provide a fixed set of forums. |
| | 50 | === Private messages === |
| | 51 | |
| | 52 | === RSS feeds === |
| | 53 | |
| | 54 | == Groups == |
| | 55 | |