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Published on Wednesday, 24 March 2010 07:26

Our website is powered by the HUBzero® software, a UC San Diego project. HUBzero was specifically designed to help a scientific community share resources and work together with one another. Users can upload their own content--including tutorials, courses, publications, and animations--and share them with the rest of the community. But each hub is more than just a repository of information. It is a place where researchers and educators can collaborate in private spaces to build simulation/modeling tools, gather datasets, and share them online. Users can launch computations and view results with an ordinary web browser--without having to download, compile, or install any code. The tools they access are not just web forms, but powerful graphical tools that support visualization and comparison of results.

How Does a Hub Differ From a Web Site?

At its core, a hub is a web site built with many familiar open source packages--the Linux operating system, an Apache web server, a MySQL database, PHP web scripting, and the Joomla content management system. The HUBzero software builds upon that infrastructure to create an environment in which researchers, educators, and students can access simulation tools and share information. Specifically, we define a "hub" as a web-based collaboration environment with the following features:

• Interactive simulation tools, hosted on the hub cluster and delivered to your browser
• Simulation tool development area, including source code control and bug tracking
• Videos and other supporting media for classes, tutorials, and documentation
• Groups and projects for private collaboration
• Mechanism for uploading and sharing resources
• 5-star ratings and user feedback for resources
• User support area, with question-and-answer forum
• Statistics about users and usage patterns

You can use this software to start a hub for your own scientific community. Join others in the HUBzero Foundation and help to develop the platform. Visit HUBzero.org to learn more.