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Ask HN: Volunteer opportunities in science for software engineers?

by jessehorne on 12/30/23, 4:21 PM with 3 comments

I'd like to volunteer my time to something useful. I've got around 8 years of software dev experience, most of it being on the backend. I've also got a ton of free time due to being in between jobs.

I'd like to find something to do with astronomy or space in general but figured it might be better to be less specific in case something interesting comes up. I'd love to hear about any projects going on that need developers that are pushing for scientific progress in any field as long as I can get up to speed enough to contribute in a reasonable amount of time. :-)

I can commit to at least 10 hours a week. More if I find it super duper interesting.

by defrost on 1/1/24, 12:16 AM
Fireballs in the Sky is an Australian citizen science program that invites people around the world to learn about fireball and meteorite science that began with the research of the Desert Fireball Network and has since expanded into the Global Fireball Observatory, a multi-institutional collaboration, with partner networks around the world.
https://fireballsinthesky.com.au/
https://dfn.gfo.rocks/
https://gfo.rocks/
As projects go this has core devices; home camera tubes that recognise paths in the sky and pool these to improve location finding, forums for people collaboration, drone searching, vehicle software (quad bike, cars) for grid searching.
The end goal is finding rocks - ideally big rocks that are older than the earth itself ..
Report a fireball: https://fireballs.imo.net/members/imo/report_intro
by Gooblebrai on 12/31/23, 10:56 AM
Let me know if your find anything interesting. I'm also quite keen on contributing to science
by sargstuff on 1/1/24, 12:07 AM
Mix and match one's own take on clips/tidbits from random search engine results[a][b] to 'gnarfle the [tex] garthok'[snl][tex]
Put all the software engineering discipline/experience towards a diy tool for more creative/interactive instruction on learning L-systems & APL without a spreadsheet grid!
Enable a new way to envision/do calculus exercises.[0][1][2][3][4] aka think the equation, see the equation, em(c*c) the equation (projector or 3d printing)
sdiff/ripgrep what absorbed in class few days later with what 'think' remember and have chatgpt explain where the gaps are!
Ah, guess not a diy thing till OS on DB[register] is ported for use with modern take on magnetic core memory[core1][core2].
So for now, just a possible irl envisioning of 'the matrix' concepts in textile as spacesuit wearable/portable fully self contained data warehouse.
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[a] : http://www.technovelgy.com/
[b] : https://www.creativeapplications.net/
[snl] : https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gnarfle%20th...
[tex] : https://tikz.dev/
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[0] : "The Hybrid Artisans: A Case Study in Smart Tools" (2014) : https://amitz.co/ewExternalFiles/ToCHI_FreeD.pdf /
[1] : "Portable, non-invasive, mind-reading AI turns thoughts into text" https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1010811
[2] : https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-convert-any-text-into-...
[3] : https://github.com/VikParuchuri/texify (Removes the extra brain to hand step in process https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39391080/extracting-hand... and/or make Minority report hand interface obsolete)
[4] : https://wherobots.com/havasu-a-table-format-for-spatial-attr...
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[register] : https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/26/michael_stonebraker_f...
[core1] : magnetic core memory : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory [core2] : '21st century' core memory : "Smart textile fiber places conductivity and flexibility side-by-side" : https://newatlas.com/materials/smart-fabric-fiber-conductivi...