Hmmmmmmmm?

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phrygian
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:17 am

Hmmmmmmmm?

Post by phrygian »

I've just started project Stardust and completed one VM, and three things immediately struck me as being odd.

1. In my first VM, I spotted one track. What happens if there is more than one track?

Therefore, why is there no mechanism for spotting more than one track? This is the real world here, and I'd be floored to find out that when the project is finally completed, that the universe just happened to orchestrate that there be exactly one particle for every VM that was viewed.

2. As soon as I identified a track, my performance rating immediately said that I scored one correctly. How does the system know that I found one? Shouldn't my findings be reviewed and verified first (that's what the tutorial said would happen)?

And if this is a repeat VM, then I have better things to do with my time than to go over VM's that have already been reviewed. If the project needs our help, and there are millions of VM’s that need viewing, then stop wasting everyone's time and let us get on with it.

3. Why is there no Contact Information anywhere for this project. This is strange in itself.

I do not like posting on forums, as they are generally not viewed by the project admins. In this particular case, I was not looking for reply’s from other users (they’re always welcome, of course). What I want is a response from a project contact for concern #1, as I believe that this is a very valid concern.

Is this a legit/real project, or is this just another time-waster on the Net that someone came up with? I would like to know before I continue viewing the VM's. If this is a valid project on the other hand, then I have no problem contributing some of my time for what I would consider to be valuable research.
Phrygian
bmendez
Stardust@home Team
Stardust@home Team
Posts: 530
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:28 am
Location: UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab
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Post by bmendez »

Hello phrygian,

I'm Bryan, administrator of this bulletin board and the Education and Outreach Manager for Stardust@home in Berkeley. I read the board every day and answer questions. This board is how volunteers can communicate with the project team at Berkeley. The volunteers (especially the moderators) here have become so knowledgable about the project that they often answer questions quite well before I even read them.

If you read through the project descriptions before and after the tutorial (as well as in many threads here in the forum) you will see that there are Calibration Movies (CMs) placed randomly into the mix of focus movies that you see using the Virtual Microscope (VM). When you correctly click on a track your score goes up. Since your score went up, then you correctly identified a simulated track in one of the CMs.

We expect only a few dozen particles to have been captured in the collector. The likelihood of there being more than one particle track in a single field of view is exceedingly low. If by some incredible chance you ever come upon a field with two in it, simply click on one of them. CMs will never have more than one track in the field, we set them up that way.

All the best,
-Bryan
"I am made from the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
- RUSH
phrygian
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:17 am

Post by phrygian »

Thanks very much, Brian. I now have confidence to go on. :)

Best of luck with this project.

Phrygian
Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiantly talented fool
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