I hope to become a more active contributor to BOINC development, so I thought a quick introduction might be nice = )

I grew up in a medical practice and research environment -- Many people I looked up to growing up worked, successfully I might add, at the medical research university near me, or running their own practice. I remember my parents having the SETI screensaver. That is my first experience with that idea that would evolve into BOINC, and also an indicator of my age. Yes, I am a late 20 something full of hope and dreams and some might say, inexperience.

I am also on the board of an investment company (since ~2013) which focuses on building communities in my city, and I personally own and run a second (since ~2010) which is researching how to use existing and future technologies to reduce the cost of living for those renting their homes (ideally, to 0). I am also developing a modular vertical farming system. If anyone is interested in any of these topics and wants to chat please feel free to reach out. They are parts of what I love to do and am always happy to explore ideas and discussions.

Another passion of mine is science and the technology behind it. After all, I am currently using physical technology to develop a way to feed people by using the idle space potential (empty warehouses, etc.) which already exists in the world. In terms of decentralized housing ownership, I am looking into blockchain technology. WAIT! Don't run just yet. I understand there is a stigma related to blockchain technology. Give me the chance to explain that stigma, please.

Most people see "Blockchain" and think "Bitcoin" or "cryptocurrency." This is akin to how many people see "Climate Change" and think "Global Warming" and then become confused when told that climate change means climate change, not global warming. Bitcoin and other coins called cryptocurrencies play a noncritical role within the blockchain technology and ecosystem. A blockchain is simply a shared ledger of any type of digital information. This ledger is held by those who use the ledger instead of by a centralized 3rd party institution, such as Visa, Mastercard, a hospital, or in the case of housing, the city authority. Imagine a world where patients have access to their own medical records, can see at any time the changes made to these records, and can transfer them at the push of a button to another medical professional (instead of having to call and have documents faxed/e-mailed over or instead of relying on a 3rd party holder and distributor of medical records).

This structure of an open and shared ledger creates opportunities which would otherwise never exist due to bureaucratic idiosyncrasies -- consider shared community ownership of a house. As this ledger is secured by running a computer on a network (much like grid computing), it costs energy to maintain. Energy, with its current production model and delivery infrastructure, costs money to use. For this reason, Satoshi Nakamoto created an incentive structure which encourages people to use energy in order to secure the blockchain. This incentive structure can be built out of any material and in any way, or, most importantly, left out completely. Nakamoto explains this in the bitcoin whitepaper, along with several other aspects of blockchain technology which have become lost in the deluge of money unleashed into the blockchain ecosystem since 2014.

So, how do I plan to contribute to BOINC?

There are dozens of ways to use the blockchain to create a dynamic ecosystem in which BOINC users give value to a project based on which project resonates best with them. In other words, the project which is best able to educate and convince users of its real world value would attract the most Idle Processing Potential to its work. In the coming months, I look forward to exploring with all of you as many of these possibilities as possible, along with the possible benefits and dangers of an added incentive structure.

How do I currently contribute to BOINC?

Like it or not, Gridcoin has brought a massive volume of processing power to BOINC. Yes, there have been hiccups, untowardly projects and people, and arguments between community members, but for the most part, Gridcoin has gone undeveloped for several years and still contributes massive volumes of processing to BOINC projects. I got involved with Gridcoin back when it was released, but only recently became an active contributor to the project. My personal goal, and I think this is a goal shared among much of the Gridcoin community, is to clarify our purpose, our drive. Do we exist to profit off of BOINC and the blockchain? Or are we here to help BOINC, and volunteer based grid computing in general, break into the mainstream and explore how to utilize the rapid development of The Internet of Things? There are several visions regarding our purpose among the Gridcoin community. I hope to make a post containing my vision sometime in the coming days.

To spark the discussion around our purpose, I have begun or contributed to campaigns seeking to update the website, whitepaper, and governance structure of Gridcoin. My latest contribution is updating the copy on the index page of our website. I have also rewritten and updated the "Introduction" section of our whitepaper. I continue to add to both the website and the whitepaper. Governance is a much larger issue. The recent, in my opinion productive, release of Governance/Contribution drafts for BOINC have forced me back to the drawing board... again and for the better.

Should you want to glimpse my vision before I put it in detail, you can also find some of my writing on the community forum "steemit", but as much of that writing is meant to spark discussion as opposed to production, it might not be the best and most detailed/properly edited version of what I have written. If you would like to learn more about what I am thinking, it would be better to PM me or to respond on the BOINC forum or on Github should I post a proposal on there.

Thank you for taking the time to read my little introduction and I look forward to enlightening and productive discussions focusing on making BOINC more accessible to researchers, universities, schools and teachers, and volunteers.

You can find my updated website copy at: www.gridcoin.us (work in progress)
You can find my writing in the Gridcoin whitepaper in the “Introduction” section at: https://github.com/gridcoin-community/Whitepaper/blob/master/gridcoin-research-whitepaper.pdf (work in progress)
My steemit blog can be found at: https://steemit.com/@jringo
The Blockchain Whitepaper can be found at: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Only steemit posts on my blog that don't say "resteemed" in gray letters above them are written by me.

The whitepaper section I have updated is only "Introduction", the rest is under production by several contributors including myself.