Partner Interview: How Welcon-Line's Outstanding Efforts  |
| Have Bolstered Russian Volunteerism |
World Community Grid's partners play a critical role in building the volunteer base that fuels humanitarian
research. One great example is Welcon-Line, a small Russian internet service provider that has signed up
almost 700 volunteers wishing to donate their spare computing capacity to fight aids. The resulting 900 devices
that are now part of World Community Grid have already contributed the equivalent of 205 years of run time.
Welcon-Line has achieved this despite the fact that the company, which started in 2002, employs only 30 people.
Welcon-Line's Director Andrei Kolkov
Andrei Kolkov, Welcon-Line's Director, heard about World Community Grid from the FightAIDS@Home press-release.
His company, now an official World Community Grid partner, services around 3000 clients — a mix of both
individual users and small companies — in Moscow and the Moscow region.
We talked to Andrei to find out more about Welcon-Line's involvement in World Community Grid:
Why did you become involved in World Community Grid?
I was impressed by World Community Grid's efforts to use innovative new technologies to enable ordinary
people to contribute to solving global problems. As the director of a technology company with a young and
passionate customer set, it seemed logical for us to get involved.
Why did you decide to support the FightAIDS@Home project?
AIDS is a serious and threatening problem in Russia. According to official data, there are currently about
300,000 people - mostly below the age of 30 - infected with AIDS. However, according to some estimates,
it is closer to 1 million. Despite the scale of the problem, currently there has been little investment
inside Russia to fight the disease. I share my birthday with World Aids
Day – hence I have a long-standing interest in the problem!
What is the perception of AIDS in Russia?
In Russia there is little information about AIDS. It is still seen as a disease of social outcasts. Ignorance
and inertia can result in the further spread of this disease in Russia. That's why I think it is so important to educate young people and provide more information about what is going on in the world to fight the disease.
What has been your strategy for recruiting volunteers for the FightAIDS@Home project?
We have developed and launched the Russian language web site www.fightaidsathome.ru to promote the research being conducted in Russia and abroad to fight AIDS. The main news comes from World Community Grid. With reference to the project, we republish the press releases and scientific reports published at www.worldcommunitygrid.org. The materials are translated into Russian by local Welcon-Line volunteers. The site also has a forum page where visitors can share their experiences participating in World Community Grid, as well as in other projects based on distributed computing.
How do you drive traffic to the site?
There is a project banner posted on the main page of the Welcon-Line homepage and
also on the personalized pages after our customers have logged in. We post banners at web forums focusing on
AIDS–related issues. Many corporate customers have also volunteered to post the
banner on their own websites. We also give flyers to clients visiting the Welcon-Line office. The Russian media has
also shown an interest in our work, and an article in the Russian publication PC Week
has also driven a lot of people to the FightAIDS@Home.ru site.
700 volunteers – what is the secret of your success?
AIDS is a big issue in Russia. The customers of Welcon-Line tend to be young, like technology and
are generally open to new ideas. These factors have been the driving forces behind the popularity of the
project in Russia.
Are you working with any other Russian language web sites to promote World Community Grid?
One more Russian portal, Distributed.ru has also been doing great work to support and promote the FightAIDS@Home project. We recently approached them and initiated a partnership with Welcon-Line in order to consolidate efforts and drive even more momentum around the project in Russia. Another Russian partner, NetSoft helped by volunteering their web design services for the FightAIDS@Home.ru site.
What would you say is unique about this project?
What is important about this project is that every PC user, in any part of the world, can participate and
make his or her own personal contribution to the project. IBM has been doing an exceptional job of providing
its resources for free to scientists working on finding a cure for AIDS.
Editors Note:
In addition to Welcon-Line, many partners and teams are making significant contributions of computer run time
to research projects that are running on World Community Grid. Some of these include:
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