{"id":14992,"date":"2017-11-15T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=14992"},"modified":"2017-11-23T09:20:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T17:20:51","slug":"camosun-student-data-crunches-for-causes-with-old-computers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2017\/11\/15\/camosun-student-data-crunches-for-causes-with-old-computers\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun student data crunches for causes with old computers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those who have the ability to manipulate and change technology have power in today\u2019s technology-driven society. And Camosun Computer Networks Electronic Technician student Triston Line is using that power for good.<\/p>\n

Line collects old computers\u2014he has over 60 at his house\u2014from organizations and uses their data-crunching power for research projects. The projects\u2014which Line has done for organizations as large as Harvard\u2014have focused on cancer cell mapping, HIV\/AIDS research, and childhood cancer research, among other things. (A representative from Harvard did not return a request for comment.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the data comes in to me, it\u2019s very mechanical,\u201d says Line, who is 18. \u201cI don\u2019t have to know, really, what it means; however, I do have to know how the programs work, I have to know how to optimize their functionality within the systems so that their mechanical work can be done as best as possible. So, from my point of view, it\u2019s more of a computer science point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun student Triston Line is using old computers for a good cause (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Line says that sometimes he likes to look at the results after the institution he provided the data to has published the findings. He adds that without the data, there is no research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could not have published it without the data I processed,\u201d says Line.<\/p>\n

He could be doing this work for his own entertainment, but, for Line, the fulfillment lies in helping others.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildhood cancer is something that I really find touching, and I don\u2019t really like the idea of people being affected by such diseases, especially at a young age,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The biggest challenge for Line has been power\u2014not the kind people sometimes crave, but electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cA house is not meant to have 60 or 70 computers running all at the same time. Right now I have about 30 going, and I actually have had to cut that down because I\u2019m a student. I live off oatmeal,\u201d he says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Line\u2019s data-crunching pastime also contributes to another passion of his: keeping e-waste out of the landfills. Line says that e-waste is an $18-billion-a-year industry, and it\u2019s not right that so much potential gets thrown away.<\/p>\n

\u201cElectronics should not be going to third world countries and, basically, being dumped into a landfill and harming people. There are a few towns in China where there isn\u2019t clean water for about 50 kilometres. They actually have to truck in clean water. That\u2019s disgraceful,\u201d says Line. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be doing that. There\u2019s black fields out in Africa where they just burn the electronics. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even recycling programs don\u2019t cut it for Line\u2014he says the companies get grants and use most of their money to ship the e-waste to another country and still have money left over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where that $18 billion comes in,\u201d he says. \u201cIt costs a lot less to ship them to someone else and make it someone else\u2019s problem than it costs to recycle them responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Line does what he can to reduce his role in e-waste by finding a role for computers that others deem junk and fixing them up to become fully functioning machines. When he can\u2019t make use of certain parts, he takes those parts to certified recycling depots. It\u2019s behind-the-scenes work, but that\u2019s how it goes: the data processing industry tends to focus on the process instead of the people, but that\u2019s fine by Line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a whole lot of display on that front,\u201d says Line. \u201c[People] more or less talk about how it\u2019s done more than who did it, which is a little bit unfortunate for me, but in the end, it\u2019s all going to a good cause.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those who have the ability to manipulate and change technology have power in today\u2019s technology-driven society. And Camosun Computer Networks Electronic Technician student Triston Line is using that power for good. Line collects old computers\u2014he has over 60 at his house\u2014from organizations and uses their data-crunching power for research projects. The projects\u2014which Line has done […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,202],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-november-15-2017"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14992"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14995,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14992\/revisions\/14995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}