Getting started with high performance computing for humanities, arts, and social science

Abstract

This abstract and presentation addresses the question of "Why would someone in humanities, arts, or social science be interested in high performance computing?", and discusses the resources and assistance that are available to humanists, artists, and social scientists who are interested in high performance computing. The Extreme Science And Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) provides a network of high performance computing resources that are available to researchers. In this talk I will discuss the resources that are available, who is eligible for these resources, and assistance that is available to help you use those resources. My role within XSEDE is to help you get started on XSEDE as well as to help you after you get resources allocated. In this talk I will walk you through the process of applying for an XSEDE startup account and let you know what to expect as you begin using the resources. I will also discuss some of the different types of projects that have been done by humanities, arts, and social science researchers which range from large scale analysis of texts, images and videos, network analysis (including social media), map based problems, simulations, and others. Finally, I will address some of the lessons I have learned from working with humanities, arts, and social science researchers who are using XSEDE resources. Whether you need computational power, storage, assistance with analysis of large datasets, or are just curious of what these types of resources can do for you, this talk will provide answers that you are looking for.