Transversal computing for Latin American science
One idea followed for six years: shared computing services across experiments, from a 2020 proposal to a Briefing Book chapter, an empirical case on Zenodo and a seat on the strategy committee.
The proposal
In April 2021, I published a proposal for transversal scientific-computing and IT services for Latin American research and training. It considers shared approaches to software, data, documentation, deployment, publication and credit under an open-access philosophy.
The proposal’s organising idea is a scientific-computing and IT hub: a way to connect practical services and skills across different experiments and institutions. It is a proposal for cooperation, with a published rationale that others can inspect and develop.
Exhibit 1DiagramRead left to right
Many experiments, one layer of shared services
Every experiment in the region needs the same six things, and most build them alone. A transversal layer provides them once, with documentation, and the outcomes on the right are the ones the 2020 proposal named.
From a proposal to an empirical case
The idea did not stay a document. In 2021 I co-wrote the Instrumentation and Computing chapter of the Latin American HECAP Physics Briefing Book with Hiroaki Aihara, Reina Camacho Toro and Hernán Wahlberg, where the computing needs of the region were set beside its instrumentation. In August 2024, for the third LASF4RI-HECAP symposium, I published the follow-up on Zenodo: an empirical case and ongoing efforts, version 3, built on what had actually been deployed since, with results and code kept in GitHub organisations.
I also curate the LASF4RI community on Zenodo, where the white papers of the strategy process live with DOIs, and I sit in the Preparatory Group that produced the 2025 Briefing Book and on the Strategy Document Committee of the 2026 update. The thread started in 2019 with two online meetings I convened so that Venezuela would submit a white paper of its own. The computing I run for LAGO in Mérida is the proof I bring to that table.
Exhibit 2TimelineFilled points are my milestones; hollow points are the context they sit in
Six years of one idea
- 2019Two meetings so that Venezuela submits a white paperNovember 2019, online, with researchers inside and outside the country.Source
- 2020The transversal computing proposalWritten in January 2020 as input to LASF4RI; published on arXiv in April 2021.Source
- 2021Briefing Book chapter: Instrumentation and ComputingWith Hiroaki Aihara, Reina Camacho Toro and Hernán Wahlberg.Source
- 2024The empirical case, version 3A white paper on Zenodo for the third LASF4RI-HECAP symposium in São Paulo.Source
- 2026Briefing Book 2025 and the Strategy Document CommitteePreparatory Group member; one of Venezuela’s two representatives.Source
- 2026The working example in MéridaGoverned, bilingual, documented computing for a real experiment.Source
Exhibit 3PeopleCredit where the work was shared
Who wrote the chapter with me
- Hiroaki AiharaUniversity of Tokyo; co-author of the 2021 Instrumentation and Computing chapter.
- Reina Camacho ToroLPNHE/CNRS; co-author of the chapter, and co-founder of CEVALE2VE years earlier.
- Hernán WahlbergUniversidad Nacional de La Plata; co-author of the chapter.
Exhibit 4ResourcesOpen the thing itself, not a description of it
Where to go from here
- PaperA proposal for transversal computer-related strategies and services for the LASF4RI, arXiv, 2021arxiv.orgAuthor
- PaperLatin American HECAP Physics Briefing Book, 2021: the Instrumentation and Computing chapterarxiv.orgChapter co-author
- PaperAn empirical case and ongoing efforts on transversal computer strategies and services for the LASF4RI, Zenodo, v3, August 2024zenodo.orgAuthor
- SiteThe LASF4RI community on Zenodo: the white papers of the strategy processzenodo.orgCurated by me
- PaperLatin American HECAP Physics Briefing Book 2025arxiv.orgPreparatory Group member
- RecordFirst LASF4RI-Venezuela meeting, November 2019indico.cern.chConvener
- RecordLAA-HECAP committees, including the strategy worklaa-hecap.org
Sources & further reading
- A proposal for transversal computer-related strategies and services for the LASF4RI, arXiv, 2021
- Latin American HECAP Physics Briefing Book, 2021: the Instrumentation and Computing chapter
- An empirical case and ongoing efforts on transversal computer strategies and services for the LASF4RI, Zenodo, v3, August 2024
- The LASF4RI community on Zenodo: the white papers of the strategy process
- Latin American HECAP Physics Briefing Book 2025
- First LASF4RI-Venezuela meeting, November 2019
- LAA-HECAP committees, including the strategy work