Overview
One major research and development (R&D) area in which I am working is to develop the TealSite static site generator for scientific and academic communications. These types of communications are used to convey research results among scientists and engineers, broadly disseminate discoveries to the general public, and provide easy-to-use lesson materials in the courses you take. These capabilities address some of the social issues inherent in sustainable computing, particularly with respect to accessibility of information and reduced energy use when compared to using a typical content management system.
As a static site generator, TealSite works by taking a set of input files and generating a website that can be deployed on a minimal HTTP server that does not require any server-side scripting (PHP, Node.js, etc.). Servers configured to host static sites have smaller attack surfaces compared to servers that host dynamically generated content, making them far less likely to be compromised by cybersecurity threats. As an added bonus, sites generated via a static site generator can be distributed without even requiring a server at all. In the simplest case, a generated site can be put into a ZIP file or a directory and copied onto a computer. More specialized formats, such as EPUB or ZIM, can be used to put entire sites into single files for ease of copying between computers, tablets, phones, and e-readers.
Another major objective of TealSite is to produce materials that are accessible to anyone, including people with disabilities. TealSite is designed to create sites that conform to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which define baseline standards for accessibility.
The base functionality of TealSite is already implemented, as this site you are currently viewing has been produced with it. However, there are a number of potential additional features and capabilities that can be added, resulting in related projects.