HASTAC is a virtual institution, an entirely voluntary consortium of leading researchers and nonprofit research institutions worldwide. Its primary members are universities, supercomputing centers, grid and teragrid associations, humanities institutes, museums, libraries, and other civic institutions. HASTAC members have been co-developing software, hardware, and cyberinfrastructure systems since early 2003. Members have developed tools for multimedia archiving and social interaction, gaming environments for teaching, innovative educational programs in information science and information studies, virtual museums, and other digital projects. HASTAC’s mission is to promote expansive models for thinking, teaching, and research.

To become a part of the HASTAC network and contribute to Needle, one only needs to register as a user on the HASTAC website.