1
|
Williams JJ, Tractenberg RE, Batut B, Becker EA, Brown AM, Burke ML, Busby B, Cooch NK, Dillman AA, Donovan SS, Doyle MA, van Gelder CWG, Hall CR, Hertweck KL, Jordan KL, Jungck JR, Latour AR, Lindvall JM, Lloret-Llinares M, McDowell GS, Morris R, Mourad T, Nisselle A, Ordóñez P, Paladin L, Palagi PM, Sukhai MA, Teal TK, Woodley L. An international consensus on effective, inclusive, and career-spanning short-format training in the life sciences and beyond. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0293879. [PMID: 37943810 PMCID: PMC10635508 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) fields change rapidly and are increasingly interdisciplinary. Commonly, STEMM practitioners use short-format training (SFT) such as workshops and short courses for upskilling and reskilling, but unaddressed challenges limit SFT's effectiveness and inclusiveness. Education researchers, students in SFT courses, and organizations have called for research and strategies that can strengthen SFT in terms of effectiveness, inclusiveness, and accessibility across multiple dimensions. This paper describes the project that resulted in a consensus set of 14 actionable recommendations to systematically strengthen SFT. A diverse international group of 30 experts in education, accessibility, and life sciences came together from 10 countries to develop recommendations that can help strengthen SFT globally. Participants, including representation from some of the largest life science training programs globally, assembled findings in the educational sciences and encompassed the experiences of several of the largest life science SFT programs. The 14 recommendations were derived through a Delphi method, where consensus was achieved in real time as the group completed a series of meetings and tasks designed to elicit specific recommendations. Recommendations cover the breadth of SFT contexts and stakeholder groups and include actions for instructors (e.g., make equity and inclusion an ethical obligation), programs (e.g., centralize infrastructure for assessment and evaluation), as well as organizations and funders (e.g., professionalize training SFT instructors; deploy SFT to counter inequity). Recommendations are aligned with a purpose-built framework-"The Bicycle Principles"-that prioritizes evidenced-based teaching, inclusiveness, and equity, as well as the ability to scale, share, and sustain SFT. We also describe how the Bicycle Principles and recommendations are consistent with educational change theories and can overcome systemic barriers to delivering consistently effective, inclusive, and career-spanning SFT.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jason J. Williams
- DNA Learning Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, United States of America
| | - Rochelle E. Tractenberg
- Collaborative for Research on Outcomes and Metrics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Bérénice Batut
- Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Open Life Science, Freiburg, Germany
| | | | - Anne M. Brown
- Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Melissa L. Burke
- Australian BioCommons, North Melbourne, Australia
- Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation, Research Computing Centre
- The University of Queensland
| | - Ben Busby
- DNAnexus, Mountain View, California, United States of America
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Christina R. Hall
- Australian BioCommons, North Melbourne, Australia
- University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Kate L. Hertweck
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Redwood City, California, United States of America
| | | | - John R. Jungck
- University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United States of America
| | | | | | - Marta Lloret-Llinares
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Gary S. McDowell
- Lightoller LLC
- The Ronin Institute, Montclair, NJ, United States of America
- Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education
| | - Rana Morris
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
| | - Teresa Mourad
- Ecological Society of America, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Amy Nisselle
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
- Melbourne Genomics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Patricia Ordóñez
- University of Maryland Baltimore County, Catonsville, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Lisanna Paladin
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Structural and Computational Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Mahadeo A. Sukhai
- Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Toronto, Canada
- Queen’s University School of Medicine, Kingston, Canada
| | - Tracy K. Teal
- Posit, PBC, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Louise Woodley
- Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement, Oakland, California, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Işık EB, Brazas MD, Schwartz R, Gaeta B, Palagi PM, van Gelder CWG, Suravajhala P, Singh H, Morgan SL, Zahroh H, Ling M, Satagopam VP, McGrath A, Nakai K, Tan TW, Gao G, Mulder N, Schönbach C, Zheng Y, De Las Rivas J, Khan AM. Grand challenges in bioinformatics education and training. Nat Biotechnol 2023; 41:1171-1174. [PMID: 37568018 DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-01891-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Esra Büşra Işık
- Beykoz Institute of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey
- APBioNET.org, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Michelle D Brazas
- Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Bioinformatics.ca, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Bruno Gaeta
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | | | - Prashanth Suravajhala
- Amrita School of Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Clappana, India
- Bioclues.org, Hyderabad, India
| | - Harpreet Singh
- APBioNET.org, Singapore, Singapore
- Bioclues.org, Hyderabad, India
- Department of Bioinformatics, Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, India
| | - Sarah L Morgan
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, UK
| | - Hilyatuz Zahroh
- APBioNET.org, Singapore, Singapore
- Genetics Research Centre, Universitas YARSI, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | - Maurice Ling
- APBioNET.org, Singapore, Singapore
- School of Applied Science, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Venkata P Satagopam
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Belvaux, Luxembourg
- International Society for Computational Biology, Leesburg, VA, USA
| | | | - Kenta Nakai
- Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tin Wee Tan
- Department of Biochemistry, YLL School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- National Supercomputing Centre, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ge Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, School of Life Sciences, Biomedical Pioneering Innovative Center and Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics, Center for Bioinformatics, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Nicola Mulder
- Computational Biology Division, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Christian Schönbach
- Department of Biology, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
| | - Yun Zheng
- School of Landscape and Horticulture, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Javier De Las Rivas
- Cancer Research Center, Spanish National Research Council, University of Salamanca & Institute for Biomedical Research of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Asif M Khan
- Beykoz Institute of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey.
- APBioNET.org, Singapore, Singapore.
- Centre for Bioinformatics, School of Data Sciences, Perdana University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- College of Computing and Information Technology, University of Doha for Science and Technology, Doha, Qatar.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Gurwitz KT, Singh Gaur P, Bellis LJ, Larcombe L, Alloza E, Balint BL, Botzki A, Dimec J, Dominguez del Angel V, Fernandes PL, Korpelainen E, Krause R, Kuzak M, Le Pera L, Leskošek B, Lindvall JM, Marek D, Martinez PA, Muyldermans T, Nygård S, Palagi PM, Peterson H, Psomopoulos F, Spiwok V, van Gelder CWG, Via A, Vidak M, Wibberg D, Morgan SL, Rustici G. A framework to assess the quality and impact of bioinformatics training across ELIXIR. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1007976. [PMID: 32702016 PMCID: PMC7377377 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
ELIXIR is a pan-European intergovernmental organisation for life science that aims to coordinate bioinformatics resources in a single infrastructure across Europe; bioinformatics training is central to its strategy, which aims to develop a training community that spans all ELIXIR member states. In an evidence-based approach for strengthening bioinformatics training programmes across Europe, the ELIXIR Training Platform, led by the ELIXIR EXCELERATE Quality and Impact Assessment Subtask in collaboration with the ELIXIR Training Coordinators Group, has implemented an assessment strategy to measure quality and impact of its entire training portfolio. Here, we present ELIXIR’s framework for assessing training quality and impact, which includes the following: specifying assessment aims, determining what data to collect in order to address these aims, and our strategy for centralised data collection to allow for ELIXIR-wide analyses. In addition, we present an overview of the ELIXIR training data collected over the past 4 years. We highlight the importance of a coordinated and consistent data collection approach and the relevance of defining specific metrics and answer scales for consortium-wide analyses as well as for comparison of data across iterations of the same course.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kim T. Gurwitz
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | | | - Louisa J. Bellis
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Lee Larcombe
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, The Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Eva Alloza
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), INB Coordination node, Life Sciences Department, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Balint Laszlo Balint
- University of Debrecen, Medical Faculty, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Alexander Botzki
- VIB Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, VIB Bioinformatics Core, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jure Dimec
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Biostatistics and Medical Informatics (IBMI), University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | | | | | | | - Roland Krause
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Mateusz Kuzak
- DTL Dutch Techcentre for Life Sciences, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Loredana Le Pera
- Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies (IBIOM), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Bari, Italy
| | - Brane Leskošek
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Biostatistics and Medical Informatics (IBMI), University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Jessica M. Lindvall
- National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS), Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Diana Marek
- SIB Training, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Paula A. Martinez
- VIB Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, VIB Bioinformatics Core, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Tuur Muyldermans
- VIB Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, VIB Bioinformatics Core, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ståle Nygård
- Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Patricia M. Palagi
- SIB Training, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Hedi Peterson
- Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Fotis Psomopoulos
- Institute of Applied Biosciences (INAB), Center for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Vojtech Spiwok
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - Allegra Via
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology (IBPM), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Rome, Italy
| | - Marko Vidak
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Biostatistics and Medical Informatics (IBMI), University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Daniel Wibberg
- Genome Research of Industrial Microorganisms, Center for Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Sarah L. Morgan
- EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Gabriella Rustici
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Garcia L, Batut B, Burke ML, Kuzak M, Psomopoulos F, Arcila R, Attwood TK, Beard N, Carvalho-Silva D, Dimopoulos AC, del Angel VD, Dumontier M, Gurwitz KT, Krause R, McQuilton P, Le Pera L, Morgan SL, Rauste P, Via A, Kahlem P, Rustici G, van Gelder CWG, Palagi PM. Ten simple rules for making training materials FAIR. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1007854. [PMID: 32437350 PMCID: PMC7241697 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Everything we do today is becoming more and more reliant on the use of computers. The field of biology is no exception; but most biologists receive little or no formal preparation for the increasingly computational aspects of their discipline. In consequence, informal training courses are often needed to plug the gaps; and the demand for such training is growing worldwide. To meet this demand, some training programs are being expanded, and new ones are being developed. Key to both scenarios is the creation of new course materials. Rather than starting from scratch, however, it's sometimes possible to repurpose materials that already exist. Yet finding suitable materials online can be difficult: They're often widely scattered across the internet or hidden in their home institutions, with no systematic way to find them. This is a common problem for all digital objects. The scientific community has attempted to address this issue by developing a set of rules (which have been called the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable [FAIR] principles) to make such objects more findable and reusable. Here, we show how to apply these rules to help make training materials easier to find, (re)use, and adapt, for the benefit of all.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Leyla Garcia
- ZB MED Information Centre for Life Sciences, Cologne, Germany
| | - Bérénice Batut
- Bioinformatics group, Department of Computer Science, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Melissa L. Burke
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Mateusz Kuzak
- Netherlands eScience Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Dutch Techcentre for Life Sciences, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Fotis Psomopoulos
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Ricardo Arcila
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Teresa K. Attwood
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Niall Beard
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Denise Carvalho-Silva
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
- Open Targets, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Michel Dumontier
- Institute of Data Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | | | - Roland Krause
- University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Peter McQuilton
- Oxford e-Research Centre, Department of Engineering Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Loredana Le Pera
- IBIOM-CNR, Bari, Italy
- IBPM-CNR, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Sarah L. Morgan
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Päivi Rauste
- CSC—IT Center for Science, Keilaranta, Espoo, Finland
| | - Allegra Via
- IBPM-CNR, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Pascal Kahlem
- Scientific Network Management S.L., Barcelona, Spain
| | | | | | - Patricia M. Palagi
- SIB Training group, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
van Gelder CWG, Hooft RWW, van Rijswijk MN, van den Berg L, Kok RG, Reinders M, Mons B, Heringa J. Bioinformatics in the Netherlands: the value of a nationwide community. Brief Bioinform 2019; 20:540-550. [PMID: 28968694 PMCID: PMC6433734 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbx087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2017] [Revised: 07/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
This review provides a historical overview of the inception and development of bioinformatics research in the Netherlands. Rooted in theoretical biology by foundational figures such as Paulien Hogeweg (at Utrecht University since the 1970s), the developments leading to organizational structures supporting a relatively large Dutch bioinformatics community will be reviewed. We will show that the most valuable resource that we have built over these years is the close-knit national expert community that is well engaged in basic and translational life science research programmes. The Dutch bioinformatics community is accustomed to facing the ever-changing landscape of data challenges and working towards solutions together. In addition, this community is the stable factor on the road towards sustainability, especially in times where existing funding models are challenged and change rapidly.
Collapse
|
6
|
van Gelder CWG, Hooft RWW, van Rijswijk MN, van den Berg L, Kok RG, Reinders M, Mons B, Heringa J. Bioinformatics in the Netherlands: the value of a nationwide community. Brief Bioinform 2018; 19:359. [PMID: 29267862 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbx171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
|
7
|
Pawlik A, van Gelder CWG, Nenadic A, Palagi PM, Korpelainen E, Lijnzaad P, Marek D, Sansone SA, Hancock J, Goble C. Developing a strategy for computational lab skills training through Software and Data Carpentry: Experiences from the ELIXIR Pilot action. F1000Res 2017; 6. [PMID: 28781745 PMCID: PMC5516217 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.11718.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Quality training in computational skills for life scientists is essential to allow them to deliver robust, reproducible and cutting-edge research. A pan-European bioinformatics programme, ELIXIR, has adopted a well-established and progressive programme of computational lab and data skills training from
Software and
Data Carpentry, aimed at increasing the number of skilled life scientists and building a sustainable training community in this field. This article describes the Pilot action, which introduced the Carpentry training model to the ELIXIR community.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Celia W G van Gelder
- ELIXIR-Netherlands, Dutch Techcentre for Life Sciences (DTL), Utrecht, 3511, Netherlands
| | - Aleksandra Nenadic
- ELIXIR-UK, Software Sustainability Institute UK, School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Patricia M Palagi
- ELIXIR-Switzerland, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
| | - Eija Korpelainen
- ELIXIR-Finland, CSC - IT Center for Science, Espoo, 02101, Finland
| | - Philip Lijnzaad
- Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, 3584, Netherlands
| | - Diana Marek
- ELIXIR-Switzerland, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
| | | | - John Hancock
- ELIXIR-UK, Earlham Institute, Norwich, NR4 7UZ, UK
| | - Carole Goble
- ELIXIR-UK, Software Sustainability Institute UK, School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Attwood TK, Bongcam-Rudloff E, Brazas ME, Corpas M, Gaudet P, Lewitter F, Mulder N, Palagi PM, Schneider MV, van Gelder CWG. Correction: GOBLET: The Global Organisation for Bioinformatics Learning, Education and Training. PLoS Comput Biol 2015; 11:e1004281. [PMID: 25974841 PMCID: PMC4431671 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
|
9
|
Affiliation(s)
| | - Fran Lewitter
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States of America
| | | | - Celia W. G. van Gelder
- Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre and Department of Bioinformatics, Radboud Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
Jimenez RC, Albar JP, Bhak J, Blatter MC, Blicher T, Brazas MD, Brooksbank C, Budd A, De Las Rivas J, Dreyer J, van Driel MA, Dunn MJ, Fernandes PL, van Gelder CWG, Hermjakob H, Ioannidis V, Judge DP, Kahlem P, Korpelainen E, Kraus HJ, Loveland J, Mayer C, McDowall J, Moran F, Mulder N, Nyronen T, Rother K, Salazar GA, Schneider R, Via A, Villaveces JM, Yu P, Schneider MV, Attwood TK, Corpas M. iAnn: an event sharing platform for the life sciences. Bioinformatics 2013; 29:1919-21. [PMID: 23742982 PMCID: PMC3712218 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btt306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
SUMMARY We present iAnn, an open source community-driven platform for dissemination of life science events, such as courses, conferences and workshops. iAnn allows automatic visualisation and integration of customised event reports. A central repository lies at the core of the platform: curators add submitted events, and these are subsequently accessed via web services. Thus, once an iAnn widget is incorporated into a website, it permanently shows timely relevant information as if it were native to the remote site. At the same time, announcements submitted to the repository are automatically disseminated to all portals that query the system. To facilitate the visualization of announcements, iAnn provides powerful filtering options and views, integrated in Google Maps and Google Calendar. All iAnn widgets are freely available. AVAILABILITY http://iann.pro/iannviewer CONTACT manuel.corpas@tgac.ac.uk.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rafael C Jimenez
- EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SD, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Schneider MV, Walter P, Blatter MC, Watson J, Brazas MD, Rother K, Budd A, Via A, van Gelder CWG, Jacob J, Fernandes P, Nyrönen TH, De Las Rivas J, Blicher T, Jimenez RC, Loveland J, McDowall J, Jones P, Vaughan BW, Lopez R, Attwood TK, Brooksbank C. Bioinformatics Training Network (BTN): a community resource for bioinformatics trainers. Brief Bioinform 2011; 13:383-9. [PMID: 22110242 PMCID: PMC3357490 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbr064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Funding bodies are increasingly recognizing the need to provide graduates and researchers with access to short intensive courses in a variety of disciplines, in order both to improve the general skills base and to provide solid foundations on which researchers may build their careers. In response to the development of ‘high-throughput biology’, the need for training in the field of bioinformatics, in particular, is seeing a resurgence: it has been defined as a key priority by many Institutions and research programmes and is now an important component of many grant proposals. Nevertheless, when it comes to planning and preparing to meet such training needs, tension arises between the reward structures that predominate in the scientific community which compel individuals to publish or perish, and the time that must be devoted to the design, delivery and maintenance of high-quality training materials. Conversely, there is much relevant teaching material and training expertise available worldwide that, were it properly organized, could be exploited by anyone who needs to provide training or needs to set up a new course. To do this, however, the materials would have to be centralized in a database and clearly tagged in relation to target audiences, learning objectives, etc. Ideally, they would also be peer reviewed, and easily and efficiently accessible for downloading. Here, we present the Bioinformatics Training Network (BTN), a new enterprise that has been initiated to address these needs and review it, respectively, to similar initiatives and collections.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria V Schneider
- EMBL Outstation, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|